Patterns of Adverse Childhood Experiences and Mental Health: Evidence From College Students in Korea

Adverse Childhood Experience, Parental Bonding, and Fatherhood as Parenting Vulnerabilities to Social Anxiety Severity

Background: The present study aims to elucidate the association between adverse childhood experiences, parental bonding, fatherhood, and social anxiety symptoms among emerging adults within an Iranian context. Methods: This prospective cross-sectional study utilized self-reported assessments to evaluate fatherhood, parental bonding, anxious thoughts, and childhood trauma. The study was administered to 242 university students exhibiting social anxiety symptoms. Among the participants, 181 (74.8%) were boys and 61 (25.2%) were girls between the ages of 18 and 29. In terms of educational background, 64.9% of them held a bachelor's degree, and 35.1% held a master's degree. A majority of them (84.3%) were of middle-class socio-economic status, 6.6% were of low income, and 9.1% were of high income. Results: Analysis via multiple linear regression revealed that individuals with adverse childhood experiences exhibited heightened levels of social anxiety symptoms (R2 = 0.32) compared to their counterparts without such experiences. Furthermore, fatherhood (R2 = 0.28), paternal bonding (R2 = 0.26), and maternal bonding (R2 = 0.26) were all significantly and equally associated with variance in social anxiety symptoms. The findings underscored the substantial correlation between ACEs, fatherhood, and both maternal and paternal bonding with social anxiety symptoms in adulthood. Conclusions: Accordingly, the study emphasizes the importance of thoroughly assessing the multifaceted contributors to social anxiety. Such insights are pivotal for the design and implementation of community-based preventive interventions aimed at reducing the societal burden of social anxiety disorders.

Patterns of adverse childhood experiences and associations with lower mental well-being among university students

BACKGROUND

University students report high levels of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), which can lead to severe mental health problems. Understanding how ACEs impact well-being in this population is essential, yet research to date is limited.

OBJECTIVE

To explore ACE patterns and their association with lower well-being in university students.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

1023 Spanish students (71.6 % female) aged between 18 and 64 years old (M = 20.10, SD = 3.93) completed a self-report questionnaire.

METHODS

This study used a cross-sectional design. The ACE International Questionnaire (ACE-IQ) and the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale were used to assess, respectively, childhood adversities and mental well-being. Latent Class Analysis and regression modeling were conducted to analyze the link between ACEs and lower mental well-being, considering the covariates of age, country of origin, sexual orientation, and mental illness.

RESULTS

Four ACE classes were identified: Low ACEs (49.5 %), Dysfunctional Household (12.3 %), Household and Peer Abuse (31.0 %), and High ACEs (7.2 %). The regression analysis (F(3, 1007) = 19.2, p < .001, R2adj = 0.054) successfully predicted well-being scores based on ACE classes. When compared with the Low ACE class, all other classes exhibited lower levels of well-being. Age, sexual orientation, and mental illness were also related to lower well-being, with mental illness having the strongest negative effect (β = -0.635, t(1015) = -6.49, p < .001).

CONCLUSIONS

These findings underscore the relationship between childhood adversity and mental health, offering insights for future prevention efforts and enriching our understanding of ACEs and their impact on well-being.

A Scoping Review on Adverse Childhood Experiences Studies Using Latent Class Analysis: Strengths and Challenges

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) studies reveal the profound impacts of experiencing trauma and hardships in childhood. However, the cumulative risk approach of treating ACEs obscures the heterogeneity of ACEs and their consequences, making actionable interventions impossible. latent class analysis (LCA) has increasingly been used to address these concerns by identifying underlying subgroups of people who experience distinctive patterns of co-occurring ACEs. Though LCA has its strengths, the existing research produces few comparable findings because LCA results are dependent on ACEs measures and indicators, which vary widely by study. Therefore, a scoping review of ACEs studies using LCA that focuses on ACEs measures, indicators, and findings is needed to inform the field. Following Arksey and O'Malley's five-stage scoping review methodological framework, we first identified 211 articles from databases of EBSCOhost, PubMed, and Scopus using "adverse childhood experiences" for title search and "latent class analysis" for abstract search. Based on the inclusion criteria of peer-reviewed articles written in English published from 2012 to 2022 and the exclusion criteria of nonempirical studies and the LCA not analyzing ACEs, we finally selected 58 articles in this scoping review. Results showed LCA has been increasingly endorsed in the ACEs research community to examine the associations between ACEs and human health and well-being across culturally diverse populations. LCA overcame the limitations of the traditional methods by revealing specific ACEs clusters that exert potent effects on certain outcomes. However, the arbitrary nature of selecting ACEs indicators, measures, and the limited use of theory impedes the field from moving forward.

Examining the relationship between adversity and suicidality and self-harm in Irish adolescents from 2020 to 2022

BACKGROUND

Research indicates that there is a strong association between childhood adversity and youth suicide and self-harm. However, there is currently a lack of understanding about the patterns of adversity most frequently experienced by youth across social settings, and whether these typologies differently predict youth engagement in suicide and self-harm. This study examines the dominant patterns of adversity experienced by adolescents across home, peer, and school contexts, and explores the relationship between youth's adversity profiles and their suicide and self-harm outcomes, across a two year period (2020-2022).

METHODS

Secondary analyses were performed on data collected from 10,281 (50 % male) adolescents who participated in the Irish Planet Youth questionnaire in 2020 (n = 5004) or 2022 (n = 5277).

RESULTS

Findings from clustered latent class analyses indicated that there are four dominant profiles of adversity experienced by adolescents. Class 1 (Multiple Adversity) was characterised by a high probability of experiencing adversity across multiple social settings. Class 2 (Parent Adversity) had a strong likelihood of experiencing adversity with parents. Class 3 (Peer Adversity) were likely to experience adversity within the peer/friend domain. Class 4 was characterised by a low probability of experiencing adversity. Findings from logistic regression models with BCH training weights indicated that there were significant differences in self-harm and suicidality across the adversity classes. In comparison to the low adversity group, adolescents in the multiple adversity group were more likely to self-harm and attempt suicide.

LIMITATIONS

These findings are based on cross-sectional data and rely on the use of single-item measurements, which may limit the generalisability of findings.

DISCUSSION

Results indicate that youth who experience adversity across home, peer and school contexts are at the greatest risk of engaging in suicide and self-harm. These findings have important implications for policy and practice, and suggest that youth experiencing adversity across multiple settings should be priority targets for intervention.

Adverse childhood experience and young adult's problematic Internet use: The role of hostility and loneliness

BACKGROUND

Few studies have explored the relationship between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and problematic Internet use (PIU) during young adulthood. Moreover, even fewer studies have explored the roles of loneliness (social and emotional) and hostility in this relationship.

METHODS

This study used data from the Taiwan Youth Project (2011-2017). The analytical sample included 1885 participants (mean age = 31.3 years). PIU was measured using the short form of Chen's Internet Addiction Scale (2017). ACEs were assessed at the baseline of the adolescent phase (mean age = 14.3 years); this indicator has undergone recent revision. Hostility (three items from the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised) and loneliness (six items from the De Jong Gierveld scale) were measured in 2011 and 2014, respectively.

RESULTS

ACEs were associated with hostility and loneliness (emotional and social). Additionally, hostility (β = 0.62, p < .01) and emotional loneliness (β = 0.44, p < .01) were significantly associated with PIU. Most mediating paths (e.g., ACE → hostility → PIU) were significant, based on the bootstrapping results.

CONCLUSIONS

This study suggests that ACEs have a long-term shadow effect on PIU in young adults. ACEs show an indirect association with PIU through both hostility and loneliness, as well as involving the relationship between them.

Adverse childhood experience trajectories and individual high risk-behaviors of sexual offenders: A developmental victimology perspective

BACKGROUND

Developmental victimology theory suggests that developmental features of risk and impact stemming from various types of victimization depend on the age of the child or adolescent.

OBJECTIVE

A next step is studying the developmental victimization trajectories of individuals involved in sexual crimes by focusing on traumatic events occurring during childhood and adolescence respectively. Building on the developmental victimology perspective, the study's specific aims encompass two key objectives: 1) exploring the diverse trajectories of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) within a sample of individuals involved in sexual crimes, and 2) assessing whether these ACEs trajectories influence the emergence of distinct high-risk behaviors.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

252 individuals convicted of sexual crimes were selected from a federal penitentiary in Quebec, Canada.

METHODS

Semi-structured interviews with a computerized questionnaire produced data on numerous aspects of the participant's life history, criminal career, and victimization experiences that were analyzed via latent class modeling.

RESULTS

Four classes (no ACEs trajectory, poly exposure and victimization trajectory, childhood exposure trajectory, and poly victimization trajectory) were identified.

CONCLUSIONS

Consistent with hypotheses, developmental ACEs trajectories are heterogeneous and associated with the criminal careers, adolescent problematic behaviors, substance use disorders, and violence history among individuals involved in sexual offending.

Impact of adverse childhood experience on physical and mental health: A life-course epidemiology perspective

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been shown to have long-term effects on physical and mental health, not only in the US, but also other countries, including Japan. In this paper, measurement of assessment of ACEs has been discussed, that is, concept (what is ACEs), inquiry (how to ask about ACEs), scoring (how to count the number of ACEs), and prevalence (how many ACEs do we have). In addition, a possible mechanism on how ACEs affect health was summarized from a life-course perspective, using the critical/sensitive period model, pathway model, and cumulative model with recent evidence on neurological findings. Intergenerational transmission, that is, maternal ACEs affecting the health of the offspring was also reviewed. Finally, future directions on how to prevent and remedy the impact of ACEs on health was discussed.