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Association of Adverse Childhood Experiences with Health Risk Behaviors Among College Students in Zambia

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Abstract

Background

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been linked to long-term health outcomes, while the impact of such experience has not been investigated among Zambian youth. This study examined the associations of ACEs with individual and clusters of health risk behavior among college students in Zambia.

Method

A total of 624 college students participated in this cross-sectional study. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect information on their ACEs and health risk behaviors.

Results

There were 58.3% (364) reporting some forms of ACEs, with 27.6% (172), 16.3% (102), and 14.4% (90) being exposed to 1, 2, and ≥ 3 ACEs, respectively. The prevalence of health risk behaviors ranged from 6.0 to 34.2%. Overall, ACEs were associated with increased risk of smoking, binge drinking, suicide attempt, risky sexual behaviors, and illicit drug use. Logistic regression suggested that participants with ≥ 3 ACEs (OR, 3.62; 95% CI, 2.14–6.13) were more likely to engage in the unhealthy cluster, characterized by the presence of any health risk behavior, than those without ACE.

Conclusion

ACEs were associated with individual and clustering of health risk behaviors among Zambia college students. Our study suggests that early intervention is needed to prevent long-term adverse health consequences in this population.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Health Sciences, Wuhan University, Donghu Rd, No. 185, Wuhan, 430071, Hubei Province, People’s Republic of China

    Jie Zhang, Bo-wen Tang, Ming-wei Liu, Shuai Yuan, Hong-jie Yu, Rui Zhang, Xiao-chang Huang, Pei-gang Wang & Qi-qiang He

  2. School of Medicine, University of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia

    Selestine H Nzala & Mpundu Chikoya

  3. Hubei Biomass-Resource Chemistry and Environmental Biotechnology Key Laboratory, Wuhan University, Wuhan, People’s Republic of China

    Qi-qiang He

Authors
  1. Jie Zhang
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  2. Bo-wen Tang
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  3. Ming-wei Liu
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  4. Shuai Yuan
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  5. Hong-jie Yu
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Pei-gang Wang or Qi-qiang He.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participant included in the study.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the Medical Research Ethics Committee of Wuhan University and University of Zambia and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Zhang, J., Tang, Bw., Liu, Mw. et al. Association of Adverse Childhood Experiences with Health Risk Behaviors Among College Students in Zambia. Int.J. Behav. Med. 27, 400–405 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12529-020-09863-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12529-020-09863-y

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