Childhood Experiences and Health: Health Conditions and Adversity

Early adversity is linked to poor health later in life. When we examine the ACEs scores of Wisconsin residents living with mental or physical health conditions, we see that, in nearly every case, rates of negative health outcomes rise as ACEs scores increase. 

The graph shows an estimated connection between Wisconsin adults who have received a diagnosis of depression and their self-reported ACE score. Wisconsin adults that report experiencing more ACEs before age 18 are more likely to have received a diagnosis of depression. 

The ACEs questionnaire encompasses various aspects of household trauma such as parental imprisonment, witnessing parental intimate partner violence, a parent with mental illness in the home, or substance use by a parent in the home. The following data are estimated percentages of Wisconsin adults who report experiencing these five ACEs before age 18. Substance use is the highest reported ACE within the category of household dysfunction on the ACEs questionnaire. Imprisonment of a parent is the least reported, but those who report having a parent incarcerated are more likely to experience four or more ACEs compared to their counterparts.