Identifying and characterising adverse childhood experiences (ACE) in a Northern Irish military veteran population

Abstract: The experience of childhood adversities, particularly those related to maltreatment and household dysfunction, has been consistently documented in the extant literature as having a detrimental impact on psychological wellbeing across the life course, including adverse outcomes such as mood disorders, anxiety disorders and PTSD. Previous research has uncovered a higher proportion of childhood adversity experiences amongst military populations (Katon et al., 20152015) and that those who experienced trauma during their childhood, and during their military career, were at the greatest risk of a range of psychological concerns. A wealth of research has been conducted to identify what social and psychological constructs may mediate the relationship between adversity and psychopathological outcomes. It has been suggested that one such construct may be resilience; given that resilience can help build immunity to psychopathology following adverse experiences (Denckla et al., 2020). In the context of Northern Ireland, no study to date has examined childhood adversities and psychopathological outcomes or any mediating or moderating factors of this association in UK Armed Forces veterans residing in Northern Ireland. There has however been research on childhood adversities, polyvictimisation profiles, and associated outcomes as reported in the general Northern Irish population. The rates of adversity were high comparative to reports from other countries and one potential explanation for this is the prolonged period of civil conflict experienced by residents, including children, of Northern Ireland. Individuals in polyvictimisation classes were more likely to report a range of psychopathologies compared to those in a class reporting little to no adversity (McLafferty et al., 2015).