Role of Individual, Family, and Community Resilience in Moderating Effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences on Mental Health Among Children.
Glory Okwori
PMID 35385422WHAT IT FOUND
Children with 4 or more adverse experiences were more likely to have ADHD, anxiety, behavior disorders, or depression.
High individual resilience was linked with lower likelihood for all four outcomes.
Key findings
01Compared with children with fewer than 4 ACEs, children with 4 or more ACEs had higher adjusted odds of ADHD, behavior disorders, anxiety, and depression.
02High individual resilience was associated with lower adjusted odds of ADHD, behavior disorders, anxiety, and depression compared with low individual resilience.
03Among children with 4 or more ACEs, high individual resilience and high combined resilience were associated with lower adjusted odds of all four outcomes; community resilience was associated with lower adjusted odds of depression among children exposed to more than 4 ACEs.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The study is cross-sectional, so it shows associations at one time and cannot show that ACEs cause mental health outcomes or that resilience prevents them. Mental health outcomes were based on caregiver report that a doctor had told them the child had a condition and whether it was current, not clinical records or standardized assessment. ACE and resilience measures were survey items, and no validated national childhood community resilience measure was found, so community resilience was constructed from available questions. The sample was limited to noninstitutionalized children aged 3 through 17 years in the United States, so it says nothing about institutionalized children or children younger than 3. The weighted response rate was 43.1%, and the authors noted survey responses may be influenced toward positive reporting.
Declared interests
The author declared no conflict of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these associations as proof that building resilience will reduce ADHD, anxiety, behavior disorders, or depression. The study measured children at one time and did not test a resilience intervention, so it cannot show cause.