Poster Abstracts

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are associated with chronic health problems, mental illness, and substance abuse. Even though ACEs are salient factors associated with adverse health outcomes, few studies have compared those with more versus less ACEs on measures of premorbid intellectual and current adaptive functioning (e.g., health literacy and numeracy) in the context of neuropsychological evaluations. This cross-sectional study included 139 adult patients consecutively referred for outpatient neuropsychological evaluation. The sample was 46.0% White, 30.9% Black, 13.7% Hispanic, 7.9% Asian, and 1.4% Other, with Mage of 40.2 years (SD=17.3) and Meducation of 13.9 years (SD=2.8). Univariate analyses of variance were performed to evaluate differences between individuals who experienced greater ACEs (≥4/10) compared to those with fewer ACEs (≤3/10) on the Test of Premorbid Functioning (TOPF), Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy-Revised (REALM-R), General Health Numeracy Test (GHNT), and Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). The only significant group effect emerged on the PSS, F(1,136)=8.70, p=.004, such that individuals with greater ACEs evidenced greater perceived stress. In contrast, nonsignificant effects were found for the TOPF, REALM-R, and GHNT (p’s>.05). In sum, this study provided evidence that ACEs are related to current perceived stress levels, but not with premorbid intellectual or current adaptive functioning skills.