Why ask about adverse childhood experiences?
Adverse childhood experiences relate to higher risks of social, mental, or other wellbeing problems.
People with an ACE score of 4 or more out of a possible 10 have an increased risk of substance misuse, sexual risk taking, mental ill health, higher weight and less physical exercise, self- and other-directed violence, cancer, and heart disease (Hughes et al., 2017).
Individuals who have learned to cope with stressors by disengaging (e.g., avoidance, denial, escape, suppression, etc.) are at the highest risk of these negative health factors, while therapy focusing on building more active or support-based coping is likely to ameliorate these quality of life risk (Solberg et al., 2023).
The ACE Questionnaire
The ACE Questionnaire (Felitti et al., 1998) consists of a series of questions that inquire about experiences during childhood related to abuse, neglect, and family dysfunction. Participants are asked to indicate whether they experienced each of the ACEs before the age of 18.
The development of the ACE questionnaire and the subsequent findings of studies using the ACE Questionnaire (see above) have had a profound impact on our understanding of the long-term effects of childhood adversity on health and well-being. The ACE questionnaire is widely used in research and clinical practice.
.svg)
