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Adverse childhood experiences, family relationship and generalized anxiety in the youth population in Hong Kong

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 August 2021

W.C. Tang ,
C.S. Wong ,
W. Chang ,
C.L. Hui ,
S.K. Chan  and
E.H. Lee
W.C. Tang
Affiliation:
Department Of Psychiatry, The University of Hong Kong, HK, Hong Kong PRC
C.S. Wong*
Affiliation:
Department Of Psychiatry, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong PRC
W. Chang
Affiliation:
Department Of Psychiatry, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong PRC
C.L. Hui
Affiliation:
Department Of Psychiatry, The University of Hong Kong, HK, Hong Kong PRC
S.K. Chan
Affiliation:
Department Of Psychiatry, The University of Hong Kong, HK, Hong Kong PRC
E.H. Lee
Affiliation:
Department Of Psychiatry, The University of Hong Kong, HK, Hong Kong PRC
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

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Introduction

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are shown to be risk factors for developing anxiety later in life. However, one’s family relationship acts as a protective factor between ACEs and anxiety.

Objectives

The present study examines the interaction between ACEs and family relationship and their effect on generalized anxiety (GA) amongst the youth population in Hong Kong.

Methods

Participants aged 15-24 were recruited from a population-based epidemiological study in Hong Kong. GA in the past two weeks was assessed using GAD-7, while ACEs were measured using the childhood section of Composite International Diagnostic Interview screening scales (CIDI-SC), encompassing parental psychopathology, physical, emotional, sexual abuse, and neglect before age 17. Family relationship was measured by the Brief Family Relationship Scale (BFRS). Linear regression and a two-way ANCOVA were conducted to examine the association between ACEs, family relationship and GA, while adjusted for age and gender.

Results

633 (70.7%) out of 895 participants had any ACEs. ACEs significantly predicted GAD-7 scores (Β=1.272, t(891)=4.115, p<.001). Two-way ANCOVA reported a significant interaction effect of ACEs and family relationship on GA (F(1, 889)=4.398, p=.036), namely those who had any ACEs and poorer family relationship scored higher in GAD-7 (p<.001), whereas there was no difference in family relationship for those without ACEs on GA (p=.501).

Conclusions

ACEs increases the vulnerability to GA later in life. However, its effect on anxiety decreases when one has a better family relationship. This suggests a possible moderating role of family relationship in developing GA among younger people.

Keywords

youth populationadverse childhood experiencesfamily relationshipgeneralized anxiety
Type
Abstract
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 64 , Special Issue S1: Abstracts of the 29th European Congress of Psychiatry , April 2021 , pp. S367
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
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