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Data analyzed by

State Health Compare

Percent of children with adverse childhood experiences (ACEs)

Measure Overview

It is widely understood that safe, stable, and nurturing environments during childhood promote better health outcomes, economic opportunity, and quality of life in adulthood. Unfortunately, each year millions of children under the age of 18 experience traumatic events, known as adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). ACEs include all types of physical and emotional abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction, which can have lifelong impacts on health and wellness. Tracking data on ACEs can help identify populations that are at increased risk of childhood trauma and inform efforts to reduce the prevalence of ACEs in the United States.

State Health Compare provides state-level rates of ACEs based on findings from the National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) public-use files. The data are available for two-year periods (e.g., 2016-2017) and can be viewed across several breakdowns: number of ACEs, age group, type of health insurance, education level, poverty level, and race/ethnicity.

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Related Product

The Kids Aren't Alright: Adverse Childhood Experiences and Implications for Health Equity

This brief investigates the prevalence of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and disparities in ACEs exposure by children’s race, family income, age and health insurance coverage. These disparities have deep implications for health equity due to related research showing that ACEs exposure is associated with increased risk for numerous short- and long-term health impacts, varying from mental health and substance use disorders to heart disease and cancer.

New State Health Compare estimates on Adverse Childhood Experiences aim to improve understanding of health inequities

This blog post is a quick note about updated estimates of the prevalence of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) to State Health Compare. These new estimates combine six years of data from the National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) to enable more precise and granular estimates for smaller racial and ethnic subpopulation groups that often are under-researched due to data limitations.