Prevalence of ACEs in Early Childhood

• In Event: Poster Session 09
  In Poster Session: PS 09 Topic - Prevention and Interventions

Abstract

The effects of early adverse life experiences on children’s developmental trajectories have been of considerable interest for the past few decades. Results from the landmark ACEs study (Felitti et al., 1998) suggest that the more adverse life experiences people had, the chances of them developing later physical and mental health problems, such as mental illness, substance abuse, and suicidality, increased. In the present study, we aimed to determine if we could identify the prevalence, variety, and frequency of ACEs in three samples of young children. Most research of this type is based on retrospective accounts from adults recounting their childhood experiences. However, to our knowledge, no research to date has attempted to measure ACEs as they are accruing in early childhood.
Using an anonymous caregiver-reported survey, we assessed ACEs in infants, toddlers, and young children aged 3 months to 7 years old. We assessed 19 categories of ACEs that evaluated children’s exposure to abuse (emotional, sexual, and physical), neglect (emotional and physical), household dysfunction (e.g., household mental illness and family member incarceration), and sources of adversity outside of the home (e.g., community violence). Caregivers of 86 infants (43% female, Mage = 7.89 months), 95 toddlers/preschoolers (54% female, Mage = 24.24 months), and 86 young school age children (50% female, Mage = 57.04 months) completed the survey.
As expected, the frequency of many types of ACEs increased as children became older, with the lowest prevalence of ACEs often occurring in infancy (Table 1). This assessment supplemented the original 10 ACEs assessed by Felitti et al. (1998) by adding more sources of adversity outside of the household. Twenty-nine (34.5%) of the infants, 40 (42.6%) of the toddler/preschoolers, and 52 (65%) of the early school aged children were reported as having one or more ACEs. The most common ACEs across all age groups included the presence of mental illness, substance use, or alcoholism in the home, or parental separation, divorce, non-involvement, or death.
Results also indicate that certain types of ACEs became more common with age, particularly those located outside of the home (e.g., experiencing bullying at school, or exposure to community violence, fear of going home). It stands to reason that the frequency of most of the ACEs increased as children became older; however, some ACE types did not follow this trend (physical neglect, physical abuse, both categories of sexual abuse, and homelessness). To our knowledge, this is the first instance of using first-person reporting to assess ACEs exposure within early childhood. Other research has utilized police reports, reports made to child welfare agencies, and other third-party reporting systems, but this methodology inherently likely would not capture data on other forms of early adversity. Future research should seek to validate these findings and confirm the increasing adversity trajectory in early childhood.

Authors

• Chelsea Robertson, West Liberty University
  Presenting Author

• Wallace E Dixon, East Tennessee State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Lauren Driggers-Jones, East Tennessee State University
  Non-Presenting Author