Adverse childhood experiences and associations with health-harming behaviors in young adults in the Balkan Region
Dr. Marija Raleva
University Clinical Center, Skopje, R., Macedonia
Dr. Raleva received her training at the University Clinic of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Belgradska in Macedonia and is currently Head of the Division of Adolescent and Child Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, University Clinical Center, Skopje, R., Macedonia and is a professor in the Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University “Ss. Cyril & Methodius”. She has conducted extensive research in the psychological factors connected with child abuse, the stress and trauma among the internally displaced children and their families from conflict regions, youth, culture and destructiveness, and adverse childhood experiences. Most recently she was part of a four year study on a Balkan epidemiology study on child abuse and neglect. She has presented at many international conferences and is widely published.
Abstract
Globally, a higher incidence of child abuse appears to be found in low income countries. Adverse childhood experience (ACE) surveys provide rapid empirical data linking childhood experiences with adult health to inform the... [ view full abstract ]
Globally, a higher incidence of child abuse appears to be found in low income countries. Adverse childhood experience (ACE) surveys provide rapid empirical data linking childhood experiences with adult health to inform the economic case for – and development of – appropriate interventions early in life.
Only one in every three national ministries of health in Europe routinely
provides official statistics on child maltreatment.
Therefore several countries in the Balkan region (Albania, Montenegro, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Turkey) have undertaken ACE, using standardized methods.
Objective To evaluate the association between adverse childhood experiences –
e.g. abuse, neglect, domestic violence and parental separation, substance use,
mental illness or incarceration – and the health of young adults in the Balkan Region.
Methods: We used the separate data from these surveys to present the measured association between adverse childhood experiences and health-harming behaviors in young adults and to explore how the relationships between such experiences and behaviors vary between the surveyed countries.
The respondents, who were all in secondary or higher education, were not intended to be representative of the young adults in each country. The adverse childhood experience questionnaire was chosen because it produces data on temporally separated events relatively quickly and is a proven method with validated tools.
Findings Over half of the respondents reported at least one adverse
childhood experience. Having one adverse childhood experience increased the
probability of having other adverse childhood experiences. The number of adverse
childhood experiences was positively correlated with subsequent reports of health harming behaviors. Respondents who reported at least four adverse childhood experiences were at significantly increased risk of many health-harming behaviors.
Conclusion Evidence-based programmes to improve parenting and support child development need large-scale deployment in the Balkan Region.
Session
KN-6 » Plenary Session (11:00 - Wednesday, 30th September, Grand Ballroom)
