Adverse Childhood Experiences, Risk-taking, and Protective Factors

Abstract

Researchers have discovered many detrimental effects of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). While these outcomes can have far-reaching effects into adulthood, experiencing adversity can also exert proximal impacts on children. An outcome of recent interest in trauma literature is increased risk-taking behavior. I designed the current study to investigate the possible relationship between ACEs and risk-taking in children in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study funded by the NIH. Additionally, I explored the role of close friends and school protective factors as potential moderators in the hypothesized relationship between adverse experiences and risk-taking. My results indicate that ACEs do not significantly predict risk-taking as it was measured in the ABCD Study using a computerized laboratory task. Furthermore, neither having a close friend nor school protective factors moderated the relationship between ACEs and risk-taking. Parent income, ADHD symptoms, and sex of the participant did significantly predict scores on the risk-taking task. Findings are discussed and recommendations for future research are provided.