Background

Childhood adversity is generally associated with adult mental health problems, but most studies have an insufficient sample size to examine relationships among various aspects of childhood adversity and adult mental health outcomes. Further, past research has predominantly been restricted to a single or limited types of adverse events, which ignores the inherent interdependence among childhood adversity indicators.

Objective

The current study explored various configurations of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and then examined the relationships among these configurations and various mental health constructs with a person-centered analytic framework.

Participants and setting

A sample of 3, 932 adult outpatients was recruited in primary care settings, during regular physician visits.

Methods

Participants provided informed consent, demographic information, and then completed validated measure of ACEs (emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, physical neglect, emotional neglect, family dysfunction), and a series of validated mental health measures.

Results

Latent profile analyses revealed four configurations (or profiles) of ACEs, which were analysed for their relationships with mental health outcomes. The profile with a dominance of physical neglect was associated with the highest levels of anxiety and depression. The profiles with high levels of sexual abuse, either alone or combined with general adversity, had more emotional problems than the profile with low levels of adversity. The profiles characterizing mistreatment did not consistently differ from each other on the mental health outcomes.

Conclusions

It is critical to consider ACEs in their complex relationship with each other. Different patterns of ACEs are associated with differential health outcomes in adults.

中文翻译：

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社区样本中不良童年经历和成人健康的潜在概况分析

背景

童年逆境通常与成人心理健康问题有关，但大多数研究的样本量不足，无法检验童年逆境与成人心理健康结果的各个方面之间的关系。此外，过去的研究主要局限于单一或有限类型的不良事件，而忽略了儿童逆境指标之间固有的相互依存关系。

客观的

当前的研究探索了不良童年经历 (ACE) 的各种配置，然后使用以人为中心的分析框架检查了这些配置与各种心理健康结构之间的关系。

参与者和设置

在定期就诊期间，在初级保健机构中招募了 3 名 932 名成人门诊患者。

方法

参与者提供了知情同意书、人口统计信息，然后完成了经过验证的 ACE 测量（情绪虐待、身体虐待、性虐待、身体忽视、情感忽视、家庭功能障碍），以及一系列经过验证的心理健康测量。

结果

潜在剖面分析揭示了 ACE 的四种配置（或剖面），分析了它们与心理健康结果的关系。身体忽视占主导地位的情况与最高水平的焦虑和抑郁有关。性虐待程度高的人，无论是单独的还是与一般逆境相结合，都比低程度逆境的人有更多的情绪问题。描述虐待的特征在心理健康结果上并不一致。

结论

在 ACE 之间的复杂关系中考虑它们是至关重要的。不同的 ACE 模式与成人不同的健康结果相关。