Prevalence of Adverse Childhood Experiences and Mental Health Difficulties among Adolescents

The present study aimed to study the prevalence of adverse childhoodexperiences, and mental health difficulties in adolescents. Purposivelyselected 269 participants (MA= 14.90, SD=1.67), out of which 12947.96%) were from Rolpa, a rural area and 140 (52.04%) were fromKathmandu, an urban area responded to Adverse ChildhoodExperiences International Questionnaire (ACEs-IQ) and Strengths andDifficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Data were analyzed using StatisticalPackage for the Social Sciences (SPSS version-21). A high prevalence ofACEs and behavioral difficulties were found among the participants.Among the ACEs category, the prevalence of physical abuse (91.5%) andcommunity violence (96.7%) were at a higher level. Similarly, conductproblems (18.9%) and peer problems (9.29%) were higher among SDQcomponents. Participants from Kathmandu reported significantlyhigher ACEs than participants from Rolpa. Participants from Rolpa hadsignificantly higher total difficulties than participants fromKathmandu. Participants from Kathmandu reported significantly fewermental health difficulties than participants from Rolpa even thoughthey had significantly higher ACES. Keywords: ACEs, strengths, difficulties, behavioral problems, adolescents