One Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Often Involves Multiple ACE’S

One Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Often Involves Multiple ACE’S

Many of us who have seen ACE studies has been exposed to the list of 10 know ACE’S.

1. Did a parent or other adult in the household often or very often… Swear at you, insult you, put you down, or humiliate you? or Act in a way that made you afraid that you might be physically hurt?
No___If Yes, enter 1 __

2. Did a parent or other adult in the household often or very often… Push, grab, slap, or throw something at you? or Ever hit you so hard that you had marks or were injured?
No___If Yes, enter 1 __

3. Did an adult or person at least 5 years older than you ever… Touch or fondle you or have you touch their body in a sexual way? or Attempt or actually have oral, anal, or vaginal intercourse with you?
No___If Yes, enter 1 __

4. Did you often or very often feel that … No one in your family loved you or thought you were important or special? or Your family didn’t look out for each other, feel close to each other, or support each other?
No___If Yes, enter 1 __

5. Did you often or very often feel that … You didn’t have enough to eat, had to wear dirty clothes, and had no one to protect you? or Your parents were too drunk or high to take care of you or take you to the doctor if you needed it?
No___If Yes, enter 1 __

6. Were your parents ever separated or divorced?
No___If Yes, enter 1 __

7. Was your mother or stepmother:
Often or very often pushed, grabbed, slapped, or had something thrown at her? or Sometimes, often, or very often kicked, bitten, hit with a fist, or hit with something hard? or Ever repeatedly hit over at least a few minutes or threatened with a gun or knife?
No___If Yes, enter 1 __

8. Did you live with anyone who was a problem drinker or alcoholic, or who used street drugs?
No___If Yes, enter 1 __

9. Was a household member depressed or mentally ill, or did a household member attempt suicide?
No___If Yes, enter 1 __

10. Did a household member go to prison?
No___If Yes, enter 1 __

Here are examples of how one ACE involves multiple ACE’S.

ACE #1 involves any of the following:  swearing, insults, put-downs, humiliation, or threats.  Often carried out with anger.  Many people who experienced ACE #1 have also experienced ACE #4, because ACE #1 leads to ACE #4.  In many cases,  when anger gets heated,  it goes from verbal abuse to physical abuse, which is ACE#2.

Here are common models illustrating this point.

Model 1:  A child does something that irritates the parent  (often without knowledge).  The parent reacts by yelling and screaming at the child.   It often involves many of the things listed in ACE #1.  Then they hit or spank the child and may say "This will teach you a lesson!"
or may say "Knock it off!", etc. 

In this case,  the child may have 3 ACE’S from being brought up with this model.  ACE #1 - Verbal Abuse, ACE #2 - Physical Abuse, and ACE #4 - Feeling Unloved or Not Supported.

Model 2:  The child does something that irritates the parent,  the parent hits or spanks the child then responds "What is wrong with you?"  or "What in the hell is the matter with you?"  or "Your Naughty/Bad!"

In this case,  the child also may have 3 ACE’S.   The first was ACE #2-physical abuse,  the second was ACE #1-Verbal Abuse, which often leads to ACE #4.

Model 3: The child does something undesirable,  often without knowledge.  The parent spanks or hits them,  then explains why they got spanked and says "When you do this, you are being stupid! (or naughty!, or bad!)".  This can also involve ACE #2, then ACE #1 - which the quote illustrates, and can lead the child to feel unloved  (ACE #4).   Even if we eliminate the quote, the child had no knowledge of wrong doing,  then got spanked,  which leads to being discouraged,  which can imply ACE #1, even though it was not directly said to them.   This also can lead to ACE #4.

Model #4: The child knowingly does something wrong,  the parent makes the child remove their clothing and spanks them bare butt. 

Butts are sexual regions.  At times, sexual experiences can be triggered by spanking through neurological and arterial connections, which the frequency of these experiences are increased greatly with bare butt spankings. 

This can be ACE #2 - Physical Abuse, and ACE #3 - Sexual Abuse.  It may not be intended by the parent to make anything sexual from it, but it doesn't change what the child experiences.   The results can be as detrimental as being blatantly molested.  

ACE #5 and ACE #4 (neglect and feeling unloved) can go hand in hand.

ACE #6 (divorce) and ACE #4 (feeling unloved) cab go hand in hand,  especially when Parental Alienation is involved, which happens more often than not in divorce situations. 

ACE #6 often leads to ACE #5 also. Also the frequency of abuse  (ACE #1, ACE #2, and ACE #3) is increased greatly with step parents, because the step parent often doesn't love their step child as their own. 

ACE #7 - Violence Against Mother/Step Mother often leads to divorce,  violence against children,  etc.

ACE #8 - Drugs and Alcohol often leads to many other forms of abuse.   Frequency of abuse of all forms are much higher with drugs and alcohol.  Often leads to many ACE’S.

ACE #9 - Mental Illness has been the culprit of many forms of abuse.   This also can generate many ACE’S.

ACE#10 - Incarnation of a family member can lead to ACE #4 in some cases.   Sometimes prison can create mental illness which can lead to ACE #9.

CONCLUSION:

It would be very rare that if a child has one ACE that there would not be other ACE’S tied in with that.   Many would not realize the other ACE’S,  or may not realize that they even have ACE’S because a lot of the models listed above has been "normalized" because those practices were common.

I hope by posting this,  it could help open more eyes about what ACE’S are truly having an effect on a person,  and more can be done to prevent future occurrences of trauma and better equip those who can help those who experienced trauma to heal, and to minister to them effectively.

Rodney Calmes