Date of Award

8-2020

Document Type

Dissertation - Campus Access Only

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Degree Discipline

Juvenile Justice

Abstract

American adolescents are at risk for substance use. The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (2011) states that three-quarters of high school students have used some addictive substance at least once. Though all American adolescents are vulnerable to substance use, experiences of trauma may increase the risk of substance use and abuse. Adolescent substance use and abuse have been linked to childhood maltreatment and household dysfunction. These traumatic events during adolescence are called Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). They cover a wide-ranging scope of experiences such as sexual, physical, and emotional abuse, household drug use, and parental divorce.

Criminogenic risk factors and ACEs may cause harmful and long-term effects on the health and welfare of children. As public health observation of ACEs increases, little information exists concerning the relationship between ACEs, deviance, and delinquency. Using the 2015 Texas Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), a project that collaborated with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the current study assesses the effects of ACEs on substance use. Additionally, this study examined the impact that ACEs that are considered household dysfunction effect on substance use. Findings from the study suggested that there was partial support that some of the household dysfunction ACEs could explain smoking (e-cigarettes, vape pens, and e-hookah). In contrast, household dysfunction ACEs could not explain alcohol use.

Committee Chair/Advisor

Myrna Cintron

Committee Member

Robin D. Jackson

Committee Member

David Rembert

Committee Member

Douglas Hermond

Publisher

Prairie View A&M University

Rights

© 2021 Prairie View A & M University

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Date of Digitization

11/20/2024

Contributing Institution

John B Coleman Library

City of Publication

Prairie View

MIME Type

Application/PDF

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