(PS4-B48) Adverse Childhood Experiences Among Adolescent Girls in Residential Treatment: Relationship with Trauma Symptoms and Substance Use

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) refer to negative events that occur during childhood or adolescence including abuse, maltreatment, and exposure to household dysfunction (Kalmakis & Chandler, 2014). These experiences are associated with a variety of negative life outcomes including chronic diseases, mental and behavioral health concerns, and offending (Fox et al., 2015). Unfortunately, the risk of negative outcomes associated with ACE scores increases significantly once an individual experiences four or more ACEs (Felitti et al., 1998). Polyvictimization refers to the experience of multiple types of violence, abuse, crimes, or trauma (Finkelhor et al., 2011). A majority of adolescents served by residential treatment programs (RTPs) have been exposed to multiple ACEs (Briggs et al., 2013). Youth who experience polyvictimization often demonstrate more adverse outcomes, including externalizing and delinquent behaviors seen in many adolescents in RTPs.

Most research examining juvenile offending and youth delinquency has focused on boys.  Thus, research is warranted to better understand adolescent girls in residential treatment to improve treatment, prevent recidivism, and prevent first encounters with juvenile justice systems. This study addresses some of these gaps by characterizing the adverse childhood experiences and mental and behavioral health concerns of adolescent girls within an RTP by identifying distinct classes of girls based on their ACE scores.

Participants included 282 adolescent girls placed at an RTP in the Midwest. Referrals to this RTP were made by child welfare agencies, juvenile courts, and private sources. Girls were between the ages of 13 to 18 years of age (M = 16.04, SD = 1.24) and 45.0% of the sample identified as White/European American, 20.0% as Biracial/Multiethnic, and 16.4% as Black/African American.  

            Results indicated that girls reported experiencing an average of 5.07 adverse events (SD = 2.46). Further, girls’ range of clinical symptoms as assessed by the BASC-3 SRP-A ranged between 11.9% (Internalizing Problems) and 16.5% (Emotional Problems and Personal Adjustment). Utilizing the Trauma Symptoms Checklist for Children (TSCC), 13.7% reported clinical levels of posttraumatic stress symptoms. The SASSI-A2 was utilized to assess substance use among the sample and found that 17.8% reported clinical levels of alcohol concerns and 51.4% reported other drug concerns.

Latent class analysis using full information likelihood to determine the number of distinct groups with homogeneity within each group based on self-report of exposure to the ten ACEs were conducted and revealed 3 distinct classes (i.e., polyvictimized, moderate adversity, and low adversity groups). Additional analyses will be conducted to examine how these classes differ from one another and are related to girls’ reports of trauma symptoms and substance use. Prevention and policy implications to bolster community resources so that they can be utilized more effectively to foster resilience and promote positive outcomes for these youth and their communities will be discussed. These efforts may help to inform prevention and intervention efforts that reduce burden to children, families, and the systems that serve these youth.