TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2024//
TI  - Adverse childhood experiences and associations with mental health, substance use, and violence perpetration among young adults in sub-Saharan Africa
JO  - Child abuse and neglect
A1  - Brown, Colvette
A1  - Nkemjika, Stanley
A1  - Ratto, Jeffrey
A1  - Dube, Shanta R.
A1  - Gilbert, Leah
A1  - Chiang, Laura
A1  - Picchetti, Viani
A1  - Coomer, Rachel
A1  - Kambona, Caroline
A1  - McOwen, Jordan
A1  - Akani, Bangaman
A1  - Kamagate, Maman Fathim
A1  - Low, Andrea
A1  - Manuel, Pedro
A1  - Agusto, Angelo
A1  - Annor, Francis B.
SP  - e106524
EP  - e106524
VL  - 150
IS  - 
N2  - BACKGROUND: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) can have debilitating effects on child well-being, with consequences persisting into adulthood. Most ACE studies have been conducted in high-income countries and show a graded relationship between multiple ACE exposures and adverse health outcomes. Less is known about the types and burden of ACEs in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). <br><br>OBJECTIVE: To estimate the pooled prevalence of six individual and cumulative ACE exposures (physical, sexual, and emotional violence; orphanhood; witnessing interparental and community violence) and assess their association with mental health outcomes, substance use, and violence perpetration among young adults in SSA. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: Aggregate data from the Violence Against Children and Youth Survey (VACS) in Cote d'Ivoire 2018, Kenya 2019, Lesotho 2018, Mozambique 2019, and Namibia 2019 included a sample of 11,498 young adults aged 18-24 years. <br><br>METHODS: Cumulative ACEs were defined by an integer count of the total number of individual ACEs (0 to 6). Weighted prevalence and adjusted odds ratios were estimated. <br><br>RESULT: ACEs prevalence ranged from 7.8% (emotional violence) to 55.0% (witnessing community violence). Strong graded relationships between cumulative ACE exposure and all study outcomes for both males and females were observed. Among females, witnessing interparental violence was the only individual ACE risk factor significantly associated with increased odds of substance use; among males, emotional violence was significantly associated with all outcomes. <br><br>CONCLUSION: ACEs are associated with adverse mental health, substance use, and violence perpetration in SSA. Gender-specific and culturally sensitive intervention strategies are needed to effectively mitigate ACEs in this population.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0145-2134
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2023.106524
ID  - ref1
ER  -