Adverse childhood experiences and mental health across key developmental periods: an examination of the arc model of resilience

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are a pervasive problem, with an estimated 46% of U.S. children have experienced at least one ACE prior to the age of 18. ACEs have been linked to a myriad of negative mental health outcomes including increased symptoms of depression and suicidality, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, personality disorders, risk behaviors across key developmental periods. Yet, resilience has been found to be a key promotive and preventative factor that reduces the negative effects of ACEs on mental health and helps individuals overcome adversity. Resilience theory and attachment theory provide the theoretical frameworks to explore the role of the attachment, regulation, and competency (ARC) factors across key developmental periods including adolescence and emerging adulthood. The ARC model of resilience provides a way to examine specific promotive and protective resilience factors, and how they are linked to decreased internalizing symptoms such as anxiety and depression. The overarching goal of this dissertation is to examine the associations between childhood trauma and ACEs, the ARC model of resilience, and mental health outcomes across two key and connected developmental periods (i.e., adolescence and emerging adulthood).