scholarly journals Life course pathways of adverse childhood experiences toward adult psychological well-being: A stress process analysis

2015 ◽  
Vol 45 ◽  
pp. 143-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula S. Nurius ◽  
Sara Green ◽  
Patricia Logan-Greene ◽  
Sharon Borja
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yafan Chen ◽  
Kai Hua ◽  
Chienchung Huang ◽  
Gaosheng Zhou ◽  
Jianfeng Wang

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), including child abuse/neglect and household challenges, are a prevalent social issue that impacts individuals' well-being worldwide. Relatively few ACEs studies orient to the presence of psychological wellness, especially in ethnically Chinese populations. Furthermore, less is known about resilience as a mechanism between ACEs and psychological well-being, in addition to the moderating effect of gender. This study examined the relationship between ACEs and psychological well-being among Chinese college students and the potential mediating and moderating effects of resilience and gender, respectively. A total of 1,871 college students studying social science from 12 Chinese colleges completed an anonymous online survey between late September and early October 2020. Multiple-group path analyses were conducted to examine whether the relationships among ACEs, resilience, and psychological well-being differed as a function of gender. Results suggested that gender moderated the relationships studied. For female students, resilience mediated the association between abuse/neglect and psychological well-being, where abuse/neglect was negatively associated with resilience, which in turn had a negative relationship with psychological well-being. For male students, household challenges were negatively related to psychological well-being through reduced resilience. Based on the findings, various ACE-informed initiatives may be essential to prevent and protect individuals from ACEs. We also call for resilience-based interventions to enhance individuals' resilience and thus strengthen their psychological well-being.


2020 ◽  
pp. 089011712098240
Author(s):  
Ying Huang ◽  
Han Liu ◽  
Muntasir Masum

Objectives: Research has linked adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) to a host of negative health outcomes in adulthood. However, most existing studies focused on traumatic ACEs and used samples collected from a specific geographic unit (e.g., region, city, or state). This study examines the association between non-traumatic ACEs and health outcomes (i.e., self-rated health and psychological well-being) in adulthood, and assesses the extent to which the cumulative life course poverty accounts for these associations between ACEs and health. Data Source: Public and de-identified data from Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) (1968-2013) and its Childhood Retrospective Circumstances Study (CRCS) (2014) ( N = 7,126) were used. Episode and severity of childhood adversities of respondents were determined by using comprehensive retrospective circumstance measures. Methods: Multivariate regression models were used to analyze the associations between ACEs and adult health. Mediation analysis was employed to assess the extent to which the associations were explained by cumulative life course poverty. Data analysis was carried out in 2019 using STATA 15. Results: We found that episode and severity of ACEs were associated with increased risk of poor health and psychological distress. Compared to individuals with no ACEs, one unit increase in the ACE index is associated with 8 and 18 percent increase in the risk of poor health and psychological distress, respectively. A small proportion (4%) of the impact of early adversities on health is attributable to the proportion of adult lifetime spent in poverty. Conclusions: Non-traumatic ACEs are associated with increased risk for poor health and psychological distress. Life course cumulative experience in poverty accounts for a small portion of the associations. Providing support to prevent ACEs may have long-term health benefits.


Author(s):  
Chien-Chung Huang ◽  
Yuanfa Tan ◽  
Shannon P. Cheung ◽  
Hongwei Hu

Literature on the antecedents of psychological well-being (PWB) has found that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and mindfulness are associated with PWB; less is known, however, about the role of mindfulness, a type of emotional and self-regulation, in the pathway between ACEs and PWB. This study used data from 1871 college students across China to examine the relation between ACEs and PWB, and whether the relation was mediated by mindfulness. The findings from structural equation modelling indicate a statistically significant negative association between ACEs and PWB, while mindfulness was strongly and positively associated with PWB. The effect of ACEs on PWB was reduced once mindfulness was controlled for in the analysis. This provides evidence that mindfulness was able to partially mediate the effects of negative life experiences on psychological well-being. This calls for mindfulness interventions targeted toward students with a history of ACEs to buffer the effects of ACEs on PWB.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S235-S235
Author(s):  
Jooyoung Kong ◽  
Yin Liu ◽  
David Almeida

Abstract Extensive evidence suggests that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) can lead to negative health effects across a lifetime. This study examines the impact of ACEs on the frequency of providing daily support (i.e., unpaid assistance, emotional support, and disability-related assistance) to family members and the moderating effects of ACEs in the association between providing daily support to family and daily negative affect. Using the National Study of Daily Experiences II, we analyzed a total of 14,912 daily interviews from 2,022 respondents aged 56 on average. Key results showed that a greater number of ACEs were associated with providing more frequent emotional support to family. We also found the significant interaction effect that adults with more ACEs showed greater negative affect on the days when they provided assistance to family members with disabilities. The findings underscore the long-term negative impact of ACEs on daily well-being in the context of family relationships.


2021 ◽  
pp. 0044118X2199637
Author(s):  
Melissa S. Jones ◽  
Hayley Pierce ◽  
Constance L. Chapple

Though considerable research links both a lack of self-control and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) to a variety of negative health and behavioral outcomes, few studies to date have explored whether ACEs are associated with deficits in self-control. Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCW; n = 3,444) and a life course theoretical framework, this study aims to address this gap in the literature by examining the relationships between individual ACEs, cumulative ACEs, timing of ACEs, and durations of early ACEs and self-control development among youth. Our results indicate that as the number of ACEs (by age 5) experienced incrementally increases, the likelihood of reported self-control decreases. Moreover, when it comes to the timing and duration of ACE exposure, ACEs that are high but late, intermittent, or chronically high significantly decrease self-control. Based on our findings, researchers should continue to explore the role of ACEs in youth self-control development.


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