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Table 1 Sociodemographic characteristics, prevalence rates of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and health risk behaviours (HRBs) of a sample of 1466 university students

From: How adverse childhood experiences relate to single and multiple health risk behaviours in German public university students: a cross-sectional analysis

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

 
  1. 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
  2. aResults on absolute frequencies (n) are unweighted
  3. bResults on relative frequencies (%) are weighted
  4. cp-value (two-sided) based on Pearson’s χ2 test
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BMC Public Health

ISSN: 1471-2458

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