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The Relationship of Adverse Childhood Experiences to PTSD, Depression, Poly-Drug Use and Suicide Attempt in Reservation-Based Native American Adolescents and Young Adults

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American Journal of Community Psychology

Abstract

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are associated with numerous risk behaviors and mental health outcomes among youth. This study examines the relationship between the number of types of exposures to ACEs and risk behaviors and mental health outcomes among reservation-based Native Americans. In 2011, data were collected from Native American (N = 288; 15–24 years of age) tribal members from a remote plains reservation using an anonymous web-based questionnaire. We analyzed the relationship between six ACEs, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, physical and emotional neglect, witness to intimate partner violence, for those <18 years, and included historical loss associated symptoms, and perceived discrimination for those <19 years; and four risk behavior/mental health outcomes: post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, depression symptoms, poly-drug use, and suicide attempt. Seventy-eight percent of the sample reported at least one ACE and 40 % reported at least two. The cumulative impact of the ACEs were significant (p < .001) for the four outcomes with each additional ACE increasing the odds of suicide attempt (37 %), poly-drug use (51 %), PTSD symptoms (55 %), and depression symptoms (57 %). To address these findings culturally appropriate childhood and adolescent interventions for reservation-based populations must be developed, tested and evaluated longitudinally.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge Dr. John Umhau, Indian Health Service, for his expertise. This work was supported in part by the intramural research program at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for American Indian Health.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nursing Research and Translational Science, National Institutes of Health, Clinical Center, 10 Center Drive, Room 3C440, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA

    Teresa N. Brockie

  2. University of Maine, Orono, ME, USA

    Gail Dana-Sacco

  3. Nursing Research and Translational Science, National Institutes of Health, Clinical Center, 10 Center Drive, Room 2B09, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA

    Gwenyth R. Wallen

  4. Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Holly C. Wilcox

  5. Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Jacquelyn C. Campbell

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  1. Teresa N. Brockie
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  2. Gail Dana-Sacco
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  4. Holly C. Wilcox
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  5. Jacquelyn C. Campbell
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Correspondence to Teresa N. Brockie.

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Brockie, T.N., Dana-Sacco, G., Wallen, G.R. et al. The Relationship of Adverse Childhood Experiences to PTSD, Depression, Poly-Drug Use and Suicide Attempt in Reservation-Based Native American Adolescents and Young Adults. Am J Community Psychol 55, 411–421 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-015-9721-3

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