View article

To examine adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) as a prospective predictor of the day‐to‐day associations between worries and positive thinking among late adolescents.

Cumulative ACEs were measured from parent and youth reports between the ages of 9.9 and 18.1. Late adolescents (N = 103) reported daily worries and positive thoughts across ten days.

Adverse childhood experiences predicted higher and more variable levels of day‐to‐day worry. Increases in positive thinking on one day predicted less next‐day worry for adolescents with low, but not high, ACE scores.

Daily worry during late adolescence may be an important consequence of earlier exposure to ACEs. Early interventions focused on worry reduction and improved emotion regulation might mitigate worry among high‐ACE youth.