What is the ACE Study?
What Is an ACE?
An adverse childhood experience (ACE) is trauma that takes place in a child’s life before age 18. In the ACE Survey, adults were asked whether they grew up exposed to any of the following:
• Recurrent physical or emotional abuse
• Contact sexual abuse
• Alcohol and/or drug abuse in the household
• An incarcerated household member
• Someone in the household who was depressed, mentally ill, institutionalized or suicidal
• Mother who was treated violently
• One or no parent
• Emotional or physical neglect
The number of “yes” answers yields an ACE score that represents a person’s cumulative exposure to particular adverse conditions in childhood. If a person experienced none of the conditions above in childhood, the ACE score would be zero; an ACE score of nine means that a person was exposed to all of the categories of trauma above.
An adverse childhood experience (ACE) is trauma that takes place in a child’s life before age 18. In the ACE Survey, adults were asked whether they grew up exposed to any of the following:
• Recurrent physical or emotional abuse
• Contact sexual abuse
• Alcohol and/or drug abuse in the household
• An incarcerated household member
• Someone in the household who was depressed, mentally ill, institutionalized or suicidal
• Mother who was treated violently
• One or no parent
• Emotional or physical neglect
The number of “yes” answers yields an ACE score that represents a person’s cumulative exposure to particular adverse conditions in childhood. If a person experienced none of the conditions above in childhood, the ACE score would be zero; an ACE score of nine means that a person was exposed to all of the categories of trauma above.
ACE Consortium
Statewide grassroots coalition working to increase awareness of Adverse Childhood Experiences, enhance collaborations and promote evidence-based prevention and treatment
www.azpbs.org/strongkids [email protected] |
KAET Channel 8PBS Learning Media - Streamed FREE segments for public use including ACE and Never Shake A Baby
Kim Flack—602.496.3764 [email protected] www.azpbs.org/strongkids www.az.pbslearningmedia.org |