Peer-reviewed article
Positive childhood experiences serve as protective factors for mental health in pandemic-era youth with adverse childhood experiences
Hasina Samji, David Long, Jillian Herring, Rachel Correia, Jacqueline Maloney ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined how positive childhood experiences (PCEs) protect mental health in Canadian adolescents who have experienced adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research included over 8,800 eleventh-grade students in British Columbia and found that having six or more positive experiences was associated with better mental health outcomes, regardless of ACE exposure. Positive experiences were more strongly linked to mental well-being than negative experiences were to poor outcomes. The findings suggest that building positive experiences is important for supporting adolescent mental health during crises.
Key points
- Adolescents with no ACEs had significantly better mental health and well-being than those with one or more ACE
- Having six or more PCEs was associated with better mental health outcomes in adolescents both with and without ACEs
- PCEs significantly moderated the association between ACEs and depression
- Effect sizes for PCEs were larger than for ACEs in relation to depression, mental well-being, and life satisfaction
- The study included community- and societal-level ACEs in addition to family-level experiences
Limitations
The study is cross-sectional and cannot establish causation or determine whether PCEs prevent poor outcomes or simply co-occur with better mental health. The findings are specific to pandemic-era adolescents in British Columbia and may not generalize to other contexts or time periods.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: While adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) predict poorer mental health across the life course, positive childhood experiences (PCEs) predict better mental health. It is unclear whether PCEs protect against poor mental health outcomes and promote mental well-being in pandemic-era adolescents with ACEs. METHODS: We examined the individual and joint contributions of ACEs and PCEs to mental health and well-being (MHW) in eleventh-grade British Columbian adolescents (N = 8864) during the fifth wave of COVID-19. We used a novel measure of ACEs that included community- and societal-level ACEs in addition to ACEs experienced at home to investigate the role of social and structural determinants of mental health in supporting the MHW of pandemic-era adolescents. A series of two-way ANCOVAs were conducted comparing MHW outcomes between adolescents with and without ACEs. Interaction effects were examined to investigate whether PCEs moderated the association between ACEs and MHW. RESULTS: Adolescents with no ACEs had significantly better MHW than those with one or more ACE. Having six or more PCEs was associated with better MHW in adolescents with and without ACEs. PCEs significantly moderated the association between ACEs and depression. Effect sizes were larger for PCEs than ACEs in relation to depression, mental well-being, and life satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS: PCEs may protect against depression among adolescents with ACEs and promote MHW among all pandemic-era adolescents. These findings emphasize the importance of addressing social determinants of mental health to mitigate the impact of ACEs and promote PCEs as part of a public health approach to MHW.