Influence of Adverse Childhood Experiences and Resilience on Symptoms of Anxiety and Depression in Mexican Psychology Students

ABSTRACT

Concerns regarding college students’ mental health are growing worldwide. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are associated with depression and anxiety symptoms. However, resilience buffers their negative impact on mental health. This study assessed the prevalence and association of anxiety, depression, resilience, with the types of ACEs in psychology students. A cross-sectional design was employed with a sample of 337 Mexican psychology students. Of the students, 70% had four or more ACEs, and the most frequent ACEs were emotional neglect, family violence, emotional abuse, and physical abuse. Most students did not report depression or clinical anxiety symptoms. Two probabilistic models were obtained; 1) physical abuse increased the probability of depression (odds ratio, OR 14.1; 95% confidence interval, CI 1.7, 113.9), and resilience in competence (OR .914; 95% CI .851, .981) and acceptance (OR .776; 95% CI .668, .902) dimensions decreased the likelihood of depression; and 2) resilience in acceptance (OR .774; 95% CI .630, .855) dimension decreased the probability of clinical anxiety. ACEs are highly prevalent among psychology students. Physical abuse increases the probability of depression, whereas resilience decreases the probability of depression and/or anxiety symptoms. Impact of resilience on the negative outcomes of ACEs should be evaluated in future.

KEYWORDS:

• Adverse childhood experiences
• anxiety
• college students
• depression
• mental health
• resilience

Acknowledgments

We thank the Director of the School of Psychology for the support provided for the collection of data for this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research received no external funding.