BackgroundThere is not yet a consensus on the best way to conceptualise adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). We used data‐driven methods across two populations to examine (a) if there were meaningful dimensions underlying ACEs and (b) whether dimensions were differentially associated with increased risk of adolescent psychopathology.MethodsParticipants were 18,539 British children from the UK Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) and 11,876 American children from the US Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (ABCD). A wide range of ACEs (e.g., abuse, neglect, parental psychopathology, peer victimisation) were measured prospectively from infancy to mid‐adolescence using interviews and questionnaires. Internalising and externalising symptoms were assessed with child and/or parent reports during adolescence.ResultsOur preregistered exploratory factor analysis revealed four latent dimensions in the MCS (parental threat, deprivation, victimisation, and parental discipline) and ABCD (parental threat, deprivation, victimisation, and traumatic events). All dimensions except deprivation were associated with increased risk for internalising and externalising symptoms. Over and above the other dimensions, victimisation was more strongly associated with internalising (MCS β = .34, 95% CI 0.33–0.36; ABCD β = .11, 95% CI 0.10–0.13) and externalising (MCS β = .31, 95% CI 0.30–0.33; ABCD β = .13, 95% CI 0.11–0.15) symptoms.ConclusionsAcross two distinct populations, we found that ACEs can be captured by common underlying dimensions of parental threat, deprivation, and victimisation, as well as additional sample‐specific dimensions. Our findings expand dimensional theories of childhood adversity by suggesting that in addition to threat and deprivation, victimisation is a distinct dimension of adversity that has the strongest associations with adolescent psychopathology.

中文翻译：

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是否存在童年逆境的有意义的维度？来自两项前瞻性队列研究的数据驱动证据


背景关于概念化童年不良经历 （ACEs） 的最佳方法尚未达成共识。我们在两个人群中使用数据驱动方法来检查 （a） ACEs 是否存在有意义的维度，以及 （b） 维度是否与青少年精神病理学风险增加不同相关。方法参与者是来自英国千禧年队列研究 （MCS） 的 18,539 名英国儿童和来自美国青少年脑认知发展研究 （ABCD） 的 11,876 名美国儿童。使用访谈和问卷从婴儿期到青春期中期前瞻性测量了广泛的 ACE （例如，虐待、忽视、父母精神病理学、同伴受害）。在青春期通过儿童和/或父母的报告评估内化和外化症状。结果我们预先注册的探索性因子分析揭示了 MCS （父母威胁、剥夺、受害和父母管教） 和 ABCD （父母威胁、剥夺、受害和创伤事件） 中的四个潜在维度。除剥夺外，所有维度都与内化和外化症状的风险增加有关。除了其他维度之外，受害与内化的相关性更强（MCS β = .34,95% CI 0.33-0.36;ABCD β = .11,95% CI 0.10-0.13）和外化 （MCS β = .31,95% CI 0.30-0.33;ABCD β = .13,95% CI 0.11–0.15） 症状。结论在两个不同的人群中，我们发现 ACEs 可以通过父母威胁、剥夺和受害的常见潜在维度以及其他样本特异性维度来捕获。 我们的研究结果扩展了童年逆境的维度理论，表明除了威胁和剥夺之外，受害是逆境的一个独特维度，与青少年精神病理学的关联最强。