Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences on Mental Health: A Retrospective Study

The study examined the impact of adverse childhood experiences on mental health of a group of 400 undergraduate students (221 females and 189 males) especially on self-esteem, satisfaction with life, feeling of security and suicidal ideation. Findings revealed that 70.8% (283/400) of the students experienced some form of adverse childhood experiences (57.5% males and 81.4% females). Out of the total of 283 subjects who experienced some form of abuse, about 49.5% (198/400), 37.8% (151/400), and 27% (108/400) of them experienced verbal/ psychological, physical, and sexual abuse respectively during childhood while 25.5% (102/400) witnessed violence in the family. A good number of them had multiple adverse childhood experiences. So far as impact of abuse on mental health is concerned, a direct link was found between childhood adverse experience and low self-esteem (p<0.001), and feeling of security (p<0.001). A significant difference was found between abused male and female students with respect to their self-esteem (p< 0.01), feeling of security (p<0.05) and life satisfaction (p <0.001) scores. Abused students, especially females were found to be more likely to develop a negative image about themselves and their lives than that of non-abused students. Suicidal ideation was more prevalent among abused students, irrespective of gender as compared to non-abused ones (p<0.05).