Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are potentially traumatic events occurring before age 18. The 10 ACE factors are divided into two categories: child maltreatment and household dysfunction.
Child maltreatment includes direct action against a child (abuse and neglect). Household dysfunction consists of factors in the child's living environment which contribute longterm risk (such as household adults experiencing mental illness, drug abuse, or incarceration).
An individual's ACE score is determined through a simple survey which measures how many types of ACEs they experienced up to age 18. This gives a score between 0 and 10.
Research indicates that higher ACE scores correlate with increased risks of cancer, cardiovascular disease, mental illnesses like depression, and lower perceived quality of life (Felitti et al., 1998; Kerker et al., 2015, as cited in Rariden et al., 2021). An ACE score of four or more is considered high risk, with a score six or more potentially leading to premature death within twenty years without intervention (Alhowaumel et al., 2023; Brown et al., 2009).
