Adverse childhood experiences and substance use among Hispanic emerging adults in Southern California

Abstract

Introduction: Emerging adults who experienced stressful childhoods may engage in substance use as a maladaptive coping strategy. Given the collectivistic values Hispanics encounter growing up, adverse childhood experiences may play a prominent role in substance use decisions as these events violate the assumptions of group oriented cultural paradigms. Alternatively, adverse childhood events might not increase the risk of substance use because strong family ties could mitigate the potential maladaptive behaviors associated with these adverse experiences. This study examined whether adverse childhood experiences were associated with substance use among Hispanic emerging adults.

Method: Participants (n = 1420, mean age = 22, 41% male) completed surveys indicating whether they experienced any of 8 specific adverse experiences within their first 18 years of life, and past-month cigarette use, marijuana use, hard drug use, and binge drinking. Logistic regression models examined the associations between adverse childhood experiences and each category of substance use, controlling for age, gender, and depressive symptoms.

Results: The number of adverse childhood experiences was significantly associated with each category of substance use. A difference in the number of adverse childhood experiences, from 0 to 8, was associated with a 22% higher probability of cigarette smoking, a 24% higher probability of binge drinking, a 31% higher probability of marijuana use, and a 12% higher probability of hard drug use respectively.

Conclusions: These findings should be integrated into prevention/intervention programs in hopes of quelling the duration and severity of substance use behaviors among Hispanic emerging adults.

Keywords: Adverse childhood experiences; Emerging adults; Hispanics; Prevention; Substance use; Young adults.

Figure 1. Accumulated number of adverse childhood experiences and substance use

(A) Shows the predicted probability of past-month cigarette use, (B) past-month binge drinking, (C) past-month marijuana use, and (D) past-month hard drug use by number of number of adverse childhood experiences. Quantities of interest were calculated by using the estimates from each multivariable analysis by simulation using 1,000 randomly drawn sets of estimates from a sampling distribution with mean equal to the maximum likelihood point estimates, and variance equal to the variance-covariance matrix of the estimates with covariates held at their mean values.

Figure 2. Categories of adverse childhood experiences and substance use

(A) Shows the increase in probability of past-month cigarette use, and binge drinking, while (B) shows the increase in probability of past-month marijuana use, and hard drug use, with 95% confidence intervals. An overlapping confidence interval with zero indicates a null result with α = .05. Mean effect sizes and 95% confidence intervals were calculated by simulating the first difference in the adverse childhood experience e.g., verbal abuse from 0 to 1with the use of 1000 randomly drawn sets of estimates from the coefficient covariance matrix with covariates held at their mean values.