Background

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) negatively impact people's physical and mental health and social functioning. Research literature focuses on the impact of ACEs on physical and mental health, yet to our knowledge, no study has examined the literature on ACEs, mental health, and social functioning outcomes.

Objective

To map how ACEs, mental health, and social functioning outcomes have been defined, assessed, and studied in the empirical literature and identify gaps in the current research which need further investigation.

Methods

A scoping review methodology following a five-step framework was implemented. Four databases were searched CINAHL, Ovid (Medline, Embase) and PsycInfo. The analysis involved both numerical and a narrative synthesis in line with the framework.

Results

Fifty-eight studies were included in the analysis, and three key issues were identified a) the limitations of research samples to date, b) the choice of outcome measures for ACEs, social and mental health outcomes, and c) the limitations of current study designs.

Conclusion

The review demonstrates variability in the documentation of participant characteristics and inconsistencies in the definitions and applications of ACEs, social and mental health and related measurements. There is also a lack of longitudinal and experimental study designs, studies on severe mental illness, and studies including minority groups, adolescents, and older adults with mental health problems. Existing research is highly variable methodologically and limits our broader understanding of the relationships between ACEs, mental health, and social functioning outcomes. Future research should implement robust methodologies to provide evidence that could be used for developing evidence-based interventions.

中文翻译：

---

不良的童年经历、心理健康和社会功能：对文献的范围界定审查

背景

不良童年经历 (ACE) 会对人们的身心健康和社会功能产生负面影响。研究文献侧重于 ACE 对身心健康的影响，但据我们所知，还没有研究检查过关于 ACE、心理健康和社会功能结果的文献。

客观的

绘制实证文献中如何定义、评估和研究 ACE、心理健康和社会功能结果，并确定当前研究中需要进一步调查的差距。

方法

实施了遵循五步框架的范围界定审查方法。搜索了四个数据库 CINAHL、Ovid（Medline、Embase）和 PsycInfo。分析涉及符合框架的数字和叙述综合。

结果

分析中包含 58 项研究，并确定了三个关键问题：a) 迄今为止研究样本的局限性，b) ACE、社会和心理健康结果的结果测量选择，以及 c) 当前研究的局限性设计。

结论

审查表明，参与者特征的记录存在差异，ACE、社会和心理健康及相关测量的定义和应用存在不一致。也缺乏纵向和实验研究设计，严重精神疾病研究，以及包括少数民族、青少年和有精神健康问题的老年人在内的研究。现有研究在方法上存在很大差异，限制了我们对 ACE、心理健康和社会功能结果之间关系的更广泛理解。未来的研究应该实施可靠的方法来提供可用于制定循证干预措施的证据。