Social science & medicine
-
Social science & medicine · Jan 2020
ACEs are not equal: Examining the relative impact of household dysfunction versus childhood maltreatment on mental health in adolescence.
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) have shown substantial effects on health across the lifespan. However, many studies on this topic discount the individual items as well as the distinction between household dysfunction and maltreatment experiences. ⋯ Our findings support the assessment of maltreatment events as more salient than household dysfunction in mental health treatment and caution health providers against only using the total ACEs score in clinical decision-making.