Association between adverse childhood experiences and health risk behaviours such as smoking, use of alcohol and substance abuse in adolescence

Background. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) constitute a great proportion of the risk factors that predict poor health in later life. Aim. This study examined the association between ACEs and use of alcohol and illicit drugs, and recourse to smoking, as well as the role of gender in the association between ACEs and those health-harming behaviours. Methods. The study was retrospective and included 1,277 young adults that completed the survey on ACEs. Results. ACEs raised the likelihood of illicit drug use 2.2-to 4-fold, early initiation of smoking 2- to 3-fold, and smoking and alcohol use 1.5- to 2-fold. Compared with students without any ACEs, students with >3 ACEs showed a 2.2-fold probability of reporting illicit drug use, a 2-fold probability of starting to smoke early, and students with >4 ACEs were 60% more likely to be smokers. Almost the same percentage of female and male students smoked and used alcohol, male students smoked twice as much as female students and a significantly higher number of male students (11.3%) had drunk 6 drinks or more on a single occasion 3 or more times during the last month compared with 3.3% of female students. Significantly more male (7.6%) than female (3.6%) students had used illicit drugs in their lifetime and 3.5% of male versus 1.6% of female students had used illicit drugs more than 3 times in their life. Conclusions. ACEs increase the risks of smoking and substance use in students. Significantly more male students than female ones had used illicit drugs, and had smoked and drunk significantly greater quantities of cigarettes and alcohol.