Prevalence of Adverse Childhood Experiences in Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders in Special Education Schools from a Multi-Informant Perspective

Abstract

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are associated with an increased risk of developing severe emotional and behavioral problems; however, little research is published on ACEs for students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) in special education (SE) schools. We therefore systematically explored the prevalence, type and timing of ACEs in these students from five urban SE schools in the Netherlands (M_age = 11.58 years; 85.1% boys) from a multi-informant perspective, using students' self-reports (n = 169), parent reports (n = 95) and school files (n = 172). Almost all students experienced at least one ACE (96.4% self-reports, 89.5% parent reports, 95.4% school files), and more than half experienced four or more ACEs (74.5% self-reports, 62.7% parent reports, 59.9% school files). A large majority of students experienced maltreatment, which often co-occurred with household challenges and community stressors. Additionally, 45.9% of the students experienced their first ACE before the age of 4. Students with EBD in SE who live in poverty or in single-parent households were more likely to report multiple ACEs. Knowledge of the prevalence of ACEs may help understand the severe problems and poor long-term outcomes of students with EBD in SE.

Keywords: adverse childhood experiences; emotional and behavioral disorders; multi-informant; prevalence; special education schools; students; trauma-informed education.

Figure 1

Flowchart of research participation.

Figure 2

Timing of the first ACE in school files (n = 172) Note. For 11.6% of the students, the timing of the first ACE was not registered and therefore added to the category unspecified.