Abstract
We examined the self-reported adulthood impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACE’s), including both the amount (magnitude) and type (valence positive or negative) of impact reported, in order to characterize variability in impact ratings, as well as to quantify their predictive ability with respect to health outcomes. We descriptively characterized impact by type of event and analyzed associations between impact ratings and demographic characteristics of respondents to explore resilience. We also analyzed the relationships between impact ratings and health outcomes. We found that, while there was wide variability in impact ratings, emotional abuse was rated as the most impactful in magnitude, and sexual and emotional abuse were rated as the most negatively impactful in terms of valence. We further found that impact ratings are predictive of adult health outcomes above and beyond the experience of the events alone. We conclude that perceived impact is a potentially important variable to include when self-reported ACEs are assessed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Anda, R., Croft, J., Felitti, V. J., Nordenberg, D., Giles, W., Williamson, D. F., et al. (1999). Adverse childhood experiences and smoking during adolescence and adulthood. JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, 282(17), 1652–1658.
Anda, R. F., Felitti, V. J., Bremner, J. D., Walker, J. D., Whitfield, C., Perry, B. D., et al. (2006). The enduring effects of abuse and related adverse experiences in childhood: A convergence of evidence from neurobiology and epidemiology. European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 256(3), 174–186. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-005-0624-4.
Boals, A. (2011). A double-edged sword: Event centrality, PTSD and posttraumtic growth. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 25, 817–822.
Chapman, D. P., Whitfield, C. L., Felitti, V. J., Dube, S. R., Edwards, V. J., & Anda, R. F. (2004). Adverse childhood experiences and the risk of depressive disorders in adulthood. Journal of Affective Disorders, 82(2), 217–225. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2003.12.013.
Chung, E. K., Mathew, L., Elo, I. T., Coyne, J. C., & Culhane, J. F. (2008). Depressive symptoms in disadvantaged women receiving prenatal care: The influence of adverse and positive childhood experiences. Ambulatory Pediatrics, 8(2), 109–116. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ambp.2007.12.003.
Cromer, L. D., & Smyth, J. M. (2010). Making meaning of trauma: Trauma exposure doesn’t tell the whole story. Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy, 40(2), 65–72. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10879-009-9130-8.
Danese, A., & McEwen, B. S. (2012). Adverse childhood experiences, allostasis, allostatic load, and age-related disease. Physiology & Behavior, 106(1), 29–39. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.PHYSBEH.2011.08.019.
D’Argenio, A., Mazzi, C., Pecchioli, L., Di Lorenzo, G., Siracusano, A., & Troisi, A. (2009). Early trauma and adult obesity: Is psychological dysfunction the mediating mechanism? Physiology and Behavior, 98(5), 543–546. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2009.08.010.
Dong, M., Anda, R. F., Felitti, V. J., Dube, S. R., Williamson, D. F., Thompson, T. J., et al. (2004). The interrelatedness of multiple forms of childhood abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction. Child Abuse and Neglect, 28(7), 771–784. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2004.01.008.
Dube, S. R., Anda, R. F., Felitti, V. J., Chapman, D. P., Williamson, D. F., & Giles, W. H. (2001a). Childhood abuse, household dysfunction, and the risk of attempted suicide throughout the life span: Findings from the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study. JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, 286(24), 3089–3096. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.286.24.3089.
Dube, S. R., Anda, R. F., Felitti, V. J., Croft, J. B., Edwards, V. J., & Giles, W. H. (2001b). Growing up with parental alcohol abuse. Child Abuse & Neglect, 25(12), 1627–1640. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0145-2134(01)00293-9.
Dube, S. R., Felitti, V. J., Dong, M., Giles, W. H., & Anda, R. F. (2003). The impact of adverse childhood experiences on health problems: Evidence from four birth cohorts dating back to 1900. Preventive Medicine, 37(3), 268–277. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0091-7435(03)00123-3.
Edwards, V. J., Holden, G. W., Felitti, V. J., & Anda, R. F. (2003). Relationship between multiple forms of childhood maltreatment and adult mental health in community respondents: Results from the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study. American Journal of Psychiatry, 160(8), 1453–1460. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.160.8.1453.
Felitti, V. J., Anda, R. F., Nordenberg, D., Williamson, D. F., Spitz, A. M., Edwards, V. J., et al. (1998). Research article relationship of childhood abuse and household dysfunction to many of the leading causes of death in adults the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study Vincent. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 14(4), 245–258. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0749-3797(98)00017-8.
Graeber, D. A., Helitzer, D. L., LaNoue, M. D., & Fawcett, J. (2013). The relationship between self-reported adult impact of adverse childhood events and health-related quality of life. Journal of Community Medicine & Health Education, 04(01), 1–5. https://doi.org/10.4172/2161-0711.1000267.
Groleau, J. M., Calhoun, L. G., Cann, A., & Tedeschi, R. G. (2013). The role of centrality of events in posttraumatic distress and posttraumatic growth. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 5(5), 477–483. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0028809.
Harper, S., Lynch, J., Hsu, W.-L., Everson, S. A., Hillemeier, M. M., Raghunathan, T. E., et al. (2002). Life course socioeconomic conditions and adult psychosocial functioning. International Journal of Epidemiology, 31(2), 395–403. https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/31.2.395.
Helitzer, D., Graeber, D., LaNoue, M., & Newbill, S. (2015). Don’t step on the tiger’s tail: A mixed methods study of the relationship between adult impact of childhood adversity and use of coping strategies. Community Mental Health Journal, 51(7), 768–774. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-014-9815-7.
Hillis, S. D., Anda, R. F., Felitti, V. J., Nordenberg, D., & Marchbanks, P. A. (2000). Adverse childhood experiences and sexually transmitted diseases in men and women: A retrospective study. Pediatrics, 106(1), E11. https://doi.org/10.1542/PEDS.106.1.E11.
Hyland, M. E., Alkhalaf, A. M., & Whalley, B. (2013). Beating and insulting children as a risk for adult cancer, cardiac disease and asthma. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 36(6), 632–640. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-012-9457-6.
Lanoue, M., Graeber, D., De Hernandez, B. U., Warner, T. D., & Helitzer, D. L. (2012). Direct and indirect effects of childhood adversity on adult depression. Community Mental Health Journal, 48(2), 187–192. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-010-9369-2.
Lanoue, M., Graeber, D. A., Helitzer, D. L., & Fawcett, J. (2013). Negative affect predicts adults’ ratings of the current, but not childhood, impact of adverse childhood events. Community Mental Health Journal, 49(5), 560–566. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-012-9511-4.
Mulvaney, M. K., & Mebert, C. J. (2010). Stress appraisal and attitudes towards corporal punishment as intervening processes between corporal punishment and subsequent mental health. Journal of Family Violence, 25(4), 401–412. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-009-9301-0.
Ong, A. D., Mroczek, D. K., & Riffin, C. (2011). The health significance of positive emotions in adulthood and later life. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 5(8), 538–551. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9004.2011.00370.x.
Park, C. L. (2010). Making sense of the meaning literature: An integrative review of meaning making and its effects on adjustment to stressful life events. Psychological Bulletin, 136(2), 257–301. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0018301.
Ports, K. A., Ford, D. C., & Merrick, M. T. (2016). Adverse childhood experiences and sexual victimization in adulthood. Child Abuse & Neglect, 51, 313–322. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.CHIABU.2015.08.017.
Rubin, D. C., Boals, A., & Berntsen, D. (2008). Memory in posttraumatic stress disorder: Properties of voluntary and involuntary, traumatic and nontraumatic autobiographical memories in people with and without posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 137(4), 591–614. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0013165.
Rutter, M. (2006). Implications of resilience concepts for scientific understanding. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1094(1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1196/annals.1376.002.
Schilling, E., Aseltine, R. H., & Gore, S. (2008). The impact of cumulative childhood adversity on young adult mental health: Measures, models, and interpretations. Social Science and Medicine, 66(5), 1140–1151. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2007.11.023.
Scrafford, K. E., Grein, K., & Miller-Graff, L. E. (2017). Legacies of childhood victimization: Indirect effects on adult mental health through re-victimization. Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40653-017-0188-2.
Seery, M. D., Holman, E. A., & Silver, R. C. (2010). Whatever does not kill us: Cumulative lifetime adversity, vulnerability, and resilience. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 99(6), 1025–1041. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0021344.
Shonkoff, J. P., Garner, A. S., Siegel, B. S., Dobbins, M. I., Earls, M. F., Garner, A. S., et al. (2012). The lifelong effects of early childhood adversity and toxic stress. Pediatrics, 129(1), e232–e246. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2011-2663.
Smith, B. W., Dalen, J., Wiggins, K., Tooley, E., Christopher, P., & Bernard, J. (2008). The brief resilience scale: assessing the ability to bounce back. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 15(3), 194–200. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705500802222972.
Stoffel, J. M., & Cain, J. (2018). Review of grit and resilience literature within health professions education. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 82(2), 6150. https://doi.org/10.5688/ajpe6150.
Tedeschi, R. G., & Calhoun, L. G. (2004). Posttraumatic growth: Conceptual foundations and empirical evidence. Psychological Inquiry, 15(1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327965pli1501_01.
Topitzes, J., Mersky, J. P., Dezen, K. A., & Reynolds, A. J. (2013). Adult resilience among maltreated children: A prospective investigation of main effect and mediating models. Children and Youth Services Review, 35(6), 937–949. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2013.03.004.
Widom, C. S., Czaja, S. J., & Dutton, M. A. (2008). Childhood victimization and lifetime revictimization. Child Abuse and Neglect, 32(8), 785–796. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2007.12.006.
Widom, C. S., Raphael, K. G., & Dumont, K. A. (2004). The case for prospective longitudinal studies in child maltreatment research: commentary on Dube, Williamson, Thompson, Felitti, and Anda (2004). Child Abuse & Neglect Kruttschnitt & Dornfeld, 28(7), 715–722. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2004.03.009.
Williamson, D. F., Thompson, T. J., Anda, R. F., Dietz, W. H., & Felitti, V. (2002). Body weight and obesity in adults and self-reported abuse in childhood. International Journal of Obesity, 26(8), 1075–1082. https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0802038.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
LaNoue, M.D., Cunningham, A.T., Kenny, L.C. et al. What Do Adults Think About Their Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), and Does It Matter?. Community Ment Health J 56, 1255–1261 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-020-00580-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-020-00580-0