Racism is an Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE)

Research in Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) has increased in recent years with hundreds of studies finding a strong and consistent relationship between child adversity and numerous public health outcomes (see the ACE Pyramid in Figure 1). According to the CDC, ACEs are potentially traumatic events that occur in childhood as well as the conditions in the child’s environment that can undermine their sense of safety and stability. As research on ACEs has grown, so has our thinking about how to best measure ACEs in research studies. The original ACEs studies focus on adversities in the home like abuse, neglect, and other household challenges. However, scholars agree that child adversity includes other experiences, and an expanded measure set of ACEs is needed. For example, exposure to racism (i.e., discrimination; stigma; minority stress; historical trauma) is one expanding area of research that is being considered for an “enhanced” ACE measure. (author introduction)