This study compared the ability of 40 adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), covering 11 conceptual domains, to predict trauma symptoms in childhood.
There is increasing interest in routine screening for adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) to help identify high-risk children who would benefit from interventions; however, research to date has not sufficiently determined which set of ACEs would be most predictive as a potential screening tool. The current study used pooled data from three National Surveys of Children’s Exposure to Violence (NatSCEV), which were conducted in 2008, 2011, and 2014. Each survey collected information on children ages 1 month to 17 years. Samples were obtained through a mix of random digit dialing and address-based sampling methods. Telephone interviews were conducted with children 10 years old and older and with caregivers, if the randomly selected child was under age 10. The study found that a set of 15 items best predicted trauma symptoms for younger (2−9-year-old) compared to older (10−17-year-old) youth. Some conventional ACEs, like physical and emotional abuse, were important for both age groups; however, family-related factors were more predictive for younger children, and exposures to community and peer violence were more predictive for older children. The new proposed measures explained substantially more variance in subsequent trauma symptoms than did the original ACE measures (R2 = .31 vs .18 for 2-9 year-olds; R2 = .43 vs .26 for 10-17 year-olds; p < .001 for all) and identified a larger percentage of children with high levels of trauma. (publisher abstract modified)