Adverse Childhood Experience and Mental Health Concern among Clients Visiting Erq Ma’ed Psychological Services
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Date
2025
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) including physical and emotional abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction have lasting impacts on adult mental health. This study examined the re-lationship between ACEs and mental health concerns, focusing on depression, anxiety, and stress among clients visiting Erq Ma’ed Psychological Services. A total of 70 clients who met inclusion criteria participated in the study; since all eligible individuals were included, no sampling tech-nique was applied. Data were collected using the Adverse Childhood Experiences International Questionnaire (ACE-IQ) and the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21). Analyses in-cluded correlations, chi-square tests, multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), and multiple regressions. Results showed that 85.7% of participants reported exposure to high levels of ACEs (4+ ACEs). High ACE exposure was significantly associated with greater depression and anxie-ty, though stress did not differ significantly across exposure levels. Sexual abuse, emotional abuse, parental separation or death, and family member incarceration were found to uniquely predict higher depression and anxiety scores. Gender analysis revealed that women reported significantly higher mental health distress related to interpersonal ACEs compared to men.The findings suggest that cumulative and interpersonal childhood adversities contribute substantially to adult psychological distress. Discussion highlights the consistency of these findings with glob-al evidence linking ACEs to adult psychopathology, emphasizing the urgent need for trauma-informed and gender-sensitive mental health interventions within the Ethiopian context. The study concludes that early screening for ACEs in counseling settings is essential for effective prevention and treatment. Future research should include larger and more diverse samples, em-ploy longitudinal designs to clarify causal pathways, and explore protective factors such as resil-ience and social support that may buffer the effects of childhood adversity.
Keywords: adverse childhood experiences, mental health, depression, anxiety, stress, gender dif-ferences.
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Keywords
adverse childhood experiences, mental health, depression, anxiety, stress, gender dif-ferences.