Abstract
BackgroundAdverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are an overlooked risk factor for behavioural, mental and physical health disparities in children with intellectual disabilities (ID) and borderline intellectual functioning (BIF). AimsTo gain insight into the presence of the 10 original Wave II ACEs and family context risk variables in a convenience sample of children with ID and BIF in Dutch residential care. Methods and procedures134 case-files of children with ID (n = 82) and BIF (n = 52) were analysed quantitatively. Outcomes and results81.7 % of the children with ID experienced at least 1 ACE, as did 92.3 % of the children with BIF. The average number of ACEs in children with ID was 2.02 (range 0−8) and in children with BIF 2.88 (range 0−7). About 20 % of the children with moderate and mild ID experienced 4 ACEs or more. Many of their families faced multiple and complex problems (ID: 69.5 %; BIF 86.5 %). Multiple regression analysis indicated an association between family context risk variables and the number of ACEs in children. Conclusions and implicationsThe prevalence of ACEs in children with ID and BIF appears to be considerably high. ACEs awareness in clinical practice is vital to help mitigate negative outcomes.
Highlights
Children with intellectual disabilities (ID) have significant deficits in both intellectual and adaptive functioning (APA, 2013)
Bonferroni correction in post-hoc pairwise comparisons showed no significant differences in the average number of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) between children with severe moderate and mild ID and borderline intellectual functioning (BIF)
When applying the 3 factor model of Ford et al (2014), the average number of ACEs categorised by the factors ‘Emotional/physical abuse and neglect’, ‘Sexual abuse’ and ‘Household dysfunction’ showed that children with BIF experienced more ACEs related to household dysfunction (M = 2.02; SD = 1.18) than children with ID (M = 1.43; SD = 1.11), (U = 1742.0, p = 0.003)
Summary
Children with intellectual disabilities (ID) have significant deficits in both intellectual and adaptive functioning (APA, 2013). Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are an overlooked risk factor for behavioural, mental and physical health disparities in children with intellectual disabilities (ID) and borderline intellectual functioning (BIF). Aims: To gain insight into the presence of the 10 original Wave II ACEs and family context risk variables in a convenience sample of children with ID and BIF in Dutch residential care. About 20 % of the children with moderate and mild ID experienced 4 ACEs or more. Many of their families faced multiple and complex problems (ID: 69.5 %; BIF 86.5 %). Multiple regression analysis indicated an association between family context risk variables and the number of ACEs in children. ACEs awareness in clinical practice is vital to help mitigate negative outcomes
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