Patterns of adverse childhood experiences and their associations with depression, life satisfaction and short-form video addiction in Chinese college students

Abstract

Background: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are widespread in East Asia, heightening the susceptibility to psychological and behavioral complications in adulthood.

Objective: To identify polyvictimization patterns among Chinese college students and investigate the associations between diverse patterns and symptoms of depression, short-form video addiction (SVA), and life satisfaction.

Participants and setting: This study encompassed 13,307 college students from four urban centers in China (M_age = 20.2; 46.4 % female).

Methods: Latent class analysis (LCA) was employed to discern patterns of ACEs among college students. The three-step method (R3step) was utilized to explore the influence of demographic characteristics on the distribution of latent classes. Additionally, the automatic Bolck-Croon-Hagenaars (BCH) Method was deployed to investigate the latent classes effect on distal outcomes.

Results: Left-behind experience was the most common ACE among Chinese college students. Four ACEs patterns were identified: 1) No/Very Low ACEs class (N = 8936, 67.2 %); 2) Parental Absence class (N = 430, 3.2 %); 3) Low/Moderate ACEs class (N = 3565, 26.8 %); and 4) High Violence and Left-behind class (N = 376, 2.8 %). The findings revealed a progressive escalation in healthy outcomes associated with the four ACEs patterns. Specifically, from the first class to the fourth, the severity of associated consequences (depression, life satisfaction and SVA) intensified.

Conclusions: Distinct ACEs patterns correlate with varying degrees of mental health issues. Compared to participants solely separated from parents, those exposed to abuse and neglect demonstrate more pronounced mental health challenges and addiction susceptibilities.

Keywords: Adverse childhood experiences; Chinese college students; Depression; Life satisfaction; Short-form video addiction.