Take the ACE Survey and Learn Your ACE Score
While you were growing up, during your first 18 years of life:	Yes or No
1. Did a parent or other adult in the household 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?	If yes enter 1 ___
2. Did a parent or other adult in the household often … Push, grab, slap, or throw something at you? or Ever hit you so hard that you had marks or were injured?	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 Try to or actually have oral, anal, or vaginal sex with you?	If yes enter 1 ___
4. Did you 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?	If yes enter 1 ___
5. Did you 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?	If yes enter 1 ___
6. Were your parents ever separated or divorced?	If yes enter 1 ___
7. Was your mother or stepmother: Often pushed, grabbed, slapped, or had something thrown at her? or Sometimes or 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?	If yes enter 1 ___
8. Did you live with anyone who was a problem drinker or alcoholic or who used street drugs?	If yes enter 1 ___
9. Was a household member depressed or mentally ill or did a household member attempt suicide?	If yes enter 1 ___
10. Did a household member go to prison?	If yes enter 1 ___
Now add up your “Yes” answers: _______ This is your ACE Score.

 

What Your Ace Score Means

Your ACE score is not the only way to measure what happened to you, and what it measures is very general — for example, there is a big difference between having a parent who is depressed for a few months (question 9) and one who suffers from schizophrenia all her life. Plus, not everyone reacts in the same way or has the same problems, as a result of childhood events. But as a rough measurement, the higher your ACE score, the more likely you’ll experience certain problems in your life:

1. We are depressed and anxious more than most people
2. We can overreact to things, and sometimes have anger problems
3. We are more likely to be violent, and to be victims of violence
4. We easily become overweight (especially if we were sexually abused)
5. We are not so great at the whole “first-get-married-then-have-kids” thing
6. We have sex younger, and are more likely to have an unintended pregnancy or abortion
7. We get stuck in shitty relationships, or even violent ones
8. We have more than our share of addictions, including smoking
9. We have high rate of diabetes, autoimmune diseases, migraines, chronic pain and other health problems
10. We sometimes have problems with focus, attention and learning
11. We are more likely to have money problems, or live in poverty
12. We sometimes feel like people or life is just harder for us, like we’re swimming upstream

By the Way, There are More Adverse Childhood Experiences Than These! It’s helpful to use the ten-question quiz and get a score, just so you can compare your score to those of others who have taken this survey, and what science tells us about folks like us may be affected.But please know that these ten things are really only a partial list! Many of us have noticed there are many more Adverse Childhood Experiences that almost certainly affect us. Things like: Homelessness Living in a war zone or dangerous neighborhood Being the victim of bullying, racism or other kinds of cruelty Poverty! For me, being poor was a big fat ACE, and I talk about it a lot in this book. Some Common Things I’ve Seen, But That Don’t Appear Yet in the ACE Literature: Lots of debt. Debt is common even for normal people but I suspect higher with for people like us. I used to have debt. Discomfort around normal people. I still have this. School functions are really stressful for me, for example. I feel like everyone is on this high plane of normalcy and one false move, and they will see what a freak I am and ostracize my kids.

ACEs are the big new thing in healthcare and social services. Professionals are excited to have a better way to understand what the hell is going on with people like us — why we seem to have a harder time than others, and get sicker, and make some of the same mistakes over and over again. A lot of agencies are changing around their services to try to do a better job of hearing us, and helping us. This would be awesome. All my life, I felt like doctors really did not understand, and it’s made me an uptight patient. You can read specific information about the whole ACE thing at www.acestoohigh.org or by searching “ACE Study”.