Profiles of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and psychosocial adjustment in South Korea: Comparison between probation and non-probation youth.

Background: Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are risk factors affecting adolescent psychosocial adjustment. Youth involved in the juvenile justice system are more likely to have ACEs, but few studies have investigated this topic outside the western context.

Objective: This study aims to (1) compare latent profiles of ACEs among probation and non-probation youth in South Korea and (2) examine which profiles pose the greatest risk of maladaptive psychosocial adjustment (offline risk-taking, online risk-taking, school adjustment, and happiness).

Participants And Setting: South Korean data adopting survey questions from the Fourth International Self-Report Delinquency Study was analyzed. Adolescents with complete information on regression covariates were included (non-probation: 1846/probation: 368).

Methods: Latent profile analysis was utilized to identify distinctive patterns of ACEs. Multiple linear regression and logistic regression were performed to predict the maladjustment experiences of each latent subgroup.

Results: Four ACE profiles emerged for probation and non-probation samples. Three profiles were common (i.e., emotional/physical abuse, emotional neglect, high maltreatment/domestic violence) and one profile was unique (high maltreatment with family dysfunction for the probation sample; moderate maltreatment for the non-probation sample). In the probation sample, compared to the emotional neglect group, the other three profiles showed poorer adjustment in at least one domain. In the non-probation sample, profiles with high emotional/physical abuse and high maltreatment/family dysfunction had poorer outcomes than the emotional neglect group.

Conclusions: These findings indicate the need for a comprehensive approach toward adolescents and their family environments for preventing delinquency and promoting positive youth adjustment.