(PS4-D79) Exploring Links Between Types of Adverse Childhood Experiences and Loneliness Among Young Adults

Introduction. Adverse childhood experiences (ACES) are highly stressful and/or traumatic events that occur in childhood and adolescence. They can include different types of abuse (emotional, physical, sexual) and neglect (emotional, physical). Substantial research suggests ACES are identified risk factors for poor adult health outcomes (e.g., psychopathology, substance use). A potentially important outcome is loneliness, which is especially common among young adults. Individuals vary in their susceptibility to experiencing loneliness, and there is evidence that this vulnerability could be formed by ACES. Experiencing ACES could be a sign that the individual’s safety cues have been compromised, which could elicit the feeling that social connections may not be fulfilling the appropriate functions. Evidence suggests emotional maltreatment may affect the development of secure attachments, which then negatively shapes perceptions of social relationships. Additionally, physical maltreatment may result in low trust and difficult social encounters, which may lead to higher levels of loneliness. Although research has shown that ACES are associated with loneliness, more work is needed to elucidate the differential associations between different types of ACES and levels of loneliness. We hypothesized that ACES would be associated with loneliness, and that differences in levels of loneliness may vary by different types of ACES. In addition, we examined gender and internalizing symptoms as covariates in these relationships. Methods. Participants were recruited online with an N of 1,200 individuals balanced across sex (Male, Female) and race (White, Black, Latinx). Individuals were eligible if they resided in the U.S. and were between 18 and 26 years of age. ACES were assessed via the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ; Pennebaker & Susman, 1988), loneliness was measured via the Loneliness Scale (Hughes et al., 2008), and internalizing symptoms were assessed via the Achenbach System of Empirically-Based Assessment (ASEBA; Achenbach & Rescorla, 2003). Results. Emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, and emotional and physical neglect were all positively correlated with loneliness (all p’s < 0.05). However, regression models revealed that after controlling for gender and internalizing symptoms, only emotional abuse (β = 0.03, p = 0.04) and emotional neglect (β = 0.04, p = 0.03) remained significant. Discussion. These results show that emotional abuse and emotional neglect may lead to experiences of loneliness in adulthood. When assessing for ACES for interventions, it is especially important to consider the different types of experiences when targeting adults with elevated feelings of loneliness. This is a vital application in assessing resilience from trauma affected by proximal or distal mental health emergencies and personal or impersonal disaster experiences.