Adverse Childhood Experiences: Increased Likelihood Of Socioeconomic Disadvantages For Young Adults

More than 60 percent of US adults report that they had adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). For this study of 930,000 children born during the period 1999-2003, we used linked administrative, survey, and criminal justice data to measure the association between ACEs (parental death; separation; incarceration; or criminal charge for intimate partner violence, substance use disorder, or child sexual or nonsexual abuse) and socioeconomic disadvantages at ages 18-22 during 2017-21. After childhood socioeconomic status was controlled for, young adults with ACEs were more likely to have been charged with felonies, have become teenage parents, live in a household with poverty or housing assistance, be enrolled in Medicaid, and be employed, and were less likely to be enrolled in an educational institution. These outcomes were most likely among young adults with multiple ACEs or lower childhood socioeconomic status. Using new linked data opportunities, this study provides large-scale, person-level longitudinal evidence of the long-lasting and substantial societal cost of ACEs.