Relationship between Adverse Childhood Experiences, Social-Emotional Competencies, and Problem Behaviors among Elementary-Aged Children

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) impact both physical and emotional health throughout the lifespan and contribute to negative effects in childhood such as learning difficulties, internalizing and externalizing behavior problems, and social development. The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of the number of ACEs on children's current social-emotional assets and behavioral problems when controlling for age and gender. Participants were children (N = 58) ranging in age from 5 to 12 years old recruited from four public elementary schools in the southwestern United States. Parents of participants completed Social Emotional Assets and Resilience Scales-Parent (SEARS-P), Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), and extended version of the ACEs Questionnaire developed for the current study. Results revealed that the number of ACEs was able to predict 100% of the variance in social-emotional competencies and 98% of variance in behavioral problems with age and gender having a negligible influence on both models. Children in this study who experienced a higher number of ACEs also experienced lower social-emotional competencies and a higher number of behavioral problems as reported by parents. These findings highlight the impact of ACEs on children and the opportunity to facilitate the development of children's social-emotional competencies which serve as protective factors.