Importance of ACE Study

Exposure to adversity impacts the lives of individuals in severe ways that, if neglected or left without proper treatment, can damage the development and general health of an individual. Young children are very vulnerable because they are mostly at the stage where they learn and are very receptive to the details around their environment, homes, and family in general. Adverse Childhood exposure is an issue that greatly impacts the lives of individuals from childhood and into adulthood in multiple ways. It is very easy to assume that linking some adulthood characteristics and behaviors is lazy. However, it is very crucial and important to understand the childhood background and the adversities faced by an individual while diagnosing them and understanding their conditions (Vincent J Felitti MD, 1998).

The ACE study is one very important study that brought to light the importance of understanding adverse childhood exposure and its correlation to adulthood complications and the health of individuals across their lifetimes. The ACE study was undertaken in two cohorts, and the results were eye-opening, given that they revealed a lot about the diagnosis and treatment approach that was being implemented. The original ACE report was distributed to various respondents who were asked about some of their early childhood experiences (Vincent J Felitti MD, 1998). The study focused on the relationship between the length of exposure to sexual abuse, physical abuse, neglect, emotional abuse, and threats to adverse adulthood disease and conditions.

The results from the study indicated that there was a clear correlation between an individual’s childhood and their lifespan, diseases, and adulthood conditions. Furthermore, the study also deduced that individuals with higher ACE scores were more likely to suffer from adverse health conditions, contemplate suicide, and develop extreme habits. The study has proven to be very effective in understanding some of the adverse and serious health and behavioral patterns of individuals and their relationship to the upbringing of an individual (Harris, 2014). The ACE study also tries to make sense of the late adulthood struggles to the occurrence of early life adversities.

A better illustration is the comparison of the quick adrenaline and serotonin rush and excretion of relaxation hormones that an individual may have when they encounter something scary, for instance, a bear in the forest. The secretion of the hormones allows the individual to activate their fight or flight response to encountering the bear. Adverse childhood exposure can be equated to the first time an individual has an adrenaline rush due to encountering a bear; continuous exposure to adverse conditions may become harmful for young children because the response gradually changes due to repetitive activation of the response system. The brains of young children are susceptible to stress; hence, their development can be greatly hindered by continuous exposure to adverse trauma or abuse.

The ACE pyramid is a conceptual model that is used to understand and illustrate the pattern and path that a child’s health may take after encountering adverse conditions; the model tries to illustrate the correlation between the encounters and the adulthood conditions of a given individual. Biopsychosocial behaviors and characteristics are deeply linked to the ACE that an individual indicates; the model also tries to illustrate how biopsychosocial behaviors gradually impact the health and lifespan of an individual throughout adulthood. The model illustrates the general impact of longer exposure to ACEs and their impact on the life and habits of an individual (Winfrey, 2018). The model links some of the extreme and risky behaviors to extreme and longer exposure to ACEs during childhood. Other development theories try to explain the importance of childhood development and the impact of ACES on adulthood.

Development Theories

The various development theories provide different angles and points of thinking about human development and the factors that influence it. There are a variety of development theories, and each has specific cornerstones and concepts that it is built around. Freud’s psychosexual development theory is one example of a development theory; it focuses on the sexual development of an individual and the various phases that are involved in the development phases of an individual’s pleasure and the impact of sexual energy during the various stages, which include genital and phallic. Freud states that if an individual is not able to develop and fully progress through a pleasure area development stage, they remain fixated in that particular stage, and this may impact their adulthood (Cherry, 2023).

Another development theory is Erikson’s psychosocial dev