Adverse childhood experiences and their relationship to gender and depression among young adults in Iraq: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are considered as universal public health problem that associate with mental disorders and risky behaviors during adulthood. The aims of the paper are to estimate the prevalence of Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) among young adults in Iraq as well as to estimate the association between ACEs and depression. METHODS: A convenience sample of young adults of 18-20 years was chosen from centre and west of Iraq, mainly from universities. The adverse childhood experiences were measured by Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire. A depression scale was derived from the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales (DASS). Statistical tests: chi square was used to measure the association between adverse childhood experiences and other variables like gender and depression. Odds ratios were computed to estimate the risk for depression. A P value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: The total number of participants was 401, 38.9% of the subjects were men, while 61.1% were women. The mean age of the participants was 18.88 ± 0.745. The results revealed that the most common forms of ACEs among the subjects were physical neglect (19.8%) and emotional neglect (19.2%) followed by physical abuse (17.21%) while sexual abuse was 7.52%. There was statistically significant association between most forms of adverse childhood experiences especially emotional abuse, emotional neglect, physical abuse and physical neglect with depression. CONCLUSION: ACEs are not uncommon among young adults in Iraq and are associated with depression in adulthood. National programmes to support mental health rehabilitation might be necessary to reduce the effect of ACEs among Iraqi people, especially for adolescents and young adults.

The relationship of childhood maltreatment to deviant behaviours among young Iraqi adults: A cross sectional study.

BACKGROUND: The exposure to stressful events during childhood may have prolonged effects and is associated with a higher risk of psychopathology during adulthood. OBJECTIVE: To assess the relationship between exposure to childhood maltreatment and the occurrence of deviant behaviours among Iraqi young adults. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was done from October 2018 to April 2019. A non -random convenient sample that consisted of young adults of age between 18 and 20 years. The childhood maltreatment was measured by Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire, while the deviant behaviours were assessed by Deviant Behaviour Variety Scale. RESULTS: The participants were 401. There was a positive correlation between ACE score and deviant behaviours score. The male subjects had higher mean of deviant behaviour variety score compare to that of the female subjects. The linear regression model showed that exposure to physical abuse (ß = 0.180, p < 0.001), sexual abuse (ß = 0.138, p = 0.003) during the first 18 years of age significantly predicts the variety of deviant behaviours. CONCLUSION: Childhood maltreatment was associated with high risk for deviant behaviours among young Iraqi adults. The physical abuse was the main predictor for deviant behaviours in adulthood.