Adverse childhood experiences and illicit drug use in adolescents: Findings from a national addictions treatment population in Singapore

ABSTRACT

Aim: Adolescence is a particularly vulnerable period for illicit drug use. The present study aimed to examine the prevalence of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) among adolescents in a national addiction treatment sample, and investigate the role of ACEs in adolescent drug use. Methods: The study examined data from 260 adolescents, information on ACE exposure and drug use were obtained from retrospective chart review. Results: About 46.5% of the sample experienced at least one ACE and 25.0% experienced two or more ACEs. Results showed that exposure to household dysfunction was associated with drug-related substance use disorders (SUDs). Additionally, exposure to multiple ACEs was associated with SUDs, earlier drug initiation, and more severe drug use. Conclusions: Given that a significant proportion of adolescents presenting for addiction treatment had a history of ACEs, the associations between ACEs and deleterious patterns of illicit drug use highlight the potential adverse impact of ACEs on proximal outcomes in adolescents.

KEYWORDS:

• Adolescence
• child abuse
• drug abuse

Disclosure of potential conflict of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Funding

The treatment outcome monitoring program, from which this article has derived its findings, was supported by Ministry of Health of Singapore. The Ministry of Health had no involvement in or restrictions on the study design, collection, analysis, interpretation of data, writing of the manuscript, and the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

Additional information

Funding

The treatment outcome monitoring program, from which this article has derived its findings, was supported by Ministry of Health of Singapore. The Ministry of Health had no involvement in or restrictions on the study design, collection, analysis, interpretation of data, writing of the manuscript, and the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.