Back in 1998, a group of doctors from Kaiser San Diego and the CDC began a study on how adverse childhood experiences, or ACE’s, affect the future health and wellbeing of the children who experience them. The study’s working thesis was that traumatic experiences do indeed negatively affect a child’s neuro-development and put him/her at increased risk for major health problems as an adult.
The study was a huge success, and its results entered mainstream conversation with urgency and vim. Here are the top three findings, which I take straight from Wikipedia:
ACE’s are common - 66% of survey participants reported at least 1
ACE’s often occur together - 40% reported 2 or more
ACE’s have a “dose-specific,” graded relationship with other health problems, meaning the higher the amount of ACE’s, the higher the amount of health and behavioral problems into adulthood.
For example, compared to an ACE score of 0:
ACE 4 = 700% increased risk of alcoholism, 200% increased risk of cancer, 400% increased risk of emphysema
ACE 6 = 3000% increase in attempted suicide
We can thank the study for what is now known as the ACE Quiz, a series of 10 questions that serves as a screening for health providers to better understand their patients on all levels. It is also used regularly outside medicine, such as in education and social services.1
I myself score an 8 out of 10 on the quiz.
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