CHILDHOOD trauma is still impacting around 60% of Northern Ireland’s adult population, a new report has found.
Researchers from Queen’s University heard from around 1,200 participants about how Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) like paramilitary violence and domestic abuse still affected them today.
The Justice Minister Naomi Long called the results “striking and sobering.”
“The findings show clear correlations between higher exposure to trauma in childhood and many negative outcomes, including poorer educational achievement, chronic health conditions like rheumatoid arthritis and chronic pain, increased exposure to domestic violence, addiction, poor mental health and health-harming behaviours,” she said.
With 60% of respondents reporting at least one traumatic childhood, 30% also reported conflict-specific adversities.
“Perhaps most concerning is the evidence that, despite being almost 27 years past the Good Friday Agreement, our younger generation continues to experience trauma linked to paramilitary activity,” Ms Long said.
Dr Colm Walsh from Queen’s University led the study.
“What we see here is the long arm of early adversities, the impact of which extends beyond childhood, affecting a number of key outcomes, ranging from educational attainment, physical and mental health, substance use, and offending,” he said.
He said those with four or more ACEs were nine times as likely to be expelled from school, eight times more likely to have been arrested and three times more likely to have used drugs in the last year as an adult.
ACEs and Troubles-related trauma were also more concentrated in deprived areas, creating further challenges for some areas.
The research was initiated after high trauma levels were noticed in those taking part in the Executive Programme on Paramilitarism and Organised Crime.
Programme Director Adele Brown commented. " 27 years on from a historical peace agreement, our young people deserve a level playing field where intergenerational and domestic trauma doesn’t hold them back.
“They have the right not just to peace but a quality of peace. That means making sure that we all question the impact trauma could be having on our friends, family and colleagues and public services and learn how to respond effectively to it. This is much wider than specialist responses, this is about everyday interactions, too.
“We very much hope that the study’s findings will inform policy development and service provision across health, education, justice, and social services sectors in Northern Ireland.”