Negative Childhood Experiences and Adult Intimate Partner Violence, Sexual Abuse, and Stalking Among College Students: Does a Relationship Exist?

Research has shown negative childhood experiences (NCE) correlate with many negative adult health outcomes, including an increased likelihood of experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV). Further, it has been found that as NCE increase, rates of IPV increase by as much as 3.5 times in women and 3.8 times in men.  Studies also have found rates of sexual violence among college students impact 27% of women and 6% of men. We will investigate this relationship between NCEs and college student’s history of IPV, sexual asbuse, and stalking, through a random sample of 10,000 undergraduates at two large public universities.  The web-based survey will be administered during March 2015 and include twenty questions from the Adverse Childhood Experiences Survey (ACEs); these questions ask about negative experiences including psychological, physical, or sexual abuse; violence against mother; or living with household members who were substance abusers, mentally ill or suicidal, or ever imprisoned, which occurred prior to the student turning 18. These questions will be analyzed along with self-reported rates of abuse, specifically, unwanted sexual activity, stalking, and IPV, occurring within the current academic year. Chi-square tests of independence and logistic regression models will be used to evaluate the relationship between NCE and adult IPV, sexual abuse, and stalking. We expect to find increased ACE scores to have a positive significant effect on rates of IPV, sexual abuse, and stalking.  These findings will have implications for interventions focusing on reducing rates of violence among college students by targeting primary prevention strategies.