The Association Between Expanded ACEs and Behavioral Health Outcomes Among Youth at First Time Legal System Contact

Area of Science:

• Child Psychology
• Forensic Psychology
• Public Health

Background:

• Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) significantly impact behavioral health in adolescents within the juvenile legal system.
• Research typically focuses on standard ACEs (abuse, neglect, household dysfunction), overlooking expanded ACEs like discrimination and neighborhood disadvantage.
• Justice-impacted youth frequently encounter these expanded ACEs, suggesting their potential importance in understanding behavioral health.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the prospective impact of both standard and expanded ACEs on behavioral health outcomes in adolescents following their initial contact with the juvenile legal system.
• To determine if including expanded ACEs enhances the predictive power of the standard ACEs score for substance use and psychiatric symptoms.

Main Methods:

• The study assessed the prospective impact of total ACEs (standard and expanded) on alcohol and cannabis use, substance-related consequences, and psychiatric symptoms.
• Data were collected during the year following first-time contact with the juvenile court.
• Justice-impacted youth's experiences with expanded ACEs prior to their first court contact were analyzed.

Main Results:

• Justice-impacted youth reported experiencing multiple expanded ACEs before their first court contact.
• Expanded ACEs did not predict behavioral health outcomes (alcohol/cannabis use, substance consequences, psychiatric symptoms) beyond the predictive power of standard ACEs.
• The inclusion of expanded ACEs in the ACEs score did not enhance its utility for identifying prospective behavioral health issues in this population.

Conclusions:

• While justice-impacted youth experience numerous expanded ACEs, these do not appear to improve the prediction of behavioral health outcomes compared to standard ACEs alone.
• Current ACEs scoring may sufficiently capture risks for behavioral health issues in adolescents with first-time juvenile legal system contact.
• Further research could explore specific expanded ACEs or different outcome measures to understand their unique contributions.