Adverse Childhood Experiences or ACEs is the name given to describe all kinds of abuse, neglect, and other distressing experiences that happen to people under the age of 18. The ACEs study observed the connection between these experiences throughout their childhood and decreased health and social interaction as they grow-up. From 1995 to 1997, more than 17,000 people who are receiving physical exams participated in confidential surveys about their childhood experiences and present behaviors and health status.
ACE’s Categories
- Emotional abuse
- Sexual abuse
- Physical abuse
- Incarcerated relative
- Mother treated violently
- Mental illness
- Parental divorce
- Drug abuse
- Physical neglect
- Emotional neglect
Generally, childhood experiences have a remarkable, lifetime impact on an individual’s health in all aspects. The ACE Study is important because it presents the connections between ACEs and dangerous behavior, psychological problems, serious illness, the leading causes of death, and domestic violence. Less than half of the total number of adults surveyed reported at least one ACE.
This survey data emphasize the importance of preventing ACEs before they occur. This survey helps in the development of abilities that will assist children reach their goals. Several strategies were produced to deal with the needs of children and their families, which include parenting training courses, intimate partner abuse prevention, social assistance for parents, mental illness and drug abuse treatment, teen pregnancy prevention courses, high quality child care (cdc.gov).
ACEs on Domestic violence
According to ACE study, there are a large number of children who experienced and are exposed to domestic violence in the United States. Even by just witnessing domestic and family abuse, children may experience psychological trauma as if they are the ones being abused. Both adults and children may find it hard to discuss their traumatic experiences. Some children may experience moderate to severe post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD.
The ACE Study is one of the major studies that demonstrates and examine the links between childhood experiences and domestic violence. The ACE score bares that ACEs are common and often happen in groups, and add to life-long costs and economic duty. The ACE Study states that exposure to domestic violence can increase the risk for physical and mental health, and drug abuse conditions. In addition, study on children who are exposed to domestic violence discovered that they can encounter a higher risk for mental health problems related to juvenile negligence, antisocial behavior, and increased rates of depression, anxiety, and PTSD.
The impact of continual exposure to domestic violence in childhood was discovered to have long-term effects during the years of a child’s life. The ACE Study findings present understanding of the effects of ACEs in relation to family dysfunction domestic violence throughout the life span. Numerous lessons maintain to be learned from the ACE Study in relation to intervention and prevention in the aspects of health, mental health, substance addictions, social welfare, and criminal justice. In the early stage of childhood development, a mother’s influence on flexibility in children and exposure to stressful, traumatic, and violent incidents has been observed.
ACE Study establishes the interrelationship of adverse childhood experience of neglect, abuse, and family dysfunction on adult health and welfare. Social workers can use these study findings to discover how childhood traumatic experience and exposure to violence and other ACEs are related to physical, mental health, and drug abuse circumstances throughout the life span. The factors and data gathered from the ACE Study can work as a guide for social workers and assist them in determining practices and policies that promote early childhood trauma prevention and treatment involvement (Webb, 2).
Works Cited
Webb, Rita. "The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study: Implications for Mothers’ & Children’s Exposure to Domestic Violence." Practice Perspectives (2013): 2. Web. 13 Dec. 2014. <http://www.socialworkers.org/assets/secured/documents/practice/children/acestudy.pdf>.
