The Distinct Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences on Adolescents' Emotional and Behavioral Outcomes: A Cross-Sectional Study.

• In Event: Age and Victimization: Understanding Risk Factors Across the Life-Course

Abstract

It has been argued that Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) have the potential to severely impact individuals’ health and behaviors over their life-course. Limited scholarly work, however, has analyzed the immediate impact that these forms of victimization have on youths’ social and personal domains. The current research contributes to the existing literature by analyzing data from a sample of 584 teenagers from Maryland public schools to measure the immediate impact that distinct ACEs have on youths’ levels of self-esteem, anger management skills, future expectations, and parental relations. OLS regression analyses indicate that not all ACEs impact the outcome variables equally; some ACEs affect some of the dependent variables but not all. Results also indicate that the net effect of particular ACEs varies across the outcome variables examined. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Authors

• Sherika Antoinett Service, Prairie View A&M University

• Leon Sergio Garduno, University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH).