Adverse Childhood Experiences and Long-Term Educational Attainment in Urban South South Nigeria

This study investigates the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and long-term educational attainment among adults in urban communities in South South Nigeria. The Adverse Childhood Experiences framework has generated compelling evidence globally linking childhood trauma exposure to truncated educational trajectories, yet retrospective evidence from Nigerian urban adult populations is absent from the literature. The study employs a retrospective cross-sectional design, recruiting 400 adults aged 25 to 45 from Warri, Port Harcourt, and Calabar through community health centre purposive sampling. The Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire, a retrospective school engagement and dropout history inventory, and educational attainment records were used as instruments. Data were analysed using ordinal regression and moderation analysis. Results reveal a significant dose-response relationship between ACE score and educational attainment, with each additional adverse experience category associated with a meaningfully reduced probability of completing secondary education. Physical abuse, household substance abuse, and parental separation were the most predictive individual ACE categories. Social support during childhood, measured retrospectively, significantly moderated the ACE-to-attainment relationship, with supportive adult relationships compensating substantially for adversity. These findings provide the first Nigerian adult retrospective evidence linking ACEs to educational outcomes and underscore the long-term costs of inadequate childhood protection systems. Policymakers in South South Nigeria are advised to invest in strengthening child protection services and school-based trauma-informed support as upstream investments in long-term educational attainment. Keywords: adverse childhood experiences, educational attainment, trauma, urban adults, South South Nigeria.