A new study published in Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology finds that poor perceived family finances (PFF) and family-based adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are each associated with symptoms of depression and behavioral problems in adolescents from Norway.
The research, led by Sondre Aasen Nilsen of the Regional Centre for Child and Youth Mental Health and Child Welfare, also reveals that adolescents from low-income families are significantly more likely to report family-based Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) than their peers. The authors write:
“Exposure to family-based ACEs was strongly socially patterned, with those reporting poor PFF showing higher exposure to all family-based ACEs than their peers. Family-based ACEs attenuated some of the association between poor PFF and both depressive and behavioral problems, suggesting that they could be part of the pathway through which poverty influences mental health problems. However, PFF and both cumulative and classes of ACEs were mostly independently associated with mental health problems and generally did not interact.”
These findings echo a growing body of research connecting adverse childhood experiences and economic hardship to depression and mental distress, adding weight to critiques of the biomedical model, which has failed to identify consistent biomarkers. More and more, researchers are turning toward social and environmental explanations for psychological suffering, including poverty, trauma, and family dysfunction.
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