Introduction Video (1 Minute and 14 Seconds)

Transcript

Stress

What comes to mind when you hear the word "stress"?

Stress is a normal reaction to life situations, such as a busy schedule or changes to your routine. It is a natural reaction to a challenge or a demand. Some stress can be positive, like starting a new job, the first day of school or overcoming a small challenge that helps you grow.

However, stressors can also be harmful and can negatively impact the body if experienced for long periods.

There are three main types of stress: positive, tolerable and toxic stress.

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Toxic stress can cause us to feel upset, tired, unable to concentrate, angry, sad, cause us headaches and even lower our immune system. Over time this can also lead to issues related to anxiety and depression.

Traumatic experiences can create or add to our toxic stress. Adverse Childhood Experiences(ACEs) are one of many types of traumatic experiences that can impact a young mind. This course defines trauma and ACEs in the upcoming sections. In this course, we also define the word “youth” or use “children” to describe anyone under the age of 17.

What are ACES? Introduction to ACEs (2:58 minutes)

Transcript

Adverse
Childhood
Experiences

Adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs, are situations or events that threaten a child or teen's physical or mental health. For example:

experiencing violence, abuse or neglect
witnessing violence in the home or community
having a family member attempt or die by suicide

Also included are aspects of the child or teen's environment that can damage their sense of safety and stability, such as growing up in a household with:

substance misuse
mental health problems
instability due to parental separation or household members being in jail or prison

Experiencing ACEs can lead youth to have consequences up until adulthood. However, ACEs can be prevented. Later in this course, you will learn about how parents and caregivers can help lessen or improve ACEs' effects.

Toxic stress can occur when a child is going through adversity for long periods, which is extreme and severe.

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The CDC-Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study is one of the first and largest studies of childhood abuse and neglect and household challenges and later-life health and well-being.

The original ACE Study was conducted at Kaiser Permanente from 1995 to 1997 with two data collection waves. Over 17,000 Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) members from Southern California receiving physical exams completed an anonymous survey regarding their childhood experiences and current health and behaviors.

The ACEs Questionnaire & Score

The ACEs Questionnaire is composed of 10 questions.

The ACE score is the total number of ACEs that each participant reported
- For example, experiencing physical neglect would be an ACE score of one; if the child also witnesses a parent treated violently, the ACE score would be two
The higher the score, the higher the risk for health problems later in life.

If you feel that you or a child you are working with have experienced trauma, please seek professional assistance to be sure to receive the support you need.

You will also notice that some of the experiences assessed are common scenarios for many of us. We can work through ACEs and prevent negative health effects. This course talks more about how to do this.

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Having a high ACE score has been linked to health problems throughout childhood and later in life. Health problems can happen because of the toxic stress that youth experience as a result of ACEs. Some of the health consequences while growing up include:

Higher risk of asthma
Poor growth
Frequent infections
Learning difficulties
Issues with behaviors

Later in life, a high ACEs score can lead to:

Higher risk of heart disease
Higher risk of stroke
Higher risk of cancer

Experiencing ACEs also directly affects the development of the brain. You will be learning more about this in one of the upcoming sections.

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ACEs are common. Nearly 61% of people surveyed across 25 states reported having at least a score of 1. About 1 in 6 people identified as having four or more ACEs.

For more information visit the infographic linked here.

One of the possible outcomes of experiencing ACEs or exposure to adversity is trauma.

Trauma happens when a person goes through an event or situation as extremely frightening, harmful, or threatening physically, emotionally or both. Certain adverse childhood experiences are likely to cause trauma. Trauma is also related to impacts on the developing brain.

It’s normal to experience traumatic stress following a disturbing event, whether it’s the coronavirus pandemic, a traffic accident, plane crash, violent crime, terrorist attack or a natural disaster like an earthquake, hurricane or flood. Round-the-clock news and social media coverage mean that we’re all bombarded with images almost the instant they occur anywhere in the world. Repeated exposure can overwhelm your nervous system and create traumatic stress just as if you experienced the event firsthand.

How common is trauma?
More than two-thirds of children report at least one traumatic event by age 16.

Our Environment Plays a Role

In addition to ACEs, trauma and toxic stress, other factors beyond our control can impact our overall well-being.

Social determinants of health are the different areas of our life that can influence health. These are where people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship and age, affecting a wide range of health, functioning and quality-of-life outcomes and risks. Each of these parts of life contributes to our overall health. Some neighborhoods may have more violence or less available fresh foods. Some jobs are more dangerous. These can directly impact our family's health and may even cause or add to our toxic stress.

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Learning about ACEs and the way they affect children and teens is a significant first step in helping prevent Adverse Childhood Experiences for the child(ren) in your life. Having this information can help you to better understand the importance of creating positive childhood experiences that can build resilience in children.

This also helps them in creating healthy decision-making habits in the future. For everyday ways to create positive environments and experiences for specific age groups please refer to the PDFs linked.

PAUSE to Process:
Now that you have learned about toxic stress, take some time to think about the following questions.

Describe a time in which you felt stressed.
What did you need during that time?
What is something that you can do as a parent or caregiver to create a positive experience for your child?

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