ACE's and Friendship Difficulties

Abstract

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are traumatic events in an individual’s life that occurred before age 18. Examples of ACEs include various types of abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction. Decades of research on the topic has linked ACEs to increased risk of developing chronic diseases and behavioral health challenges. Data also suggest the more ACEs an individual experiences, the greater the risk of negative outcomes and high-risk behaviors. ACEs can also impact an individual’s ability to make and maintain friends, as many ACEs can have long-term effects on an individual’s social interaction. In the present study, four ACEs related to household dysfunction were examined. It was hypothesized that experiencing household dysfunction was related to a child’s difficulty making or keeping friends. To examine the research questions, four Chi Square Tests of Independence were completed. Results indicated an association between a child having difficulty making or keeping friends and the four ACEs examined– witnessing domestic violence, parental mental illness, parental incarceration, and parental substance abuse. However, the association between difficulty making and keeping friends and the four ACEs in question are weak, as indicated by the small effect sizes found in each analysis. The present analyses do not account for other factors that may influence a child’s friendship difficulties, nor do they consider the potentially compounding effects of experiencing multiple ACEs. Although the present study is limited, the results reiterate the importance of screening for ACEs in children to provide targeted interventions, such as social skills interventions, that could be beneficial for children who have experienced household dysfunction.