Association of Adverse Childhood Experiences with Health Risk Behaviors Among College Students in Zambia

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been linked to long-term health outcomes, while the impact of such experience has not been investigated among Zambian youth. This study examined the associations of ACEs with individual and clusters of health risk behavior among college students in Zambia.

A total of 624 college students participated in this cross-sectional study. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect information on their ACEs and health risk behaviors.

There were 58.3% (364) reporting some forms of ACEs, with 27.6% (172), 16.3% (102), and 14.4% (90) being exposed to 1, 2, and ≥ 3 ACEs, respectively. The prevalence of health risk behaviors ranged from 6.0 to 34.2%. Overall, ACEs were associated with increased risk of smoking, binge drinking, suicide attempt, risky sexual behaviors, and illicit drug use. Logistic regression suggested that participants with ≥ 3 ACEs (OR, 3.62; 95% CI, 2.14-6.13) were more likely to engage in the unhealthy cluster, characterized by the presence of any health risk behavior, than those without ACE.

ACEs were associated with individual and clustering of health risk behaviors among Zambia college students. Our study suggests that early intervention is needed to prevent long-term adverse health consequences in this population.