ArticlePediatrics2023
Positive Childhood Experiences and Adult Health Outcomes.
Article in Pediatrics, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 47 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
47 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 81 citations in OpenAlex.
- Impact of Positive Childhood Experiences (PCEs): A Systematic Review of Longitudinal Studies.Child psychiatry and human development · 2026Pooled it
- Substance use and co-occurring mental health conditions among adolescents and young adults in North America: a systematic review.BMC psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Longitudinal associations between patterns of childhood adverse experiences and positive experiences and depression and anxiety symptom trajectories among college students.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2026Article
- Impact of adverse childhood experiences, positive childhood experiences and adult protective and risk factors on health in a statewide representative sample.Family medicine and community health · 2026Observational
- Brief interventions to support parents' use of positive discipline and lessen use of harsh discipline strategies: Qualitative findings from a randomized controlled trial.Children and youth services review · 2026Article
- Roll-Out Implementation Optimization (ROIO) trial to develop and test the implementation of a food security screening and referral process: a study protocol.Implementation science communications · 2026Article
- Implementing My Abilities First for Children with Developmental Delays in Taiwan: A Strengths-Based, ICF-Informed Practice Report.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Beyond Adversity: Definitions, Retrospective Assessment, and Experimental Manipulation of Positive Early-Life Experiences.Brain sciences · 2026Review
- Impact of adverse childhood experiences on kidney health.Pediatric nephrology (Berlin, Germany) · 2026Article
- Article
- Strengths-Based Approaches in Peer-Led Parenting Groups.Hawai'i journal of health & social welfare · 2026Article
- Which Adverse and Positive Childhood Experiences are most Strongly Associated with Young Peoples' Arrests and Convictions?Adversity and resilience science · 2026Article
- Do positive childhood experiences reduce children's deviant behavior in physical education learning?-A longitudinal validation based on a latent variable growth model.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Black Youth and Caregiver Experiences of Racism in Pain Management: A Narrative Inquiry.Journal of pain research · 2026Article
- The Link Between Childhood Experiences and Coping Mechanisms in Medical Students.Family medicine · 2025Article
- Improving Peer Relationships Through Positive Deviance Practices and the HOPE (Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences) Framework.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- Positive childhood experiences in obesity and hypertension among young adults: Associations across adverse childhood experiences levels.American journal of preventive cardiology · 2025Article
- Disparities in Adverse and Positive Childhood Experiences Among Asian American Emerging Adults Ethnic Groups.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2025Article
- Association of school leaders' COVID-19 health literacy with the implementation of health promotion in schools in Germany: a cross-sectional study.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Adverse childhood experiences and common mental disorders among young people in Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study using WHO ACE-IQ.BMJ open · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesAdverse childhood experiences (ACEs) can drive poor adult mental and physical health, but the impact of early life protective factors should not be overlooked. Positive childhood experiences (PCEs) measures quantify protective factors, but evidence is lacking on their link to health conditions independent of ACEs in nationally representative studies. This study examines associations between composite PCE score and adult health, adjusting for ACEs.
methodsThe most recent 2017 wave of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, a nationally representative study and its 2014 Childhood Retrospective Circumstances supplement (n = 7496) collected adult health outcomes, PCEs, and ACEs. Multivariable logistic regression assessed associations between PCE score and adult self-rated health or condition diagnosis, with and without ACEs adjustment. Cox proportional hazards models examined relationships between PCEs, ACEs, and annual risk of diagnosis.
resultsAdults with 5 to 6 PCEs had 75% (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.58-0.93) of the risk of fair/poor overall health and 74% of the risk of any psychiatric diagnosis (CI, 0.59-0.89) compared with those with 0 to 2 PCEs, independent of ACEs. In survival analysis models accounting for PCEs and ACEs, reporting 5 to 6 PCEs was associated with a 16% lower annual hazard of developing any adult psychiatric or physical condition (hazard ratio, 0.84; CI, 0.75-0.94); reporting 3+ ACEs was associated with a 42% higher annual hazard (CI, 1.27-1.59).
conclusionsPCEs were independently associated with lower risks of fair or poor adult health, adult mental health problems, and developing any physical or mental health condition at any given age after adjusting for ACEs.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.