Early Childhood ACEs and Temperament

• In Event: Poster Session 10
  In Poster Session: PS 10 Topic - Prevention and Interventions

Abstract

Researchers have explored the effects of early adverse life experiences (ACEs) on children’s developmental outcomes for decades. The original ACEs survey employed by Felitti et al. found that people with multiple categories of childhood adversity were more likely to have multiple health risk factors later in their lives. People with four or more categories of adverse childhood experiences had a 4 to 12 times higher risk of alcoholism, drug abuse, mental illness (depression), and suicide attempts when compared to those with no ACEs. Because most ACEs research is based on adult retrospective accounts, and because almost no research has investigated ACEs as they are accruing in early childhood, we assessed ACEs in early childhood via a new methodology employing anonymous parent-report. We also explored whether ACEs in toddlerhood were associated with concomitant temperament, which is known to be a very strong predictor of later conduct and emotional disorders.

Caregivers of 84 infants (43% female, Mage = 7.89 months), 93 toddlers/preschoolers (54% female, Mage = 24.24 months), and 80 early school age children (50% female, Mage = 57.04 months) were asked to rate their children’s temperament using the Infant Behavior Questionnaire – Revised, the Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire, and the Children’s Behavior Questionnaire, respectively. To assess the number of ACEs children experienced, we had caregivers complete a modified version of the original ACEs survey on behalf of their children. A sample item for verbal abuse was, “Has your child ever been sworn at, insulted, humiliated, or put down in the home.” We also assessed a total of 19 categories of ACEs, thus supplementing the original 10 categories of ACEs employed in the Felitti study.

Twenty-nine (34.5%) of the infants, 40 (42.6%) of the toddler/preschoolers, and 52 (65%) of the early school aged children were reported as having one or more ACEs. Children’s ACE scores were also associated with their temperament ratings. In the toddler/preschool group, for example (see Table 1), temperamental negative affectivity and several of its subdimensions were robustly associated with children’s ACE scores. However, in the early childhood group, it was the subdimensions of surgency that were associated with children’s ACE scores; including activity level (r(80) = .31, p = .005), approach (r(80) = .27, p = .014), high intensity pleasure (r(80) = .23, p = .043), and impulsivity (r(80) = .21, p = .062). In the infancy group, ACE scores were less systematically associated with temperament.

To the best of our knowledge, this is one of the first investigations to explore ACEs in very young children using parent-report methodology; other studies have inferred ACEs from public health and criminal justice records. Our findings of associations between temperament and ACE scores raises the question of how children’s temperament may be related to their adverse experiences. A limitation of our study is that our employment of anonymous data, intended to facilitate accuracy of parental reporting, cannot ensure it. Future attempts at replicating our ACEs-temperament associations in very early childhood can help shed light on the validity of our methodology.

Authors

• Elysabeth Sexton, University of Tennessee
  Non-Presenting Author

• Wallace E Dixon, East Tennessee State University
  Presenting Author

• Chelsea Robertson, West Liberty University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Lauren Driggers-Jones, East Tennessee State University
  Non-Presenting Author