@article{ref1,
title="Examining the associations between adverse childhood experiences, health risk behaviours, and psychological well-being in a convenience sample of Lithuanian university students",
journal="International journal of environmental research and public health",
year="2022",
author="Laurinaitytė, Ilona and Assini-Meytin, Luciana C. and Čunichina, Ksenija",
volume="19",
number="6",
pages="e3253-e3253",
abstract="This study examines the associations between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), health risk behaviours, and psychological well-being among Lithuanian university students. A cross-sectional survey was carried out with a convenience sample of 393 students (80.7% females and 19.3% males) recruited from mostly undergraduate courses (96.4%) in Lithuanian universities. Participants, aged 18-25 years (21.07 ± 1.53), completed a web-based survey in which they were asked to retrospectively self-report on ACEs while answering questions on health risk behaviours (e.g., smoking, substance use, riding a car with a drunk driver) and psychological well-being. Only 8.7% of the study sample experienced no ACEs, and almost half of the sample (48.9%) experienced ≥4 ACEs. <br><br>FINDINGS from adjusted models showed that, compared with students with no ACEs, those who experienced ≥4 ACEs had higher odds of lifetime illicit drug use (AOR = 2.73, p < 0.05), riding with a drunk driver (AOR = 2.44, p < 0.05), suicidal ideation before age 18 (AOR = 28.49, p < 0.01) and in the past 12 months (AOR = 5.39, p < 0.01). An increased number of ACEs was also associated with lower psychological well-being (B = -3.94, p < 0.001). <br><br>FINDINGS from this study have implications for mental health professionals as well as university administrators, as students with a higher number of traumatic experiences may require greater levels of support and services.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1661-7827",
doi="10.3390/ijerph19063253",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19063253"
}