Adolescents in residential treatment: The prevalence of ACEs, substance use and justice involvement

Abstract

Although associations between developmental trauma, juvenile justice involvement and youth substance use have been previously reported in the published literature, the interconnection among these three factors has not been adequately studied. This article describes the interconnection among these three factors and calls for greater attention to the role of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in the diagnosis and treatment of youth who present with histories of substance use and/or offending behavior. Pilot data are presented that show high rates of self-reported trauma exposure, substance use history, justice involvement, and mental health problems in a sample of adolescents in residential treatment. The data point to the need for residential treatment centers to consider trauma histories in developing treatment plans for youth with current and prior substance use and offending behavior.

Keywords:

• ACEs
• adolescents
• justice involvement
• residential treatment
• substance use

Disclosure statement

The authors declare they have no conflicts of interest to report.

Informed consent

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation at the University of Memphis and University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center, the National Institute of Mental Health and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975 as revised in 2000. Informed consent was obtained from all patients included in the study.

Notes

1 ACES Study (A Combined Environment and Epigenetics Study: Impact of Neurofeedback Therapy on the Health and Behavior of Adolescents- UTHSC IRB 18-05772-FB-UM) conducted in a residential treatment center in southeast US. The second part of the study was to understand how genetic and environmental factors such as exposure to pollutants and early life experiences influence psychological health and behavior.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by a Memphis Research Consortium Grant (Grant #: 232000) to the University of Memphis in partnership with the University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center. This research was also supported by the University of Memphis College of Education Faculty Research Grant and the CORNET Award from UTHSC and the University of Memphis.