Adverse childhood experiences, risky health behaviors, and perceived social support

Citation

Norrington, Janette (2018). Adverse childhood experiences, risky health behaviors, and perceived social support. Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association. Philadelphia, PA.

Abstract

Adverse childhood experiences have been recognized as some of the basic causes of morbidity and mortality in adult life. While we know the relationship between ACEs and health outcomes and behaviors, we know less about which clusters of ACEs impact specific health behaviors or the role of social support as a potential moderator. Using longitudinal data from Add Health, I examine clusters of ACEs, risky health behaviors, and perceived social support (n=3132). I found that high ACE scores are associated with cigarette smoking, binge eating, unprotected sex, disordered eating, illegal drug use, and heavy marijuana use. Perceived social support served as a significant moderator for the relationship between ACEs, binge eating, disordered eating, and sedentary behavior. Although social support slightly reduced the association between ACEs and illegal drug use and heavy marijuana use, it could not completely reduce the impact of ACEs on these outcomes so further research is warranted.

URL

https://convention2.allacademic.com/one/asa/asa18/index.php?cmd=Online+Program+View+Paper&selected_paper_id=1378532

Keyword(s)

adverse childhood experiences risky health behaviors social support

Reference Type

Conference proceeding

Book Title

Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association

Series Title

2184. Section on Medical Sociology Refereed Roundtable Session

Author(s)

Norrington, Janette

Year Published

2018

City of Publication

Philadelphia, PA

Reference ID

9343