Risk Behavior Among Emerging Adults: The Role of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE), Perceived Family and Interpersonal Environment
abuse; adverse childhood experience; Emerging adults; gender; hierarchical logistic regression; perceived family environment; risk behavior
Background: Evidence demonstrates that ambiance provided during childhood and the interactions of children with different social agents during childhood have an impact on their adult behaviour. Objective: The current research tries to explore the role of adverse childhood experiences and perceived family and interpersonal interactions in their resultant adult risk behaviour. Method: Around 613 emerging adults (1824 years; Male 343 and Female 270) from the northern districts of Kerala, India took part in the study. The participants were selected using multistage sampling techniques. A Semi-structured Questionnaire was used to understand the perceived family and interpersonal environment. In addition, a checklist (adopted from the risk behaviour scale and youth risk behaviour survey) was also employed. The checklist assisted to understand the presence of actual risk behaviours. Results: Hierarchical Logistic Regression analysis is used to test the hypotheses. The results revealed that 87.2 % of the participants were engaged in at least one type of risk behaviour. Socio-demographic variables (gender and family type) and items of perceived family and interpersonal relationships and adverse childhood experiences were found to be significant predictors of emerging adult risk behaviour. Conclusion: The results further highlight the significance of childhood experiences and the current family environment of emerging adults in understanding their behaviour, and in designing evidence-based intervention program for emerging adults. 2023 The Author(s).
Journal of Indian Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health, Vol-19, No. 3, pp. 289-299.
All Open Access; Hybrid Gold Open Access
Thomas S., Department of Psychology, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Karnataka, Bengaluru, India; Deb S., Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development, Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, Government of India, Tamil Nadu, Sriperumbudur, India; Alphonsa Jose K, Department of Psychology, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Karnataka, Bengaluru, India