TY - JOUR PY - 2023// TI - Associations between mental health problems and adverse childhood experiences ACEs in indigenous and non-indigenous Mexican adolescents JO - Child abuse and neglect A1 - Muñoz, Abigail Casas A1 - Rojano, Ángel Eduardo Velasco A1 - Caballero, Aarón Rodríguez A1 - Solé, Eva Prado A1 - Álvarez, Martín G. SP - e106595 EP - e106595 VL - 147 IS - N2 - BACKGROUND: Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) have long-term consequences. The ACEs model has been extensively used in high-income countries. However, its effectiveness has yet to be demonstrated in low and middle-income countries and marginalized social groups. In indigenous populations, research has found inconsistent results in the prevalence and the relationship between ACEs and mental health outcomes. Therefore, the objectives of this study were 1) to determine the ACEs frequency among indigenous and non-indigenous Mexican adolescents; 2) to test the association between ACE scores and symptoms of Mental Health Problems (SMHP) in both groups; and 3) to review the ACEs model adequacy for the indigenous adolescents. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTINGS: Data from an online survey in 20 of the 32 states of Mexico were analyzed. We selected an 87 adolescent sample from indigenous families and 174 non-indigenous matched for age, sex, and state of residence, with a mean age of 16 years; 60 % were women.

METHODS: ACE-IQ questionnaire and Youth Self Report instrument (eight SMHP) were used to collect data. ACEs' frequency was analyzed for each group, and Pearson correlations were used to identify the relationship between ACEs and SMHP.

RESULTS: There was no statistical significance between Indigenous and non-Indigenous adolescents in the ACEs report. ACE scores were associated with eight SMHP. Correlations between ACE score and SMHP were higher in non-indigenous adolescents.

CONCLUSIONS: ACEs were experienced similarly by both groups and were associated with mental health in all participants. Further research is needed to improve ACEs measurement in indigenous populations.

Language: en

LA - en SN - 0145-2134 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2023.106595 ID - ref1 ER -