(PS6-38) Does Positive Coping Moderate Adverse Child Experiences and Criminality?

Introduction

Childhood trauma is extremely common, with over two thirds of children experiencing a traumatic event by age 16 (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2023). Prior research has shown that children who experience adverse childhood experiences tend to adopt risky behavior, such as perpetration of interpersonal violence, which can lead to poor physical and mental health outcomes in adulthood (Felitti et al., 1998). Because of this, it is imperative to examine the factors that mitigate the adoption of risky behaviors. The current study examines the role of one potentially mitigating factor, positive coping, in the relationship between ACEs and criminality.

Method

Young adult participants (n = 340, 57% female, 36% nonwhite, M_age = 25.13 years) completed the Adverse Childhood Experiences questionnaire (Felitti et al., 2019), the Crime and Violence Scale, which measured both property crime and interpersonal violence (Dennis et al., 2006), and four subscales of the Brief-COPE (positive reframing, religion, emotional support, and instrumental support) (Carver, 1997). Using this data, we conducted a linear regression to determine the moderating role of positive coping in the relationship between ACEs and criminality.

Results

Analysis revealed significant correlations between ACEs and criminality (r(348) = .41, p < .001), and between positive coping and criminality (r(355) = -.12, p = .02). ACEs (b = .77, p < .001) and positive coping (b = -.17, p = .07) accounted for 18% of the variance in criminality (p < .001). However, positive coping did not moderate the relationship between ACEs and criminality (b = -.02, p = .84). Further analysis revealed that positive coping did not moderate the relationship between ACEs and property crimes (b = -.08, p = .26), or the relationship between ACEs and interpersonal crimes (b = .06, p = .10).

Discussion

Despite the significant correlations between ACEs, positive coping, and criminality, positive coping did not moderate the relationship between ACEs and criminality. These results have significant implications for breaking the cycle of adversity, as they can be considered in interventions for children who experience stressful and/or traumatic events. They suggest that interventions for adverse childhood experiences would be best focused on other mitigating factors, such as practicing forgiveness, rather than positive coping (Banyard, 2017). Future research should identify and verify other variables that may act as protective factors against the adoption of risky behaviors. This research would contribute to a comprehensive model of the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and risky, but preventable, behavior.