The research behind The Trenches
Adverse Childhood Experiences
ACEs are potentially traumatic events that happen in childhood. The research describes patterns across large populations. It does not describe the future of the person sitting in front of you.
What ACEs are
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes adverse childhood experiences as potentially traumatic events occurring in childhood — for example abuse, neglect, and aspects of a child's environment that undermine their sense of safety, stability and bonding. CDC notes these experiences can have long-term effects on health and wellbeing, and emphasizes that safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments help prevent them and buffer their impact.
Where the research came from
The foundational study was a collaboration between the CDC and Kaiser Permanente. In 1998, Vincent Felitti, Robert Anda and colleagues published findings from a large adult population — CDC describes the original project as involving more than 17,000 participants — reporting a graded relationship between the number of adverse childhood experiences reported and the presence of several leading adult health risks.
“Graded” is the important word. As the count of reported experiences went up, the statistical likelihood of certain outcomes went up too. That is an association measured across a population.
Risk and protective factors
Research on childhood adversity is paired with research on what protects. CDC's prevention resources and the resilience literature both point in the same practical direction: connection to caring, stable adults; predictable environments; belonging; and positive childhood experiences that accumulate alongside the hard ones.
That is the part of this science that belongs to coaches, teachers, parents, counselors, pastors and mentors. You may not be able to remove what happened. You can become part of what protects.
Why this matters if you work with young people
- Behavior you find confusing may have made sense somewhere else.
- A child's history is not always visible, and is not yours to demand.
- Your consistency may be the most stabilizing thing in someone's week.
- Accountability and compassion are not opposites.
What story might I not know?
Behavior is visible. The heart is not. The question is not a technique — it's the posture that keeps you curious long enough to be useful.
Sources
- CDC — About Adverse Childhood Experiences
- CDC — Preventing ACEs: Resources and Strategies
- Felitti VJ, Anda RF, et al. Relationship of childhood abuse and household dysfunction to many of the leading causes of death in adults. Am J Prev Med. 1998.
- Center on the Developing Child, Harvard University — Key Concepts
Behavior is visible. The heart is not.