Teens With Early History of Adverse Childhood Experiences More Likely to Be Stopped by Police: Study

A study, “Adverse Childhood Experiences and Adolescent-Police Contact in the UK,” found that teens who reported trauma or abuse (ACES) at ages 5 and 7 were at a significantly higher risk of being stopped by police by age 14. The study, published in the October 2022 Pediatrics (published online Sept. 26), followed 11,313 adolescents born between 2000-2002 who participated in the U.K. Millennium Cohort Study. Overall, 38.5% of adolescents experienced zero ACEs, defined as stressful or traumatic events of abuse, neglect, or household dysfunction early in life. About 44.4% of adolescents experienced one ACE; 14.1% experienced two; and 3.0% experienced three or more ACES by age 7. Researchers found about 16% of all teens surveyed at age 14 reported that they had been stopped, questioned or arrested by police. About 13% of adolescents with zero ACEs reported police contact by age 14 compared with 27% of adolescents with three or more ACEs who reported police contact by this age. Older youth, male youth, and Black youth were more likely to be stopped by police in the U.K., similar to the U.S. context. ACEs can be especially detrimental to behavioral health as children age, elevating the risk of interpersonal difficulties, hyperactive and externalizing behaviors, disengagement from school, and a variety of conduct problems, the authors observe. Their findings also indicated that the greater number of ACEs a child is exposed to, the more likely the child is to be warned or arrested by police rather than simply stopped and questioned. The authors suggest that targeted interventions and policies be developed to lessen harms, as ACEs and police contact have negative repercussions for health, wellbeing, and life-course development.

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The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 67,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults.