Keywords

ACEs, Childhood, Education, Academic Outcomes, Intersectionality

Abstract

Background: Research has found that Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) have been shown to lead to a myriad of issues including struggling in school. The more ACEs a child experiences, the worse their outcome tends to be, including school outcomes. However, critics of ACE research have argued that not all ACEs weigh the same and intersectionality needs to be considered. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the relationship between ACEs and school outcome issues. These school outcome variables are analyzed, first with a binary ACE variable, then with ACE scale variable, to test whether more ACEs lead to worse outcomes. And, finally, the ACEs are run separately to test if they each have the same effect. An intersectional lens is used through the use of interaction terms. Method: This study utilized multiple years of the National Survey of Children's Health (N=50,899). Multiple logistic regression was used to predict the odds of ACEs affecting the school success variables. Results: Results show that having at least one ACE and the ACE scale were significantly related to all the school outcomes. Every ACE run individually in unadjusted models was significant, however, when added together into the adjusted model to control for each other, many of the ACEs lost their significance. Parental incarceration remained significant for predicting repeating a grade, material hardship and divorce remained significant for struggling to complete homework, and all three of these ACEs as well as experiencing/witnessing violence led to higher odds of the school calling home. Finally, intersectionality was not statistically significant, but should still be considered when advocating for change.

Completion Date

2024

Semester

Spring

Committee Chair

Sberna-Hinojosa, Melanie

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

College

College of Sciences

Department

Sociology

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

DP0028307

URL

https://purls.library.ucf.edu/go/DP0028307

Language

English

Rights

In copyright

Release Date

May 2024

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access)

Campus Location

Orlando (Main) Campus

Accessibility Status

Meets minimum standards for ETDs/HUTs

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