The Relationship between Adverse Childhood Events, Resilience, and Substance Dependence among a College Freshman Population

There is a great deal of literature to suggest that experiencing traumatic events in childhood often leads to problematic outcomes in adulthood. Not all individuals who experience such trauma, however, arrive at the same end point. The concept of resilience has been promoted as one of the ways in which individuals experiencing similar life events can end up with very different results. This study sought to clarify the complex relationship between adverse childhood events, resilience, and substance dependence in a college student sample. This researcher surveyed 143 first-year college students in a university orientation class. While this researcher did identify a relationship between trauma and substance dependence in this sample, not all findings were in support of the research questions. Despite the mixed results of this study, the researcher did identify several notable implications based on this study's findings, as well as a number of suggestions for future research.