80.5 Percent of Teens Experience at Least One Adverse Childhood Experience

MONDAY, Oct. 28, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are very common among adolescents, with 80.5 percent experiencing at least one ACE, according to a study published online Oct. 28 in Pediatrics.

Using data from 16 states, Elizabeth A. Swedo, M.D., M.P.H., from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, and colleagues estimated the prevalence of eight individual and cumulative ACEs among a large population-based sample of adolescents overall and by demographic characteristics.

The researchers found that emotional abuse, household poor mental health, and physical abuse had the highest prevalence (65.8, 36.1, and 32.5 percent, respectively). Overall, 80.5 and 22.4 percent of adolescents experienced at least one ACE and four or more ACEs, respectively. Adolescents who were female (27.7 percent), non-Hispanic multiracial (33.7 percent), non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native (27.1 percent), gay or lesbian (36.5 percent), or bisexual (42.1 percent) or who described their sexual identity some other way or were not sure of their sexual identity (questioning; 36.5 percent) had the highest prevalence of experiencing four or more ACEs.

"Differences in the experiences of ACEs by students belonging to racial, ethnic, or sexual minority groups highlight the need to tailor prevention and mitigation efforts to different social and cultural contexts, rather than employing a universal approach to prevention and intervention, to better support groups disproportionately impacted by ACEs," the authors write.

Abstract/Full Text