What are ACEs?

ACE stands for Adverse Childhood Experiences. These are events that can be categorized as potentially traumatic for a child. These traumatic events are considered ACEs if they occur between 0 and 17 years old. These events can have lasting outcomes that follow a child into adulthood and affect their physical, cognitive, and social/emotional development along the way. The more ACEs a child experiences, the higher the risk of developing negative outcomes in life-related to the three domains of development. The most common example of ACEs would be any form of abuse or neglect. However, it's important to understand that the category of ACEs is always expanding to include more experiences that are potentially traumatizing to a child like experiencing discrimination, bullying, or living through a pandemic. The external influences on child development are innumerable and immpossible to quantify, so this method of understanding how ACEs influence child development is somewhat limited in scope.

What about PCEs?

Alternatively, there are PCEs which stands for Positive Childhood Experiences. These are events that can be categorized as overwhelmingly positive experiences and relationships a child has with an adult or peer that can serve as a protective factor against the negative effects of ACEs. Children are resiliant. PCEs aid in that resiliance to promote better outcomes and offset negative consequences related to ACEs in adulthood.

Why You Should Care

ACEs have long-term impacts on an individual's development. Effects of ACEs follow a child through into adulthood and can include increased risk for poor mental health outcomes, poor or reduced academic and occupational performance, substance misuse, and chronic stress which in turn leads to chronic diseases and additional negative outcomes on life expectancy. At least 5 of the top 10 leading causes of death in the united states can be associated with ACEs. People with high ACE scores may have a reduced life expectancy by as much as 20 years on average compared to those with ACE scores of 0. Please visit the Adulthood page via the navigation bar to left for more details.