San Francisco State University, College of Science and Engineering, Department of Psychology, 1600 Holloway Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94132, USA.
San Francisco State University, College of Science and Engineering, Department of Psychology, 1600 Holloway Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94132, USA.
Child Abuse Negl. 2021 Aug;118:105128. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2021.105128. Epub 2021 May 26.
The translation of research on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) into effective prevention and treatment of psychopathology requires examination of how ACEs impact mental health. Moreover, increased attention to more marginalized populations, such as immigration-affected ethnic-minority young adults, is greatly needed.
The current study tested the hypothesis that greater ACEs would be related to greater generalized anxiety symptoms directly and indirectly, via ACE-related deficits in coping efficacy, self-compassion, and perceived support, above and beyond immigration-related family stress.
Participants included ethnic minority young adults (n = 322) attending a public university who reported having at least one family member living in the United States without legal protection and/or being undocumented themselves.
Data was collected online using validated measures of the primary study variables. Participants also completed a pilot measure of immigration-related stress in their family. A multiple mediation model was tested in a structural equation modeling framework.
A substantial percentage of young adults experienced 4 or more ACEs and clinically-significant generalized anxiety symptoms (38.5% and 20.5%, respectively); a greater number of ACEs were directly (β = 0.33, p < .001) and indirectly, via lower self-compassion (standardized indirect effect 95% CI: 0.04, 0.14), associated with significantly greater generalized anxiety symptoms, above and beyond immigration-related family stress and other indicators of socioemotional functioning.
Findings suggest that ACEs and generalized anxiety are prevalent in ethnic minority young adults from mixed legal status families and their association may be partially accounted for by ACE-related deficits in self-compassion.
将不良童年经历（ACEs）的研究转化为精神病理学的有效预防和治疗，需要研究 ACEs 如何影响心理健康。此外，需要更多地关注移民影响的少数民族青年等边缘化群体。
本研究检验了以下假设，即 ACEs 越多，与一般焦虑症状的直接和间接关系越大，通过 ACE 相关的应对效能、自我同情和感知支持的缺陷，超出了与移民相关的家庭压力。
参与者包括在一所公立大学就读的少数民族青年（n=322），他们报告说至少有一名家庭成员生活在美国，没有合法保护，或者自己没有身份。
使用主要研究变量的验证测量方法在线收集数据。参与者还完成了家庭中与移民相关压力的试点测量。在结构方程模型框架中测试了多重中介模型。
相当一部分年轻人经历了 4 次或更多 ACEs 和临床显著的一般焦虑症状（分别为 38.5%和 20.5%）；更多的 ACEs 与更严重的一般焦虑症状直接相关（β=0.33，p<0.001），通过自我同情程度降低（标准化间接效应 95%置信区间：0.04，0.14）间接相关，这超出了与移民相关的家庭压力和其他社会情感功能指标。
研究结果表明，混合合法身份家庭的少数民族青年中 ACEs 和一般焦虑症状普遍存在，它们的相关性部分可以用 ACE 相关的自我同情缺陷来解释。
