Mentor: Paul Flaspohler, Ph.D.

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have long-term, harmful physical and psychological effects1,5

Various protective factors have been shown to buffer against the negative effects of ACEs3

Additional research is needed to understand how mental health programming may mitigate against the harmful effects of ACEs

Research question:

1. How are ACEs related to current mental health functioning?
2. Does receiving mental health programming in the past or currently have a moderating effect on exposure to ACEs and current mental health functioning?

Hypotheses:

1. ACEs will be associated with current mental health concerns, such that higher numbers of ACEs will predict worse mental health functioning.
2. Past and current mental health services will moderate the relationship between ACEs and mental health functioning, such that receiving services will reduce the negative impact of ACEs

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