Early exposure to adverse childhood experiences and delinquent peer association among youth

• Published date: 01 December 2023
• Author: Melissa S. Jones,Hayley Pierce,Hannah Shoaf
• Date: 01 December 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12856

RESEARCH

Early exposure to adverse childhood experiences and

delinquent peer association among youth

Melissa S. Jones|Hayley Pierce|Hannah Shoaf

Department of Sociology, Brigham Young

University, Provo, UT

Correspondence

Melissa S. Jones, Department of Sociology,

Brigham Young University, 2008 JFSB, Provo,

UT 84602-0002, USA.

Email: melissa.s.jones@byu.edu

Abstract

Objective: This study examines the relationships between

cumulative, timing of, and duration of early adverse child-

hood experiences (ACEs) and delinquent peer association

among youth.

Background: Negative life outcomes associated with delin-

quent peer affiliation among youth are well established;

however, less research has considered how or whether

ACEs influence these processes.

Methods: Data were from the longitudinal Fragile Fami-

lies and Child Wellbeing Study (n=3,060). Negative bino-

mial regression models were to assess the relationship

between early ACEs (i.e., accumulation, timing/duration)

and delinquent peer association.

Results: Our results indicate that as the number of ACEs

(by age 5) incrementally increase, the likelihood of reported

involvement with delinquent peers increases. Moreover,

when it comes to timing and duration of ACE exposure,

ACEs that are high but late, intermittent, or chronically high

significantly increase the risk of delinquent peer association.

Conclusion and implications: Overall, early ACEs play an

important role in delinquent peer association during adoles-

cence. Interventions and preventions strategies, such as

psychological first aid and trauma-informed health care, can

help reduce the negative consequences of early ACE expo-

sure, including the risk of associating with delinquent peers.

KEYWORDS

adverse childhood experiences, delinquent peers, friendships, youth

As children enter adolescence, peer relationships become salient as adolescents increasingly

spend more time in the company of their similarly aged friends (Anderson, 2013; Bun Lam

et al., 2014). Compared with friendships in childhood, adolescent friendships involve greater

Author note: We thank John P. Hoffmann for helpful comments on earlier versions of the paper.

Received: 13 December 2021Revised: 10 October 2022Accepted: 31 December 2022

DOI: 10.1111/fare.12856

© 2023 National Council on Family Relations.

Family Relations. 2023;72:2991–3009. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fare 2991

disclosure and intimacy and the formation of more substantial attachment bonds (Gorrese &

Ruggieri, 2012). Extensive research has documented that peers and friends have an important

effect on youth attitudes and behaviors (Brechwald & Prinstein, 2011; Portt et al., 2020).

Indeed, a growing body of literature suggests peers can have both a positive and negative influ-

ence in the lives of youth (Bukowski et al., 2011; Portt et al., 2020; Ward & Forney, 2020). Peer

relationships can provide an environment not only for the acquisition and growth of friendships

and friendship networks but also for the development of key social skills (Bukowski

et al., 2011), empathy (Portt et al., 2020), and prosocial behavior (Van Hoorn et al., 2016). Con-

versely, associating with peers who engage in delinquency (henceforth referred to as delinquent

peer association) has been tied to a variety of negative life outcomes among youth, such as

externalizing problems (German et al., 2009), alcohol/illicit drug use (Ragan, 2020), antisocial

behavior (Cutrín et al., 2017), and involvement in crime (Ward & Forney, 2020).

Because peers and friends play such an important role in socialization during adolescence,

identifying sources of peer group formation has become increasingly important. Researchers have

shown that homophily, or sharing similar characteristics (“birds of a feather flock together”), is a

key mechanism for how children and adolescents select their friends and end up in peer groups

(Hirschi, 1969; Richmond et al., 2019). Adolescents’social skills, popularity, and status have also

been linked to friendship formation (Meuwese et al., 2017). Other studies have shown that associ-

ating with deviant peers, for example, can be attributed to one’s environment and choice set, with

selections being restricted by one’s neighborhood or school (Trinidad, 2019; Zimmerman &

Messner, 2011).

Scholars who have examined adverse childhood experiences (ACEs)—potentially traumatic

events, such as abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction (Centers for Disease Control and Pre-

vention [CDC], 2021)—havefound that the cumulation, timing, and duration of ACEs very early

in a child’s life have a variety of negative health, psychiatric, and behavioral repercussions across

the life course (Hoffmann & Jones, 2022; Meldrum et al., 2020). More recently, several studies

have considered the role of ACEs in deviant peer association and have found that ACEs signifi-

cantly increase the risk of involvement with delinquent peers (e.g., Trinidad, 2021a;Yong,2020).

This line of inquiry indicates the potential importance of ACEs when it comes to involvement

with delinquent peers. Yet little to no research to date has considered how cumulative ACEs as

well as the timing and duration of early ACE exposure shape delinquent peer association among

youth (see Trinidad, 2021a). Using general strain theory (GST; Agnew, 1992,2006), the current

study addresses this important gap in existing literature by using datafrom the Fragile Families

and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS; n=3,060) to explore how early ACEs (by age 5) shape

later involvement with delinquent peers. Findings from the current study can have important

implications for intervention and prevention strategies that may assist in reducing the potential

detrimental impact of ACEs in the lives of children and youth.

ACES

ACEs are associated with a host of negative life outcomes, including food insecurity (Testa &

Jackson, 2020), deficits in self-control (Jones et al., 2022), school-related problems (Zeng

et al., 2019), substance use (Hoffmann & Jones, 2022), and delinquency (Pierce & Jones, 2022)

in adolescence. Moreover, two major themes have emerged from ACE scholarship. First, ACEs

are highly interrelated in that experiencing one ACE is significantly associated with experienc-

ing additional ACEs (Baglivio et al., 2014; Felitti et al., 1998). Second, there is salient evidence

of a “graded”or “dose response”association between ACEs and negative life outcomes in that

the number of ACEs experienced incrementally increases the likelihood of experiencing nega-

tive physical, mental, and behavioral outcomes later in life (Dong et al., 2004; Felitti

et al., 1998). Using data from the FFCWS, Jones et al. (2022), for example, found that as the

2992 FAMILY RELATIONS