Table 1.
Sociodemographic characteristics, prevalence rates of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and health risk behaviours (HRBs) of a sample of 1466 university students
| Characteristics | Total (N = 1466) |
Females (n = 1183) |
Males (n = 283) |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n a | %b | n a | %b | n a | %b | p c | |
| Individual age (mean, SD) | 24.09 (4.49) | – | 24.03 (4.51) | – | 24.37 (4.42) | – | 0.309 |
| Parental age (mean, SD) | 55.31 (6.26) | – | 55.25 (6.27) | – | 55.56 (6.22) | – | 0.846 |
| Migration background | 0.025 | ||||||
| Non-migration background | 1240 | 84.8 | 1010 | 86.9 | 230 | 82.7 | |
| Migration background | 199 | 15.2 | 151 | 13.1 | 48 | 17.3 | |
| Parental education | 0.630 | ||||||
| Non-college degree | 478 | 33.4 | 383 | 32.8 | 95 | 34.0 | |
| College degree | 972 | 66.6 | 787 | 67.2 | 185 | 66.0 | |
| Family socioeconomic status | |||||||
| 5 years (mean, SD) | 1.60 (1.01) | – | 1.59 (0.10) | – | 1.63 (1.04) | – | 0.252 |
| 10 years (mean, SD) | 2.04 (0.94) | – | 2.05 (0.93) | – | 2.01 (0.96) | – | 0.594 |
| 15 years (mean, SD) | 2.30 (0.83) | – | 2.30 (0.83) | – | 2.28 (0.84) | – | 0.583 |
| Total (mean, SD) | 1.98 (0.80) | – | 1.98 (0.79) | – | 1.97 (0.80) | – | 0.457 |
| ACEs | |||||||
| Physical abuse | 62 | 3.9 | 53 | 4.6 | 9 | 3.2 | 0.189 |
| Emotional abuse | 300 | 19.6 | 251 | 21.7 | 49 | 17.7 | 0.060 |
| Physical neglect | 64 | 4.6 | 50 | 4.3 | 14 | 5.0 | 0.531 |
| Emotional neglect | 266 | 19.1 | 209 | 17.8 | 57 | 20.4 | 0.200 |
| Sexual abuse | 215 | 12.3 | 191 | 16.4 | 24 | 8.5 | < 0.001 |
| Substance abuse by a household member | 184 | 12.5 | 150 | 12.9 | 34 | 12.2 | 0.719 |
| Mental illness of a household member | 453 | 32.1 | 366 | 32.1 | 87 | 32.2 | 0.967 |
| Domestic violence | 473 | 34.0 | 375 | 32.5 | 98 | 35.4 | 0.248 |
| Parental separation/divorce | 408 | 28.1 | 329 | 27.9 | 79 | 28.3 | 0.866 |
| Absence/ death of caregiver | 262 | 18.5 | 208 | 17.7 | 54 | 19.3 | 0.426 |
| Financial problems | 150 | 9.8 | 125 | 10.7 | 25 | 8.0 | 0.273 |
| Bullying | 251 | 20.8 | 178 | 15.2 | 73 | 26.0 | < 0.001 |
| Peer Violence | 49 | 5.5 | 25 | 2.1 | 24 | 8.6 | < 0.001 |
| Multiple ACEs | 0.387 | ||||||
| None | 412 | 27.9 | 334 | 28.2 | 78 | 27.5 | |
| 1 ACE | 348 | 22.9 | 287 | 24.3 | 61 | 21.5 | |
| 2 ACEs | 216 | 15.7 | 167 | 14.1 | 49 | 17.3 | |
| 3 ACEs | 135 | 9.0 | 111 | 9.4 | 24 | 8.5 | |
| 4+ ACEs | 355 | 24.6 | 284 | 24.0 | 71 | 25.1 | |
| HRBs | |||||||
| Risky drinking | 299 | 18.9 | 252 | 21.3 | 47 | 16.6 | 0.023 |
| Smoking daily | 153 | 11.2 | 118 | 10.0 | 35 | 12.4 | 0.160 |
| Drug abuse | 206 | 17.9 | 141 | 12.2 | 65 | 23.4 | < 0.001 |
| Early sexual intercourse | 279 | 17.5 | 240 | 21.0 | 39 | 14.3 | 0.001 |
| Multiple sexual partners | 63 | 5.3 | 49 | 4.7 | 14 | 5.8 | 0.376 |
| Suicidality | 138 | 11.4 | 101 | 8.9 | 37 | 13.8 | 0.004 |
| Multiple HRBs | 0.200 | ||||||
| None | 755 | 49.7 | 622 | 52.6 | 133 | 47.0 | |
| 1 HRB | 418 | 29.7 | 329 | 27.8 | 89 | 31.5 | |
| 2 HRBs | 190 | 13.4 | 150 | 12.7 | 40 | 14.1 | |
| 3+ HRBs | 103 | 7.2 | 82 | 6.9 | 21 | 7.4 | |
Note: Parental age: The parents’ age was calculated by averaging the age of both parents; migration background: non-migration background = both parents born in Germany, migration background = one or both parents born outside of German; parental education: non-college degree = neither parent has a college degree, college degree = one or both parents with college degree; family’s socioeconomic status (SES): retrospective, self-reported socioeconomic status of the family according to household possessions at the age of 5 years, 10 years, and 15 years
aResults on absolute frequencies (n) are unweighted
bResults on relative frequencies (%) are weighted
cp-value (two-sided) based on Pearson’s χ2 test