Poster #21 - Gender and Age: Moderators of Impulsivity’s Mediating Effect on Links from ACEs to Adolescent Deviance

• In Event: Poster Session 08

Abstract

Previous research suggests that impulsivity mediates associations between exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and adolescent substance use (e.g., Oshri et al., 2018) and delinquency (e.g., Perez et al., 2018). However, this research has not examined how individual differences, such as age or gender, may moderate these pathways.
Previous research suggests that these pathways may differ by age and may be more likely to occur in older adolescents. There are a few reasons why this may be the case. First, the prevalence of delinquency and substance use, in general, tends to increase as adolescents age (e.g., Oman et al., 2002). Second, they experience a "maturity gap" with increased age (Icenogle et al., 2019). That is, the ability to make logical decisions peaks at age 16, while the ability to keep from acting on risky stimuli does not mature until several years later. Together, these findings suggest that in middle-to-late adolescence, opportunities for deviant behavior such as substance use and delinquency increase, while some executive functioning components, such as the ability to refrain from acting on impulses, do not develop until early adulthood. This combination may allow for increased opportunities in late adolescence for impulsivity to manifest itself in deviant behavior.
Previous research has also indicated that this pathway may be stronger for boys than for girls. For example, Chapple et al. (2021) indicated that ACEs were more likely to lead to increased impulsivity in boys. Furthermore, Hammerslag and Gulley (2016) found that impulsivity was a stronger risk factor for substance use in males. Steketee et al. (2013) found that low self-control was more strongly associated with delinquency in males.
The present study will consider how age and gender may moderate the mediating role of impulsivity in the association between ACEs and substance use and delinquency. We will test two hypotheses. First, we predict this pathway will be stronger among male participants. We also predict this pathway will be stronger in late adolescence.
This study will utilize data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods. Specifically, we will use data from Cohorts 9, 12, and 15 (N = 2,318). Participants in this sample were 50.3% male, 46.1% Hispanic, 35.6% Black, 14.4% White, and 3.9% other races/ethnicities. Caregivers reported their child's ACE exposure and impulsivity at Wave 1 when the participants were ages 9, 12, and 15. Participants self-reported their participation in delinquency and substance use four years later.
All analyses will control for race/ethnicity, household income, and Wave 1 externalizing behavior. The hypotheses will be tested using Mplus version 8.2 (Muthén & Muthén, 1998-2017) using full information maximum likelihood estimation. Multiple group path analysis will be used to test moderated mediation, and bootstrapped confidence intervals will be inspected to interpret the statistical significance of the indirect effects.
This study's results will inform understanding of the processes accounting for the development of substance use and delinquency among children exposed to ACEs and may suggest targets for preventing those outcomes.

Authors

• Abigail Marie Albrinck, University of Dayton
  Presenting Author

• Jackson A. Goodnight