Abstract
The current study aimed to assess the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) and Childhood Protective Factors (CPF) on physical and mental health of medical students of a public sector medical university. An online cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out at a public sector medical university in Lahore, Pakistan from 1 June 2024 to 30 August 2024. The study tool consisted of sociodemographic questions, an Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) questionnaire, and a Resilience Questionnaire for measuring childhood protective factors and self-reported physical and mental health in the last 4 weeks. Data was entered and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 26.0. A total of 368 medical students participated in the survey of which 125 (33.96%) were male and 243 (66.03%) were females. A higher Childhood Protective Factor (CPF) score significantly predicted good physical health (AOR 1.516, 95% CI 1.085-2.120, p <.01) and excellent physical health (AOR 1.61, 95% CI 1.151-2.263, p <.001). A higher ACE score significantly predicted fair mental health (AOR .767, 95% CI .624-.944, p <.05), good mental health (AOR .746, 95% CI .604-.922, p <.01), and excellent mental health (AOR .746, 95% CI .604-.922, p <.01). Our study shows that ACE was a significant predictor of self-reported mental health but not physical health. However, CPF was a significant predictor of physical and mental health.