An Examination of Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms and Aggression among Children with a History of Adverse Childhood Experiences

Childhood aggression is associated with many deleterious outcomes and is a common reason for psychiatric referral (Card & Little, 2006 ; Gurnani et al., 2016 ). One factor associated with childhood aggression is Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs; Felitti et al., 1998 ). However, existing resea...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of psychopathology and behavioral assessment 2021-09, Vol.43 (3), p.657-670
Main Authors: McRae, Elizabeth M., Stoppelbein, Laura, O’Kelley, Sarah E., Fite, Paula, Smith, Shana B.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abused children
Addictive behaviors
Adverse childhood experiences
Aggressiveness
Behavior
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Child abuse & neglect
Child development
Childhood experiences
Childhood factors
Children
Children & youth
Clinical Psychology
Clinical research
Cognitive-behavioral factors
Drug abuse
Indirect effects
Path analysis
Personality and Social Psychology
Post traumatic stress disorder
Psychology
Stress
Symptoms
Trauma
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Summary:Childhood aggression is associated with many deleterious outcomes and is a common reason for psychiatric referral (Card & Little, 2006 ; Gurnani et al., 2016 ). One factor associated with childhood aggression is Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs; Felitti et al., 1998 ). However, existing research remains equivocal on which characteristics of ACEs (e.g., cumulative impact, typology, etc.) are significantly elated to aggression, especially when considering differential effects of ACEs on proactive aggression (PA) and reactive aggression (RA; Dodge & Coie, 1987 ). Post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) are a common negative sequalae of ACEs and are characterized by disruptions in several cognitive, emotional, and behavioral processes similar to those associated with both RA and PA (e.g., Marsee, 2008 ). As such, the examination of PTSS as an underlying mechanism of influence on the relation between ACEs, PA, and RA is warranted. The present study fills several gaps in the literature by examining ACE characteristics that might be related to PTSS, PA, and RA while also examining direct and indirect effects on the relation between ACEs, PTSS and PA and RA. Results indicated the type of ACE, specifically child maltreatment ACEs (CM-ACEs), was most strongly related to all outcome variables. Therefore, CM-ACEs were included in a path analysis with PTSS, PA, and RA. Results indicated a significant indirect effect for PTSS on the relation between CM-ACEs and RA ( β  = .18, p  
ISSN:0882-2689
1573-3505
DOI:10.1007/s10862-021-09884-1