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Early Adverse Childhood Experiences and Positive Functioning during Adolescence

  • Empirical Research
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Abstract

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been shown to have consequences for adolescent development, yet little is known about the association between ACEs and positive functioning. Positive functioning evaluates engagement, perseverance, optimism, connectedness, and happiness, which are intimately related to pro-social behavior. As skills associated with sociability in adolescence often carry on into adulthood, understanding the developmental origins in inequalities in pro-social behavior, as measured by positive functioning, is key to ensuring equitable life chances across the life course. Subsequently, the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS; n = 3444) was used to examine how early exposure to cumulative ACEs, plus the timing and duration of those ACEs may be associated with positive functioning development in adolescence. The sample consisted of urban-born youth (49% female) with the mean age of 15. Racial/ethnic breakdown of the sample is 18% non-Hispanic White, 49% non-Hispanic Black, 25% Hispanic, and 8% “Other”. Overall, estimates suggest that roughly 88% of these youth experienced at least one ACE by age five. The findings indicate that cumulation, timing, and duration of early ACEs are related to overall adolescent positive functioning and four out of the five domains (perseverance, optimism, connectedness, and happiness), even after controlling for more recent ACEs. This study highlights the critical impact of very early ACEs on youth positive functioning, which may confer further physical, mental, and social disadvantages into adulthood. Positive functioning can serve as a protective factor against some of the negative consequences of adversity, and ensuring that all families receive proper supports may limit the lifelong effects of adversity, and most importantly, prevent ACEs from occurring in the first place.

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Notes

  1. OLS regression assumptions (i.e., homoscedasticity, multicollinearity, checking normality of the residuals) were assessed for the full positive functioning scale as well as each of the five domain subscales. The results from the tests indicate that OLS regression assumptions were not violated.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Lance Erickson for his crucial help with revisions to this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Brigham Young University, 2036 JFSB, Provo, UT, 84602, USA

    Hayley Pierce, Melissa S. Jones, Hannah Shoaf & Mackenzie Heim

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  1. Hayley Pierce
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  2. Melissa S. Jones
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Contributions

H.P. conceived of the study, participated in its design and coordination and drafted the manuscript; M.S.J. participated in the design and interpretation of the data and mentored the performance of the statistical analysis; H.S. drafted portions of the manuscript; and M.H. performed initial drafts of the statistical analysis. All authors approved the final manuscript.

Data Sharing Declaration

The data that support the findings of this study are available upon application from Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing at https://fragilefamilies.princeton.edu/.

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Correspondence to Hayley Pierce.

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This manuscript uses secondary data. Primary data collection was done at Princeton University and followed all ethical guidelines.

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The team from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study at Princeton University report that informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Appendix

Appendix

Tables 5–7

Table 5 Positive adolescent functioning items
Full size table
Table 6 Correlations between positive functioning domains
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Table 7 Coding of eight ACE measures
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Pierce, H., Jones, M.S., Shoaf, H. et al. Early Adverse Childhood Experiences and Positive Functioning during Adolescence. J Youth Adolescence 52, 913–930 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-022-01729-8

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