Respondents Indicating At Least 1 Type of Adverse Childhood Experience (LGHC Indicator)

This is a source dataset for a Let's Get Healthy California indicator at https://letsgethealthy.ca.gov/. The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) module of the Behavioral Risk Factors Surveillance System (BRFSS) asks respondents questions about eight different traumatic childhood experiences that occurred before the age of 18. These include verbal/emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, and negative household situations including the incarceration of an adult, alcohol or drug abuse by an adult, violence between adults, mental illness of a household member, and parental divorce or separation. A cumulative ACEs score is calculated for each respondent by counting the number of these items that a respondent reported experiencing, creating a score ranging from 0 to 8. 11 questions about adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are condensed into a ordinal scale from 0 to 8 possible ACEs. This indicator shows the prevalence of adults who reported having 1 or more ACEs. However other data cuts are available, e.g., 3 or more ACEs The ACEs module is a very "lagging" indicator capturing childhood experiences retrospectively by asking adults 18+ years of age. Additional limitations include: 1) relies on self-reported information, 2) provides prevalence, not incidence data, 3) bias or measurement error associated with telephone-administered survey of a sample of the population (e.g., response bias, sampling variation), 4) designed to provide state-level population health estimates and does not provide sub-state estimates or estimates by racial sub-groups (e.g., Asian sub-groups) unless multiple years are combined. Because of the changes in the methodology, researchers are advised to avoid comparing data collected before the changes (up to 2010) with data collected from 2011 and onward: http://www.cdc.gov/brfss/annual_data/2013/pdf/compare_2013.pdf. In addition, due to changes in the insurance variables, the "Other Public" insurance category was not able to be calculated in 2013.

Reducing child trauma protects health throughout life. Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are traumatic events that occur before the age of 18, and includes the number of survey participants experiencing at least one type of adverse childhood experience. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s ACEs study of more than 17,000 participants found that certain experiences are major risks for the leading causes of illness and death as well as poor quality of life in the United States. Some of the worst health and social problems in our nation can arise as a negative effect of ACEs.[1] Learn more at [Let's Get Healthy California](https://letsgethealthy.ca.gov/goals/healthy-beginnings/adverse-childhood-experiences/) [1] U.S. Department of Justice . (2014, October 22). Facts about Children and Violence. Retrieved December 24, 2015, from justice.gov: http://www.justice.gov/defendingchildhood/facts-about-children-and-violence