Adverse childhood experiences and mental health conditions among multiracial adolescents.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this study was to verify the factor structure of the household dysfunction type of ACE using data from the National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH), and then examine whether household dysfunction (measured as a latent construct) was associated with mental health conditions among multiracial adolescents.

DESIGN

We used cross-sectional data collected in 2016 from caregivers who completed the NSCH and analyzed data from a subpopulation of adolescents (12-17) who reported more than one race (n = 1,231). Mplus 8.4 was used to conduct confirmatory factor analysis and probit models from a structural equation modeling framework.

RESULTS

Results from this study indicated that the household dysfunction type of ACE, as a latent construct, had good model fit and was significantly associated with depression [standardized coefficient [] = .50, 95% confidence interval [CI] .36, .65], anxiety [ = .61, 95% CI .48, .73], behavior problems [ = .58, 95% CI .44, .72], and ADHD [ = .54, 95% CI .38, .69] for multiracial adolescents.

CONCLUSIONS

Household dysfunction may result in adolescents being separated (physically or emotionally) from their caregivers, which may hinder adolescents' ability to establish or maintain one of the most important relationships needed to promote racial/ethnic identity development and mental health. Implications for advancements in theory and NSCH are presented.