The Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences on Leadership Styles

Abstract

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) significantly impact the lives of individuals. Statistics revealed that ACEs are common and have long-lasting effects. While research has explored the influence of ACEs on many aspects of a person’s life, the topic of leadership is overlooked. Leaders (i.e., in charge of leading other people and organizations to success) could very well be impacted by ACEs, which highlights the need for further exploration. This quantitative research study explored the relationship between a leader’s level of adverse childhood experiences and their transformational and/or transactional leadership styles.

A total of 29 leaders from the Pacific Northwest participated in the study. All participants completed the ACE Questionnaire, the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire, and a demographic questionnaire. Overall, the results indicated leaders were transformational. Additionally, the findings revealed a statistically significant relationship between the level of ACEs and the following: transactional leadership management-by-exception active subscale, passive-aggressive leadership behaviors, and the laissez-faire subscale. The conclusions drawn from the study provide valuable insight into how people will lead and operate based on their childhood experiences and gives leaders the opportunity to better understand how these experiences influence the effectiveness and success of their organizations. Overall, this study expands the field of research on leadership studies and creates opportunities to improve leadership in organizations.