What are ACEs?
ACE Items
Adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs, are adversities that an individual endures before the age of 18. These experiences can include different forms of abuse, neglect, or household challenges, such as growing up with a caregiver struggling with substance use or mental illness.
- Physical abuse
- Emotional abuse
- Sexual abuse
- Emotional neglect
- Physical neglect
- Parental divorce or separation
- Household member mental illness
- Household member addiction
- Household member incarceration
- Witnessing domestic violence
ACE Questionnaire
The ACE Questionnaire is one tool used to understand childhood adversity. It includes ten questions about experiences that fall into three main areas – abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction.
Each “yes” answer counts as one point toward a person’s ACE Score. The total score represents the number of these experiences someone had before turning 18.
Understanding Different
Responses to ACEs
Everyone’s experience with adversity is unique. Two people with the same ACE score may have very different life outcomes. The ACE score helps researchers see group trends, but it cannot predict the outcome for any one person. Many factors influence how people respond to adversity, including:
- Supportive relationships with family, friends, or community members
- Access to safe environments and resources
- Personal coping skills and and opportunities to strengthen these skills
- Opportunities to heal
When people have stable, genuine support, they can adapt, recover, and thrive even after experiencing hardship. This is known as resilience.