Citation

Karatekin C, Hill M. J. Child Adolesc. Trauma 2019; 12(3): 289-306.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s40653-018-0237-5

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

We report two studies examining psychometric properties of an expanded measure of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) that combined the original ACEs items with items from the Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire. In Study 1, we examined its factorial structure, internal consistency, and concurrent validity in undergraduates (N = 1479). In Study 2, we also examined replicability of frequencies of ACEs, test-retest reliability, and convergent and predictive validity.

RESULTS suggested a model with four inter-related factors: maltreatment, household dysfunction, community dysfunction, and peer dysfunction/property victimization. Internal consistency, test-retest reliability, concurrent and convergent validity were acceptable, and findings were replicated across samples. We suggest that this expanded measure is assessing early experiences of victimization and helplessness in the face of perceived intentional emotional and physical threats or actual harm by others, and that although they may not all be "traumatic," their cumulative impact is associated with poor mental health in young adults.

Language: en

Keywords

Adverse childhood experiences; Factorial structure; Mental health; Reliability; Stress; Trauma; Validity