Residentially-Placed Youth and the Adverse Childhood Experiences-Recidivism Relationship: Considering Racial/Ethnic and Sex Differences

Prior research has established a relationship between Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and juvenile justice-related outcomes, including residential placement and recidivism. Further, there is evidence that both the ACEs-recidivism and placement-recidivism relationship may vary by race/ethnicity and sex. While previous studies have examined these issues separately, no research to-date has examined how the ACEs-recidivism relationship varies by race/ethnicity and sex in a sample of youth who received residential placement for their first ever adjudication. The current study seeks to address this gap by identifying predictors of recidivism across demographic groups. In contrast to the prior literature, the results indicated that for the entire sample, ACEs failed to increase the likelihood of recidivism. Further, the racial/ethnic and sex-specific models revealed that the relationship between ACEs and recidivism was not significant. Implications of these findings are provided.