@article{ref1,
title="Patterns of exposure to adverse childhood experiences and their associations with mental health: a survey of 1346 university students in East Asia",
journal="Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology",
year="2019",
author="Ho, Grace W. K. and Bressington, D. and Karatzias, T. and Chien, Wai-Tong and Inoue, S. and Yang, P. J. and Chan, A. C. Y. and Hyland, P.",
volume="ePub",
number="ePub",
pages="ePub-ePub",
abstract="INTRODUCTION: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) constitute a significant global mental health burden. Prior studies typically investigated the impact of ACEs on mental health using a cumulative risk approach; most ACEs studies were also conducted in Western settings. <br><br>PURPOSE: This study aimed to examine ACEs using a pattern-based approach and assess their associations with mental health outcomes by early adulthood in East Asia. <br><br>METHODS: The present study included measures of exposure to 13 categories of ACEs, depression, anxiety, maladjustment, and posttraumatic stress in a sample of 1346 university students from Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, and Japan. <br><br>RESULTS: Latent class analysis indicated three distinct patterns of ACE exposure: Class 1: Low ACEs (76.0%); Class 2: Household Violence (20.6%); and Class 3: Household Dysfunction (3.4%). Those representing Class 3 had significantly more ACEs compared with those in Classes 1 or 2. Controlling for age and sex, those in Class 2 reported significantly higher depression and maladjustment symptoms compared with those in Class 1; both Classes 2 and 3 had significantly higher anxiety symptoms and odds for meeting diagnostic criteria for posttraumatic stress disorders compared with those in Class 1. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: Study findings suggest that young adults' mental health, at least under certain contexts, is more closely linked with the nature and pattern of ACE co-occurrence, rather than the number of ACEs.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0933-7954",
doi="10.1007/s00127-019-01768-w",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00127-019-01768-w"
}