Exploring the Links between Individual Types of Adverse Childhood Experiences and Self-Reported Psychiatric and...

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are associated with poor mental health outcomes, but less is known about how specific ACEs are associated with certain outcomes, particularly beyond depression and anxiety. This study explores how fourteen individual types of ACEs are associated with seven self-reported psychiatric and neurocognitive conditions (PNC), including depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, oppositional defiant disorder/conduct disorder (ODD/CD), antisocial personality disorder, borderline personality disorder (BPD), and traumatic brain injury (TBI). This exploratory study uses self-reported cross-sectional data obtained from a convenience sample of adult Amazon's Mechanical Turk workers (n = 1,184). We conduct a series of regressions to estimate adjusted prevalence ratios for each individual ACE and with the seven PNC outcomes. Results indicate nearly all individual ACEs were associated with each outcome. Seeing someone shot or stabbed was associated with a 12-fold increase in ODD/CD, and experiencing emotional abuse was associated with a nearly 22-fold increase in BPD. Ordinal measurement, which captured frequency of ACE exposure, was especially important in understanding the dose-relationship between ACE exposure and TBI. The main limitations of this work lie in the data quality, which is affected by low prevalence rates of some of the outcomes and the use of a convenience sample. This research builds on previous work identifying links between ACEs and PNC by identifying relationships between individual types of ACEs and a number of PNC, including depression and anxiety. Results support understanding of the effects of specific childhood traumas on PNC, which may improve intervention and response efforts.