Psychometric properties of the Adverse Childhood Experiences Abuse Short Form (ACE-ASF) among Romanian high school students

Objective: Child abuse is a major public health problem. In order to establish the prevalence of abuse exposure among children, measures need to be age appropriate, sensitive, reliable and valid. This study aimed to investigate the psychometric properties of the Adverse Childhood Experiences Questio...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Meinck, F, Cosma, A, Mikton, C, Baban, A
Format: Journal article
Published: Elsevier 2017
_version_ 1797094744532189184
author Meinck, F
Cosma, A
Mikton, C
Baban, A
author_facet Meinck, F
Cosma, A
Mikton, C
Baban, A
author_sort Meinck, F
collection OXFORD
description Objective: Child abuse is a major public health problem. In order to establish the prevalence of abuse exposure among children, measures need to be age appropriate, sensitive, reliable and valid. This study aimed to investigate the psychometric properties of the Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire Abuse Short Form (ACE-ASF). <br/><br/> Methods: The ACE-ASF is an 8-item retrospective self-report questionnaire measuring lifetime physical, emotional and sexual abuse. Data from a nationally representative sample of 15-year-old school-going adolescents (n=1733, 55.5% female) from the Romanian Health Behavior in School-based Children Study 2014 (HBSC) was analyzed. The factorial structure of the ACE-ASF was tested with Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and confirmed using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). Measurement invariance was examined across boys and girls and internal reliability and concurrent criterion validity were established. <br/><br/> Results: Violence exposure was high: 39.7% physical, 32.2% emotional and 13.1% sexual abuse. EFA established a two factor structure: physical/emotional abuse and sexual abuse. CFA confirmed this model fitted the data well [χ 2 (df)=60.526(19); RMSEA=.036; CFI/TLI=.990/.986]. Metric invariance was supported across genders. Internal consistency was good (.83) for the sexual abuse scale and poor (.57) for the physical/emotional abuse scale. Concurrent criterion validity confirmed hypothesized relationships between childhood abuse and health-related quality of life, life satisfaction, self-perceived health, bullying victimization and perpetration, externalizing and internalizing behaviors and multiple health complaints. <br/><br/> Conclusions: Results support the ACE-ASF as a valid measure of physical, emotional and sexual abuse in school-aged adolescents. Future research is needed to replicate findings in other youth populations and across different age groups.
first_indexed 2024-03-07T04:18:15Z
format Journal article
id oxford-uuid:ca20ee8b-d70a-47cd-b538-5c66ec3eabab
institution University of Oxford
last_indexed 2024-03-07T04:18:15Z
publishDate 2017
publisher Elsevier
record_format dspace
spelling oxford-uuid:ca20ee8b-d70a-47cd-b538-5c66ec3eabab2022-03-27T07:05:11ZPsychometric properties of the Adverse Childhood Experiences Abuse Short Form (ACE-ASF) among Romanian high school studentsJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:ca20ee8b-d70a-47cd-b538-5c66ec3eababSymplectic Elements at OxfordElsevier2017Meinck, FCosma, AMikton, CBaban, AObjective: Child abuse is a major public health problem. In order to establish the prevalence of abuse exposure among children, measures need to be age appropriate, sensitive, reliable and valid. This study aimed to investigate the psychometric properties of the Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire Abuse Short Form (ACE-ASF). <br/><br/> Methods: The ACE-ASF is an 8-item retrospective self-report questionnaire measuring lifetime physical, emotional and sexual abuse. Data from a nationally representative sample of 15-year-old school-going adolescents (n=1733, 55.5% female) from the Romanian Health Behavior in School-based Children Study 2014 (HBSC) was analyzed. The factorial structure of the ACE-ASF was tested with Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and confirmed using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). Measurement invariance was examined across boys and girls and internal reliability and concurrent criterion validity were established. <br/><br/> Results: Violence exposure was high: 39.7% physical, 32.2% emotional and 13.1% sexual abuse. EFA established a two factor structure: physical/emotional abuse and sexual abuse. CFA confirmed this model fitted the data well [χ 2 (df)=60.526(19); RMSEA=.036; CFI/TLI=.990/.986]. Metric invariance was supported across genders. Internal consistency was good (.83) for the sexual abuse scale and poor (.57) for the physical/emotional abuse scale. Concurrent criterion validity confirmed hypothesized relationships between childhood abuse and health-related quality of life, life satisfaction, self-perceived health, bullying victimization and perpetration, externalizing and internalizing behaviors and multiple health complaints. <br/><br/> Conclusions: Results support the ACE-ASF as a valid measure of physical, emotional and sexual abuse in school-aged adolescents. Future research is needed to replicate findings in other youth populations and across different age groups.
spellingShingle Meinck, F
Cosma, A
Mikton, C
Baban, A
Psychometric properties of the Adverse Childhood Experiences Abuse Short Form (ACE-ASF) among Romanian high school students
title Psychometric properties of the Adverse Childhood Experiences Abuse Short Form (ACE-ASF) among Romanian high school students
title_full Psychometric properties of the Adverse Childhood Experiences Abuse Short Form (ACE-ASF) among Romanian high school students
title_fullStr Psychometric properties of the Adverse Childhood Experiences Abuse Short Form (ACE-ASF) among Romanian high school students
title_full_unstemmed Psychometric properties of the Adverse Childhood Experiences Abuse Short Form (ACE-ASF) among Romanian high school students
title_short Psychometric properties of the Adverse Childhood Experiences Abuse Short Form (ACE-ASF) among Romanian high school students
title_sort psychometric properties of the adverse childhood experiences abuse short form ace asf among romanian high school students
work_keys_str_mv AT meinckf psychometricpropertiesoftheadversechildhoodexperiencesabuseshortformaceasfamongromanianhighschoolstudents
AT cosmaa psychometricpropertiesoftheadversechildhoodexperiencesabuseshortformaceasfamongromanianhighschoolstudents
AT miktonc psychometricpropertiesoftheadversechildhoodexperiencesabuseshortformaceasfamongromanianhighschoolstudents
AT babana psychometricpropertiesoftheadversechildhoodexperiencesabuseshortformaceasfamongromanianhighschoolstudents