Pathways from Childhood Adversity to Problem Behaviors in Young Adulthood: The Mediating Role of Adolescents’ Future Expectations

Adverse childhood experiences and pessimistic future expectations about college attendance or mortality are established risk factors for problem behaviors among youth. Data were from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health ( N  = 14,800; 49 % female). Participants were 11–17-ye...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of youth and adolescence 2017, Vol.46 (1), p.1-14
Main Authors: Brumley, Lauren D., Jaffee, Sara R., Brumley, Benjamin P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Addictive behaviors
Adolescent
Adolescent Behavior - psychology
Adolescents
Adult
Adults
Adverse childhood experiences
Aggressiveness
Alcohol use
At risk youth
Behavior
Behavior disorders
Behavior problems
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Child
Child and School Psychology
Child development
Childhood factors
Children & youth
Clinical Psychology
Deviance
Domestic violence
Drug use
Education
Educational Attainment
Empirical Research
Expectations
Female
Forecasting
Health problems
Health Psychology
History of Psychology
Humans
Law and Psychology
Life Change Events
Longitudinal Studies
Male
Mediation
Mortality rates
Poverty
Problem Behavior - psychology
Psychology
Psychology, Adolescent
Risk factors
Secondary schools
Substance abuse
Teenagers
Young Adult
Young adults
Youth
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Summary:Adverse childhood experiences and pessimistic future expectations about college attendance or mortality are established risk factors for problem behaviors among youth. Data were from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health ( N  = 14,800; 49 % female). Participants were 11–17-years-old at baseline and 24–32-years-old at outcome. Adolescents’ college expectations and fatalistic expectations mediated the effect of childhood adversity on violent behavior in young adulthood. Neither college nor fatalistic expectations were significant mediators in models predicting substance use and nonviolent antisocial behaviors. Although observed mediational effect sizes were small, they survived models that included multiple controls designed to rule-out alternative explanations. Intervening on adversity-exposed adolescents’ college and fatalistic expectations may reduce risk for violent behaviors.
ISSN:0047-2891
1573-6601
DOI:10.1007/s10964-016-0597-9