Impact of ACEs on Children’s Behavioral Mental Health

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to prove the causal relationship between having four or more adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and developing an externalizing mental health condition in later childhood to early adolescence. This connection has been hinted at before by other studies and professionals, but no official conclusion has ever been reached. In order to determine the existence of this relationship, I will take two cohorts of children, which will be separated based on scores from previously completed ACEs screenings, and compare their mental health statuses over the course of ten years. One cohort will consist of participants with less than four total ACEs, the other with four or more. Their mental statuses and diagnostic information will be assessed based on a series of three self-reporting surveys that will be mailed out every two years as the cohorts age. All participants will be randomly selected from various accredited children’s hospitals, as most medical facilities offer ACEs screeners. Should my hypothesis prove to be accurate, those children with a score of four or more will develop an increase in behavioral mental health challenges by the end of ten years than those with less than four.