Understanding ACEs: How childhood trauma shapes lifelong...

This trauma, often caused by Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), follows children and adolescents into adulthood—and can have negative lifelong health repercussions, if left untreated. 

But by understanding how ACEs, and the lasting trauma that can follow, affect child development and adult health, we can promote healing, mitigate symptoms and even reverse some harmful results—and protect future generations from experiencing the suffering caused by childhood trauma. 

What are ACEs? 

Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACEs, are traumatic events that occur in a child’s life before they turn 18. Typically categorized into three main groups—abuse, neglect and household dysfunction—ACEs threaten the well-being of children around the world. 

Examples of ACEs include:  

— Experiencing physical, sexual or emotional abuse 

— Experiencing physical or emotional neglect 

— Witnessing substance use at home 

— Loss of a friend or family member 

— Separation from parental figures (ex. divorce, incarceration, death, abandonment) 

— Experiencing homelessness or moving frequently 

— Food insecurity 

— Lack of access to health care 

— Witnessing violence in the community or country 

No community is immune to the tragedy of childhood trauma. 

Globally, 60% of adults have experienced at least one type of ACE. And, in the United States, at least two-thirds of adults have experienced at least one type of ACE. 

And data continues to confirm ACEs are a global health crisis due to their detrimental impact on children’s health and development—and the pervasive, negative effects that last far into adulthood.  

How do ACEs affect an adult’s lifelong health? 

The effect of ACEs on an adult’s long-term emotional, mental and physical health is rooted in the developmental and health issues suffered in childhood. 

ACEs trigger toxic stress, which is the prolonged or repeated activation of the body’s stress response system. Without the presence of a loving, trusted adult to help a child regulate this response, healthy brain and body development are severely disrupted. 

Learn more about the critical importance of loving relationships in children’s development. 

Toxic stress inhibits the development of healthy neural connections essential to skills like language, attention, decision-making, memory and other executive functions. Toxic stress is also linked to chronic diseases, and adults who have experienced ACEs are at an increased risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, autoimmune diseases and even some cancers.  

In fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), at least five of the top 10 leading causes of deaths—heart disease, cancer, respiratory diseases, diabetes and suicide—are associated with ACEs. 

ACEs not only affect physical and cognitive health in adults. Those who have experienced trauma are at a higher risk of developing mental health issues—like depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and anxiety—as well as negatively impacting emotional health—like difficulties forming trusting relationships, difficulties regulating emotions and low self-esteem. 

Meaning: childhood abuse, neglect and trauma are serious public health concerns.  

How to treat ACEs:  

For children who have experienced trauma and adults living with ACEs, there is hope.  

While the damaging effects of ACEs can lead to serious mental, physical and emotional health challenges, they aren’t the end of an individual’s story. These symptoms can be managed, reduced and even reversed through:  

—Trauma-informed therapy, which helps individuals process trauma, manage symptoms or mental health diagnoses and even re-regulate their stress response so they no longer live in a state of toxic stress.  

— Supportive relationships, which are crucial in reversing the harm of ACEs by providing a sense of safety, reducing stress, developing resiliency and even encouraging healthy brain development. Caring, trusting relationships are proven to alleviate the effects of toxic stress—even for individuals who have experienced multiple ACEs.  

— Positive Childhood Experiences (PCEs), which significantly decrease the damaging effects of ACEs. Data highlights that PCEs—like trusting relationships with caring adults, feeling loved, a sense of community belonging, opportunities to grow and more—lead to less risk of poor adult health and mental health issues. 

— Healthy coping skills, which increase resiliency, lower stress levels and increase motional regulation. 

How to prevent ACEs: 

The heart of ACE prevention is family.  

Ensuring children grow up in a safe, stable and loving family is essential to protecting children from adverse experiences. In the comfort of a flourishing family, a child is safe from all three types of ACEs—abuse, neglect and household dysfunction. 

With SOS Children’s Villages family strengthening programs—which deliver economic empowerment, positive parenting classes, child protection trainings, education initiatives and more to at-risk families—we help prevent childhood trauma before it occurs.  

But what about the children who have already experienced trauma, like losing parental care? 

At SOS, we provide a safe, loving home with a trauma-informed, trained caregiver and access to professional mental health care for children who have lost parental care. In our SOS Children’s Villages, these children are surrounded by the PCEs—like trusting relationships, community belonging and more—they need to heal and move past their ACE. 

Every child deserves to grow up safe, loved, and supported. When you support SOS Children’s Villages, you’re not just changing individual lives through the power of loving relationships and trauma-informed care—you’re helping break cycles of abuse and building healthier communities for generations to come.