Unpacking adverse childhood experiences: Unique effects on depression, post-traumatic stress, and social anxiety among young adults in seven countries.

BACKGROUND

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been linked to mental health problems, with a growing body of literature examining specific effects of individual ACEs on psychopathology. To date, few studies have included specific effects of community ACEs or examined whether unique effects of individual ACEs generalize across cultural contexts.

OBJECTIVE

The present study aimed to expand on prior findings related to cumulative ACE exposure by investigating unique mental health outcomes of individual ACEs and by testing cross-national invariance of these associations.

PARTICIPANTS AND

SETTING

Participants were 5945 university students recruited from seven countries (i.e., United States [Colorado, New Mexico, New York, Virginia], Argentina, Spain, Uruguay, England, Canada, and South Africa) across 12 universities.

METHODS

Students' adverse experiences were assessed with the Adverse Childhood Experiences- International Questionnaire (ACE-IQ). Mental health was assessed with the general depression, traumatic intrusions, and social anxiety subscales of the Inventory of Depression and Anxiety Symptoms (IDAS).

RESULTS

Sexual abuse, emotional neglect, household mental illness, household violence, and bullying independently predicted all three mental health outcomes, whereas community violence uniquely predicted depression and PTSS. Multigroup models corroborated these patterns across countries, with the exception that emotional neglect was not consistently associated with anxiety and PTSS (particularly in non-American contexts).

CONCLUSIONS

Findings illustrate the value of unpacking ACE scores and emphasize the salience of sexual abuse, emotional neglect, household mental illness, household violence, and bullying for young adult mental health outcomes. Findings of the present study can be used to inform targeted mental health programs for university students.