ReviewSubstance abuse : research and treatment2023
The Associations of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) With Substance Use in Young Adults: A Systematic Review.
Review in Substance abuse : research and treatment, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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
27 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Oxytocin dysfunction in severe mental illnesses following adverse childhood experiences: a systematic review.BMC psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Prevalence of Eating Disorders in People With Borderline Personality Disorder: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Clinical psychology & psychotherapyPooled it
- Childhood adversity subgroups and their associations with mental health symptoms among Rhode Island young adults.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2026Article
- Adverse Childhood Experiences and Substance Use: The Mediating Role of Executive Function Deficits.Journal of adolescence · 2026Article
- Assessing measurement bias in substance use disorder criteria associated with childhood adversity and genetic liability.Psychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors · 2026Article
- Why Prevention Needs More Than Individual Empowerment: Reclaiming Environmental Prevention.Journal of prevention (2022) · 2026Article
- The Emerging Neurobiology of Psychedelics: Critical Periods, Metaplasticity, and Extracellular Matrix Remodeling.Annual review of neuroscience · 2026Review
- Adverse Childhood Experiences, Substance Use and the Challenges of Help-Seeking among College Students Living in the Midwest.Journal of child & adolescent trauma · 2026Article
- Adverse Effects of Non-Medical Use of Cannabis or Opioids Associated with Adverse Childhood Experiences.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Article
- Predicting Substance Use in Young Adults: The Role of Childhood Adversity.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2026Article
- Predicting externalizing symptom trajectories in U.S. National Guard recruits: The role of adverse childhood experiences.Journal of traumatic stress · 2026Article
- Alcohol intake patterns, stress exposures and oral health in treatment seeking individuals with alcohol use disorder.Frontiers in oral health · 2026Article
- Childhood emotional abuse and gastrointestinal symptoms among college students: a chain mediation model with physical exercise as the moderating variable and network analysis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Article
- Adverse childhood experiences impact unemployment and inability to work among adults in the United States.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Consistent predictors of adolescent substance use: cross-sectional comparison across five countries.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- The role of stress proliferation in linking childhood stressors to accelerated biological aging.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2025Article
- Exploring Pathways from Childhood Adversity to Substance Use in Young Adults.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- Socioenvironmental and mental health determinants of alcohol use among Black sexually minoritized men and transgender women: Findings from the N2 cohort study.Journal of gay & lesbian mental health · 2025Article
- Adverse childhood experiences as predictors of alcohol and tobacco addiction risk among college students in Delhi-NCR, India.Scientific reports · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Introduction: Young adulthood is a transitional period between adolescence and adulthood. Due to the unique pressures of taking on a new social role and associated uncertainties, young adults are at heightened risk for drug and alcohol use. Furthermore, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) increases the likelihood of using maladaptive coping strategies such as using substances to avoid or soothe negative emotions. The current review aimed to summarize the associations between exposure to ACEs before the age of 18 years and subsequent drug or alcohol use between the ages of 18 and 25 years. Methods: The review was performed in accordance with the 2020 Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The literature search of the Web of Science, PubMed, and PsycINFO databases was conducted in February 2022. Results: The initial search yielded 7178 articles, with 777 duplicates. Consequently, 6401 titles were inspected for relevance. After reading the full text, 88 articles were included in the review. Conclusion: This review provides clear evidence that exposure to multiple ACEs is a robust risk factor for the use of alcohol, cannabis and other drugs by young adults. Poor self-regulation and maladaptive coping strategies were identified as mechanisms explaining this link; however, further detailed research is needed.
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Registered trials
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.