Find out your ACEs score
The first step to getting help for yourself if needed – and to protecting your children from ACEs
Your ACEs score will be based on specific ACEs you may have experienced in your childhood. Understanding ourselves as adults often means revisiting our childhoods.
Researchers have identified the following ACEs:
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Physical, sexual or verbal abuse
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Physical or emotional neglect
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Separation or divorce
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A family member with mental illness
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A family member addicted to drugs or alcohol
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A family member who is in prison
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Witnessing a parent being abused
The higher your ACEs score, the higher your RISK of developing serious health and social issues, such as depression, stroke, PTSD, cancer, and substance abuse.
Our free ACEs survey will ask you 21 simple questions.
The first 10 questions are based on the original ACEs screening, which covers the above bulleted list of specific ACEs.
The remaining questions include other forms of childhood adversity which are increasingly recognised as potential ACEs as well as simple demographics, for example, your age group.
The survey and your ACEs score are completely anonymous & confidential.
At the end of your ACEs survey, we will provide you with your ACEs score and further information on ACEs, e.g. reports, film screenings, articles and links to other services.
PLEASE NOTE - The Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) score is a relatively crude measure of cumulative childhood stress exposure that can vary widely from person to person. Unlike recognized public health screening measures, such as blood pressure that use measurement reference standards and thresholds for clinical decision making, the ACE score is not a standardized measure of childhood exposure to stress.
Why is this? The questions from the ACE study cannot fully assess the frequency, intensity, or chronicity of exposure to an ACE or differences in the timing of exposure. For example, 2 people, each having an ACE score of 4, may have different lifetime exposures, timing of exposures, or positive experiences or protective factors that affect stress. A person with an ACE score of 1 may have experienced intense, chronic, and unrelenting exposure to a single type of abuse, whereas another person who has experienced low-level exposure to multiple adversities will have a higher ACE score.
As a result, projecting the risk of health or social outcomes based on any individual’s ACE score can lead to significant underestimation or overestimation of actual risk. However you will know how ACEs affected you and you can seek help. |