ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Human Developmental Psychology
Adverse Childhood Experiences Impact Unemployment and Inability to Work among Adults in the United States
Provisionally accepted
- Brigham Young University, Provo, United States
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Introduction: In the context of employment, adults who had Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) may face unique barriers to employment due to physical, behavioral, and psychological effects. This study examines the relationship between ACEs and employment status, exploring how health behaviors and chronic illness may affect this association. Methods: This study draws on 2020-2024 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data from 193,742 U.S. adults across 27 states, the District of Columbia, and 2 territories. Analyses involved bivariate analyses and regression techniques, adjusting for selected covariates. Results: Each of the 11 types of ACEs significantly were significantly associated with lower odds of employment in adulthood, after adjusting for the demographic covariates. Even one ACE was sufficient to lower the odds of employment. Children experiencing forced sexual contact had the lowest employment as adults. Among the specific covariates considered, education, household income, smoking, and chronic illness had the strongest effects on the association between the number of ACEs and employment. Discussion: These findings support existing evidence that ACEs contribute to long-term social and economic disadvantages. The study highlights the need for interventions that address the association between ACEs and a higher number of ACEs with unemployment.
Keywords: Adverse childhood experiences, behavior risk factors, chronic illness, employment status, Socioeconomic outcomes, Workforce participation
Received: 19 May 2025; Accepted: 05 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Merrill, Scott and Sumison. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Ray M Merrill
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