Negative Affect Predicts Adults' Ratings of the Current, but Not Childhood, Impact of Adverse Childhood Events

Community Ment Health J (2013) 49:560566

DOI 10.1007/s10597-012-9511-4

BRIEF REPORT

Negative Affect Predicts Adults Ratings of the Current, but Not Childhood, Impact of Adverse Childhood Events

Marianna LaNoue David A. Graeber

Deborah L. Helitzer Jan Fawcett

Received: 2 September 2011 / Accepted: 11 March 2012 / Published online: 30 March 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012

Abstract Adverse childhood events (ACEs) have been empirically related to a wide range of negative health and mental health outcomes. However, not all individuals who experience ACEs follow a trajectory of poor outcomes, and not all individuals perceive the impact of ACEs as necessarily negative. The purpose of this study was to investigate positive and negative affect as predictors of adults ratings of both the childhood and adult impact of their childhood adversity. Self-report data on ACE experiences, including number, severity, and impact were collected from 158 community members recruited on the basis of having adverse childhood experiences. Results indicated that, regardless of event severity and number of different types of adverse events experienced, high levels of negative affect were the strongest predictor of whether

the adult impact of the adverse childhood events was rated as negative. All individuals rated the childhood impact of events the same. Implications are discussed.

Keywords Childhood maltreatment Affect Resilience

Life stress Attributions

Introduction

Adverse childhood events (ACEs, such as abuse and witnessing parental violence) have been empirically shown to be related to a wide range of negative adult mental health outcomes. The last 15 years have seen a surge in publications describing relationships between ACE and depression (Chapman et al. 2004) and anxiety (Kessler et al. 1997). Prevalence estimates suggest that these childhood events are common (especially when more general events, such as living in a childhood home with a substance user or where someone attempted suicide, are included); most studies report that a majority of adults experienced at least one event: from 65 % (Dong et al. 2003), to 87 % (LaNoue et al. 2010), and that close to one-quarter of adults have experienced three or more events (Centers for Disease Control [CDC] 2010). Some reports suggest that these may be conservative estimates (Widom and Shepard 1996; Widom and Morris 1997).

There is not yet an accepted model of causation in these...