Citation

Kidman R, Smith D, Piccolo LR, Kohler HP. Child Abuse Negl. 2019; 92: 139-145.

Affiliation

Department of Sociology and Population Studies Center, University of Pennsylvania, 3718 Locust Walk (272 McNeil Building), Philadelphia, PA 19104-6298, United States.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.chiabu.2019.03.015

PMID

30974257

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) can have lifelong adverse impacts on health and behavior. While this relationship has been extensively documented in high-income countries, evidence from lower-income contexts is largely missing. In order to stimulate greater research on the prevalence and consequences of ACEs in low-income countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) developed the ACE-International Questionnaire (ACE-IQ).

OBJECTIVE: In this paper, we explore the factor structure, validity and reliability of the original ACE-IQ, and evaluate whether potential adaptations improve its predictive validity. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: Four hundred and ten adolescents (age 10-16 years old) from Malawi.

METHODS: The adolescents answered an adapted version of ACE-IQ and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI).

RESULTS: Taken together, our results suggest that (a) the ACE-IQ is structured in three dimensions: household disruption, abuse, and neglect; (b) there is support for the validity of the scale evidenced by the correlation between subdimensions (average across 13 correlations, phi = .20, p < 0,01; across subdomains (phi = .10, p < 0,01); partial agreement among children with the same caregiver (ICC = .43, p < .001) and correlation between ACE and depression (predictive validity; r = .35, p < .001); (c) information on the timing of the adversities ("last year" in addition to "ever") modestly improved the predictive value of the ACE-IQ in models of depression (from R² = .12 to.15, p < .001); and (d) additional HIV-related questions showed low endorsement and a modest correlation with BDI (r = .25, p < 0,01).

CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that the ACE-IQ is appropriate for use among adolescents from a low-income context.

Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

ACE; Adolescence; Adverse childhood experiences; HIV; Psychometric evaluation