Adverse Childhood Experiences and Forensic Typologies: Getting Specific about Trauma among Institutionalized Youth

• Published in: International journal of environmental research and public health Vol. 18; no. 21; p. 11307
• Main Authors: Jahic, Ilma, Trulson, Chad R., Caudill, Jonathan W., Bonner, Taea, Slemaker, Alexandra, DeLisi, Matt
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 28.10.2021; MDPI
• Subjects: Abuse; Addictive behaviors; Adverse childhood experiences; Alcohol use; Archives & records; Behavior; Caregivers; Children; Children & youth; Criminology; Delinquency; Deviance; Drug abuse; Drug use; Emotional abuse; Forensic science; Households; Juvenile justice; Mental disorders; Psychopathology; Regression analysis; Sex crimes; Sexual assault; Suicides & suicide attempts; Trauma; Violence; United States > US; Texas
• ISSN: 1660-4601; 1661-7827; 1660-4601
• DOI: 10.3390/ijerph182111307

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are linked to various conduct and behavior problems within juvenile delinquents, but fewer studies focused on these associations among specific forensic typologies of offending. Utilizing data from 3382 institutionalized delinquents in Texas, logistic regression models indicated multiple associations between ACEs and forensic typologies in both adjusted and unadjusted models, with sexual abuse and physical abuse emerging as the most consistent and robust predictors. Supplemental sensitivity models confirmed the associations between sexual abuse and physical abuse among youth who fit multiple forensic typologies. Models fared poorly at identifying youth who are engaged in fire setting. Implications for total and singular ACEs are discussed, along with how those relate to more clinically meaningful, forensic forms of juvenile delinquency.