The Proximal Effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences on Emerging Adult Socioeconomic Attainments through a Racial/Ethnic Lens

Background: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are potentially traumatic events that occur before age 18, linked to a broad spectrum of health, social, and behavioral problems in adulthood. While considerable research has explored the long-term effects of ACEs in later adulthood, their immediate effects on adolescents and emerging adults remains understudied. Furthermore, the understanding of the influence of ACEs on socioeconomic outcomes is limited, which potentially affects individual health outcomes in the future. Additionally, less attention has been given to the moderating role of race/ethnicity on the effects of ACEs. Consequently, this study aims to investigate the proximal effects of ACEs on emerging adult socioeconomic attainments and assess whether these associations vary by race/ethnicity.

Methods: Data and samples: This study conducts secondary data analysis using public data from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS), which is a prospective and longitudinal investigation of a sample of 4,898 children born in large U.S. cities between 1998 and 2000. Data were collected data from mothers, fathers, primary caregivers, and the focal child at baseline, age 1, 3, 5, 9, 15, and 22. The current study sample compromises 2,990 participants who completed the young adult survey at wave 7.

Measures: FFCWS wave 1 to wave 6 datasets were used to construct eight categories of ACEs: physcial abuse, emotional abuse, neglect, parental domestic violence, incarceration, household substance use, and mental illness. Outcome variables included young adults’ self-report education level and constructed poverty categories. Descriptive and correlation analysis between ACEs and outcome variables were conducted. Regression models examined race/ethnicity as a moderator on the relationship between ACEs and outcome variables. All models included interaction terms for all race/ethnicity and ACE scores, and a bootstrap approach was applied to test moderation.

Results: Findings reveal that 79.0% of the participants experienced at least one ACE, 89.1% were at least high school graduates, and 36.6% of the participants lived below 100% of federal poverty level. Experiencing ACEs was significantly associated with a lower education level (β=-.13, CI=[-.09, -.05]) and a higher likelihood of living in household below the federal poverty level (β=-.07, CI=[-.10, -.03]) at age 22, controlling for race/ethnicity, gender, primary caregiver’s education level, and primary caregiver’s poverty level. Moderation analysis suggests that participants who self-identified as Non-Hispanic Black with higher ACE scores were less likely to have lower education level than their Non-Hispanic White peers (β=.10, CI=[0.03, 0.002]).

Conclusion: Compare to participants with no ACE, those with higher ACE scores were more likely to report a lower education level and living in a household below the federal poverty level. Higher ACE scores also negatively impacted education attainment for non-Hispanic White compared to their Black peers. Early adversity exposure relates to later socioeconomic attainments, potentially hindering access to life opportunities and resources and leading to intergenerational poverty and health problems. Additionally, it is important to further investigate why the relationship between ACEs and education attainments differ by race/ethnicity and to develop culturally-informed preventative strategies for all subgroups.