The impact and measure of adverse childhood experiences: reflections of undergraduates and graduates in England
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
The impact and measure of adverse childhood experiences: reflections of undergraduates and graduates in England Sarah Louise Martin-Denham 1
&
Jacob James Donaghue 1
Received: 24 February 2020 / Accepted: 2 July 2020 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Aim This research aimed to explore the usefulness of measuring perceived levels of trauma to distinguish non-traumatic from traumatic adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Subject and Methods This article shares findings from an online questionnaire of 156 graduates and undergraduates which sought to capture and describe the range of ACEs participants were exposed to before the age of 18, including those not associated with the ACE study survey (Felitti et al. 1998). The research built upon the original study with the inclusion of open-ended questions to capture any additional ACEs participants felt they experienced. Results This distinction was used to investigate whether the inclusion of additional ACEs and the exclusion of perceived nontraumatic ACEs significantly affected the participants’ overall ACE score. A Wilcoxon signed-rank test revealed a significant difference between ACE scores (z = −5.84, p < .001, r = −.33). Conclusion The analysis suggests that the ACE survey did not capture the range of adversities experienced by this sample and suggests that an open-ended approach should be considered for future ACE measures. Keywords Adverse childhood experience . Children . Measurement tools . Education . Trauma . Exploratory
Introduction Many epidemiological surveys have been undertaken nationally and internationally to attempt to measure adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) (Public Health Directorate 2018). Over time, it has become clear that there is a link between multi-trauma, adversity and health risk behaviours alongside negative social, physical and mental health outcomes (Felitti et al. 1998; Brown et al. 2009; Dube et al. 2001; Greeson et al. 2011; Johnson et al. 2013; Oral et al. 2016). Despite wide acknowledgement of ACEs as sources of risk, there continue to be concerns regarding methodological issues in evaluating associations between the environmental effect of ACEs and
* Sarah Louise Martin-Denham [email protected] Jacob James Donaghue [email protected] 1
University of Sunderland, St Peters Campus, Sunderland, England SR2 ODD
later life outcomes (Forsman and Långström 2012; Schwartz et al. 2019; Anda et al. 2020). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Kaiser Permanente ACE study (Felitti et al. 1998) remains one of the largest investigations into childhood abuse, neglect and household challenges, and is where the term ‘adverse childhood experiences’, or ACEs, was first introduced. Felitti and Anda (2014) described how the ACE study was devised to determine in a general, middle-class adult population the prevalence of ten categories of stressful, traumatic childhood experiences to determine what, if any, long-term effects of the experiences might be
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