What is the ACE Study and why is it important?
By bringing attention to the powerful impact that negative childhood experiences have on future health and functioning, the ACE study demonstrates the importance of gathering information early in the lives of children and their families and designing early intervention programs that target violence and neglect.
Who did the adverse childhood experiences study?
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs)—a term coined by researchers Vincent Felitti, Robert Anda, and their colleagues in their seminal study conducted from 1995 to 1997—are a subset of childhood adversities.
What is the primary question in the ACE Study?
The ACE Study was designed to answer the question: “If risk factors for disease, disability, and early mortality are not randomly distributed, what early life influences precede the adoption or development of them?” The ACE Pyramid (See Figure 1) depicts this conceptual framework.
What does an ACE score reveal?
An ACE score is a tally of different types of abuse, neglect, and other adverse childhood experiences. A higher score indicates a higher risk for health problems later in life.
How does ACE affect child development?
ACEs can include violence, abuse, and growing up in a family with mental health or substance use problems. Toxic stress from ACEs can change brain development and affect how the body responds to stress. ACEs are linked to chronic health problems, mental illness, and substance misuse in adulthood.
What are the 10 main ACEs?
What are the 10 Adverse Childhood Experiences?
- Physical Abuse. Physical abuse is non-accidental harm.
- Sexual Abuse. Sexual abuse is sexual behavior with a child or sexual exploitation of a child.
- Emotional Abuse.
- Physical Neglect.
- Emotional Neglect.
- Mental Illness.
- Incarcerated Relative.
- Mother Treated Violently.
What is the most common major adverse childhood experience?
Economic hardship
Economic hardship is the most common adverse childhood experience (ACE) reported nationally and in almost all states, followed by divorce or separation of a parent or guardian.
How many negative outcomes are associated with ACEs?
What are 4 effects of ACEs?
Experiencing 4 or more ACEs is associated with significantly increased risk for 7 out of 10 leading adult causes of death, including heart disease, stroke, cancer, COPD, diabetes, Alzheimers and suicide.
Do ACEs lead to PTSD?
Experiencing ACEs during childhood can disrupt a child’s development and impact their social, emotional, and cognitive well-being well into adulthood. Research from 2018 has documented ACEs’ relationship to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and complex trauma (long-term effects of experiencing traumatic events).
How does ACEs affect the brain?
Recent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies suggest that the higher an individual’s ACE score, the less gray matter she or he has in other key areas of the brain, including the prefrontal cortex, an area related to decision-making and self-regulatory skills, and the amygdala, or fear-processing center.
Who is most at risk for ACEs?
ACEs are common and the effects can add up over time. Females and several racial/ethnic minority groups were at greater risk for experiencing 4 or more ACEs. Many people do not realize that exposure to ACEs is associated with increased risk for health problems across the lifespan.
What are the barriers to responding to the ACEs research?
While some research has documented feasible implementation of ACE screening in primary care (7) and parental support (8), others have noted barriers including: concerns about the amount of time it would require medical providers (6,9,10), hesitation due to mandated reporting requirements (10), lack of valid, cost- …