School of Criminology, Criminal Justice, and Emergency Management, College of Health and Human Services, California State University, Long Beach, 1250 Bellflower Blvd., ET-232, Long Beach, CA, 90840, USA.
Deptartment of Criminology, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, 33620, USA.
J Youth Adolesc. 2016 Aug;45(8):1527-45. doi: 10.1007/s10964-016-0519-x. Epub 2016 Jun 11.
Adverse childhood experiences, comprised of forms of maltreatment and certain dysfunctional household environments, can affect the development of a child in a variety of different ways. This multitude of developmental changes may subsequently produce compounding harmful effects on the child's life and increase acutely maladaptive outcomes, including adolescent suicidal behavior. This study uses data collected from 2007 to 2012 for 64,329 Florida Department of Juvenile Justice youth (21.67 % female, 42.88 % African American, and 15.37 % Hispanic) to examine the direct and indirect effects of adverse childhood experiences on suicide attempts. Using a generalized structural equation model, the effects of adverse childhood experience scores are estimated on suicidal behavior through pathways of certain aspects of a child's personality development (aggression and impulsivity), as well as adolescent problem behaviors (school difficulties and substance abuse). The results show that a large proportion of the relationship between childhood adversity and suicide is mediated by the aforementioned individual characteristics, specifically through the youth's maladaptive personality development. These results suggest that, if identified early enough, the developmental issues for these youth could potentially be addressed in order to thwart potential suicidal behavior.
童年逆境经历包括虐待形式和某些功能失调的家庭环境，会以多种不同的方式影响儿童的发展。这些多种发展变化可能会对儿童的生活产生累积的有害影响，并增加极度适应不良的后果，包括青少年自杀行为。本研究使用了 2007 年至 2012 年佛罗里达州少年司法部的 64329 名青少年（21.67%为女性，42.88%为非裔美国人，15.37%为西班牙裔）的数据，探讨了童年逆境经历对自杀企图的直接和间接影响。研究采用广义结构方程模型，通过儿童个性发展的某些方面（攻击性和冲动性）以及青少年问题行为（学业困难和药物滥用）的途径，估计童年逆境经历分数对自杀行为的影响。研究结果表明，童年逆境与自杀之间的关系很大一部分是通过上述个体特征来中介的，特别是通过青少年的适应不良的个性发展。这些结果表明，如果能及早发现这些问题，就有可能解决这些青年的发展问题，从而阻止潜在的自杀行为。
