Co‐Occurring Youth Profiles of Adverse Childhood Experiences and Protective Factors: Associations with Health, Resilience, and Racial Disparities

Abstract

It is important to understand racial/ethnic differences in adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), given their relationship to long‐term physical and mental health, and the public health cost of the significant disparities that exist. Moreover, in order to inform interventions and promote resilience, it is critical to examine protective factors that mitigate the relationship between adversity and poor health. The current study utilized latent transition analyses (LTA) to examine co‐occurring profiles of ACEs and protective factors (from school, family, and community contexts) and links to health outcomes among 30,668 Black (10.4%), Latinx (12.3%), and White youth (77.3%) ages 12–17 (52.5% male) who participated in the 2011–12 National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH). Results suggested that greater adversity was associated with worse health, while more access to protective factors was associated with better health. White youth had consistently lower endorsement of ACEs, greater access to protective factors, and better health compared to their Black and Latinx counterparts. Efforts to improve child health and racial/ethnic disparities in research and practice must consider adversity, protective factors, and the systemic inequities faced by racial/ethnic minority youth in the United States.

Profiles of Resilience among Children Exposed to Non-Maltreatment Adverse Childhood Experiences

“…These findings are consistent with previous studies that found younger maternal age as a risk factor [60] and female gender as a protective factor [61] for resilience and positive child development. Yet, empirical results on the association between race and childhood resilience have been mixed and inconclusive, with some studies reporting better outcomes and higher resilience among White children [62] and other studies reporting no racial differences in childhood resilience [63]. More research is needed to understand the association between race and childhood resilience following exposure to adversity.…”

Positive Childhood Experiences (PCE): Cumulative Resiliency in the Face of Adverse Childhood Experiences

“…Alternatively, among 489 adolescents in the northwestern U.S., when examining both cumulative ACEs and PCEs in the same models, ACEs were not predictive of health indicators, while PCEs predicted less risky sex, substance abuse, and depression, and a more positive body image (Crandall et al, 2020). Examining children, Liu and colleagues (2020) found youth similarly situated with respect to ACE exposure but with higher total PCE scores have better health outcomes than their peers with lower total PCEs. Unfortunately, they also found that among youth with similar total PCE scores those with higher ACE scores did not do as well as youth with lower ACE exposures, suggesting exposure to PCEs “generally promotes healthy adaptation in the face of adversity, but whose effects become insignificant in the presence of extreme risk” (p. 181).…”

Risk Behaviour and Youth Resilience-Based on Demographic Profile

“…Besides, emotional and behavioral problems in adolescents can be intervened by involving mindfulness and life skills training to manage stressful situations experienced more healthily to increase resilience (Huang, Chen, Cheung, Greene, & Lu, 2019) because stress in youth is related to the level of adulthood resilience (Daniel et al, 2020). So, Liu et al recommended that positive and healthy schools and families be established as important protective factors for youth resilience (Liu, Kia-Keating, Nylund-Gibson, & Barnett, 2020). Also, psychotherapy that focuses on resilience is highly recommended to protect adolescents because they may have a bad childhood experience that has the potential to cause psychological distress that affects adolescents to use drugs in the future (Fuchs, Glaude, Hansel, Osofsky, & Osofsky, 2020).…”