Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire

Expanded Version

Finding your ACE Score

As you think about the ACE questions below, consider your family context. For example, you may have been raised by persons other than your parents, e.g., foster parents, grandparents, stepparents, or an older sibling. Answer the questions accordingly.

ACE Score

While you were growing up, during your first 18 years of life:

  1. Did a parent or other adult in the household often:
    1. Swear at you, insult you, put you down, or humiliate you? OR
    2. Act in a way that made you afraid that you might be physically hurt?
1
  1. Did a parent or other adult in the household often:
    1. Push, grab, slap, or throw something at you? OR
    2. Ever hit you so hard that you had marks or were injured?
2
  1. Did an adult or person at least 5 years older than you ever:
    1. Touch or fondle you or have you touch their body in a sexual way? OR
    2. Try to or actually have oral, anal, or vaginal sex with you?
3
  1. Did you often feel that...
    1. No one in your family loved you or thought you were important or special? OR
    2. Your family didn’t look out for each other, feel close to each other, or support each other?
4
  1. Did you often feel that...
    1. You didn’t have enough to eat, had to wear dirty clothes, and had no one to protect you?
    2. Your parents were too drunk or high to take care of you or take you to the doctor if you needed it?
5
  1. Were your parents ever separated or divorced?
6
  1. Was your mother or stepmother:
    1. Often pushed, grabbed, slapped, or had something thrown at her? OR
    2. Sometimes or often kicked, bitten, hit with a fist, or hit with something hard? OR
    3. Ever repeatedly hit over at least a few minutes or threatened with a gun or knife?
7
  1. Did you live with anyone who was a problem drinker or alcoholic or who used street drugs?
8
  1. Was a household member depressed or mentally ill or did a household member attempt suicide?
9
  1. Did a household member go to prison?
10
Additional ACE questions:
  1. Did anyone in your family exercise dominance or control over other family members to the point where others felt that they had no voice?
11
  1. Were spiritual writings such as the Bible used by parents or other significant leaders to make you see things their way or to control your behavior? OR
    Was a parent or primary caregiver committed to ministry to others to the point that your needs were neglected?
12
  1. Were you bullied at school over time physically, verbally or through cyber technology without effective intervention from parents or teachers?
13
  1. As a child, did you experience the death of a parent or sibling OR
    Did either of your parents abandon the family?
14
  1. Were you exposed over time to war or famine or been diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)?
15
  1. Were you raised in a neighborhood where there was frequent gang activity, violence or other activity that resulted in your feeling unsafe?
16
  1. Did you feel pressured to perform in school or in other ways in order to earn your parents' love or approval or to prove your own value/worth?
17
  1. Were you a student at a school where there was a school shooting, hostage situation, or a similar terrorist threat or action?
18
  1. Did you experience traumatic or regular mistreatment or abuse due to your race, religion, gender, sexual orientation or culture?
19
  1. Were you raised in a country where there was government control of religion and other aspects of life or where dissent was met with force or imprisonment?
20

Understanding Your Score

ACE (Adverse Childhood Experiences) scores are a way to measure the level of childhood trauma a person has experienced. The ACEs study, conducted by the CDC and Kaiser Permanente, identified 10 types of adverse experiences in childhood (before age 18), which fall into three categories:

  1. Abuse
  2. Neglect
  3. Household Dysfunction

Each “yes” answer to these 10 questions adds one point to a person’s ACE score (ranging from 0 to 10).

Note:  The “Expanded” score includes Spiritual abuse, which was not included in the original research, but has been found to be important factor in health outcomes.

Learn More