>> Adverse childhood experiences are incredibly common.
One out of seven children
in the United States experiences child abuse neglect.
Over 35 million children
in the United States each year are exposed to some form
of violence, some form of adversity.
So these experiences are more common
than we're willing to admit.
That's one reason why it's so important to be concerned
about these exposures.
It's very common.
Not to say that every adverse experience is going to lead
to a health problem, but when you have that type of exposure
in a population where almost half your children
in each year are exposed to some form of adversity,
and you understand that those adversities lead
to mental health and physical health problems,
it really raises a red flag of concern.
>> The ACE's are, you know, fairly widespread in terms
of looking at some of the data, especially when we've looked
at some of the population data.
One of the ways that we've tried
to quantify ACE's is there are several different questions
that ask about those adverse childhood experiences, you know,
from things like a parent being incarcerated,
a parent having mental illness, a child being exposed --
or actually they're adults but when they were children --
being exposed to physical abuse or sexual abuse.
And so of those range of questions,
one of the things is we've tried
to measure is how many people were exposed to zero ACE's,
how many were exposed to one, two, three, four, five,
six, all the way on up.
And so we find that, you know, there's probably around 40%
of the population that probably had zero.
And there's a good proportion of the population, a little bit
over twelve percent, so probably about one in eight
that have been exposed to several of the ACE's.
So, you know, one in eight adults that have been exposed
to the ACE's in which we belief there are health consequences
for that, is a pretty big population that we need to try
to be addressing and try to do something for.
>> In the absence of protective factors,
exposure to childhood adversity can increase individual risk
for future violence, unhealthy and unsafe behaviors,
and poor overall health and wellness.
While these potential outcomes exist at an individual level,
they can create a cycle that's difficult to break.
Children have an increased risk of exposure to ACE's
when their parents or caregivers have a history of ACE's.
And if the cycle repeats,
ACE's and their consequences can echo across generations.
Take Paul, for example.
Paul's parents had difficult childhoods.
They didn't have good role models growing up,
nor did they have community support when Paul was born.
Paul's dad had a hard time finding work
and his parents were constantly fighting.
They struggled to provide for their family
on less than adequate wages.
And they had limited access to resources like childcare
and tax credits that could have reduced the stress level
in Paul's household.
As a result of these factors,
Paul experienced ACE's as a young boy.
There was a good chance
that these experiences could have had long term consequences
for Paul and even for his kids and grandkids down the line.
Paul could have dropped out of high school and struggled
to find steady jobs like his dad.
He might have developed chronic anxiety like his mom.
He could have lived in poverty throughout his life.
If these things happened, Paul's children would have been
at high risk for ACE's and the cycle might have continued.
But this didn't happen.
Paul found mentors and friends at the local community center
where Paul's dad enrolled in a free job training program.
A local hospital partnered with Paul's school
to conduct health fairs for the community.
And Paul's parents were linked to counseling services
that helped them develop healthier ways to cope
with stress, communicate with each other,
and practice positive parenting.
Furthermore, Paul's family and his entire community benefitted
from programs and policies such as nutrition assistance,
public transportation, tax credits, livable wage policies,
and public awareness campaigns designed to support families
and shift social norms.
All of these things help Paul thrive.
Sure, he had ups and downs throughout his life,
but numerous factors protected Paul from the effects
of adversities he experienced as a child.
His family and community gave Paul a sturdy foundation
that enabled him to grow into a healthy, happy adult
and a supportive father and grandfather.
The intergenerational cycle
that ACE's can create stopped at Paul.
When we consider the number of people affected by ACE's,
the range of negative outcomes they can lead to,
and the potential to intervene,
the case for prevention is clear.
>> Children who experience early adversity are less likely
to graduate high school, and they're more likely
to be unemployed and living in poverty as adults.
What that means is that their children are now living
in early adversity, experiencing early adversity,
and are themselves at greater risk
of not completing high school, being unemployed as adults,
and living in poverty.
It helps us to see how early adversity can be passed
from one generation to the next, but also how poverty cycles
from one generation to the next.
As a society, we can disrupt these cycles with policies
that support economic conditions for families that help
to lift them out of poverty through programs and policies.
We also could address, break this cycle of poverty
by improving access to high quality education
for all children to be sure that all children are able
to not only have high quality schools,
but to be able to learn in schools.
>> We need to look at why it is
that some children are more at risk than others.
What puts them more at risk?
What are the conditions that they're living in?
And what are the policies that can impact those conditions?
For example, safe and stable housing, a livable wage,
access to early care
and education can be really important.
>> I think it's important to keep in mind
that an ACE score doesn't label a person
as having an easy or a hard future.
Many children who have experienced severe adversity,
prolonged adversity early on are very resilient, very strong,
and go on to lead very productive, happy lives.
There are individual factors that make children,
some children, more resilient than others.
And there are environmental factors as well.
So we tend to see resilience increased
when children have a supportive person in their environment.
That doesn't have to be the parent.
It could be a teacher.
It could be a school coach.
But somebody who can help them, support them,
believe in them is tremendously helpful.
Also children who believe in themselves, and have a sense
of purpose about their lives, and a strong sense of self,
strong self-esteem, they tend to have more resilience and be able
to handle adversity better than children
who may lack those things.
So there are certain personality characteristics and traits
as well as social factors
that can really influence a child's reaction to stress.
>> Take a moment now to answer a few questions
about lesson three.
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