Dembo Richard, Swezey Alexis, Herrera Rachel, Melendez Luz, Geiger Camille, Bittrich Kerry, Wareham Jennifer, Schmeidler James
Criminology Department, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620, USA.
ACTS, Inc. (Agency for Community Treatment Services), Tampa, FL 33604, USA.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2025 Aug 31;22(9):1371. doi: 10.3390/ijerph22091371.
The association between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and depression has been the focus of a number of prevalent studies in recent years-particularly among high-risk youth. Depression remains a significant mental health issue among justice-involved youth. There is a well-established correlation between depressed mood and conduct problems (e.g., conduct disorder and oppositional defiant disorder) during childhood and adolescence, which tends to become more prevalent during adolescence. Studies of justice-involved youth reveal high prevalence rates of depression and other mood disorders. Drawing on the relevant literature, we conducted multigroup structural equation model (SEM) analyses to assess the relationships between experiencing ACEs, sexual assault victimization, and depression among male ( = 226) and female ( = 98) youth entering a post-arrest intake facility in the Florida, U.S.A. juvenile justice system in 2024-2025. The youths averaged 15 years in age, and most were attending middle school or high school. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) were completed to estimate a latent variable labeled depression. Sexual assault victimization and ACEs were hypothesized to be related to each other and were specified as predictors of depression. This trauma/stress experiences and depression model was estimated in two multigroup analyses, across birth gender groups (male or female) and race groups (non-Black or Black) for the youth in this study. The results indicated that there are several notable conclusions from the SEM analyses. First, depression was a scalar invariant in the two multigroup analyses, permitting clearer comparisons of the specified predictors of this construct across groups. Second, for the race-based SEM, experience of sexual assault and the total ACE score were significantly related only in the model for Black youth. The fit of the model was "poorest" among non-Black youth, although even in this case, sexual assault experiences were a significant predictor of depression. Finally, for the gender-based model, sexual assault and ACEs were significant predictors of depression among both male and female youth. Model fit results underscore the important role of abuse trauma and ACEs in understanding these youths' depression symptoms, and they help contribute to the literature on this topic.
童年不良经历（ACEs）与抑郁症之间的关联一直是近年来许多流行研究的重点——尤其是在高危青少年群体中。抑郁症在涉及司法系统的青少年中仍然是一个严重的心理健康问题。在儿童期和青少年期，情绪低落与行为问题（如品行障碍和对立违抗障碍）之间存在着既定的关联，这种关联在青少年期往往更为普遍。对涉及司法系统的青少年的研究表明，抑郁症和其他情绪障碍的患病率很高。借鉴相关文献，我们进行了多组结构方程模型（SEM）分析，以评估2024 - 2025年进入美国佛罗里达州少年司法系统的被捕后收容机构的男性（n = 226）和女性（n = 98）青少年中，经历ACEs、遭受性侵犯与抑郁症之间的关系。这些青少年平均年龄为15岁，大多数人正在上初中或高中。我们完成了验证性因素分析（CFA），以估计一个名为抑郁症的潜在变量。假设性侵犯受害经历和ACEs相互关联，并将其指定为抑郁症的预测因素。针对本研究中的青少年，在两个多组分析中估计了这种创伤/压力经历与抑郁症模型，分析跨越出生性别组（男性或女性）和种族组（非黑人或黑人）。结果表明，结构方程模型分析得出了几个值得注意的结论。首先，在两个多组分析中，抑郁症是一个标量不变量，这使得能够更清晰地比较该结构在不同组中的指定预测因素。其次，对于基于种族的结构方程模型，性侵犯经历和ACEs总分仅在黑人青少年模型中显著相关。在非黑人青少年中，该模型的拟合度“最差”，尽管即便在这种情况下，性侵犯经历也是抑郁症的一个重要预测因素。最后，对于基于性别的模型，性侵犯和ACEs在男性和女性青少年中都是抑郁症的重要预测因素。模型拟合结果强调了虐待创伤和ACEs在理解这些青少年抑郁症状方面的重要作用，并且它们有助于丰富关于这一主题的文献。
