ACEs and long-term effects

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are regarded as traumatic events occurring in childhood, such as experiencing violence, abuse, neglect, instability due to parental separation, growing up in a household with substance abuse and or mental health problems (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2025). Annually, Michigan’s Health and Human Services Department conducts the Michigan Behavioral Risk Factor Survey (MiBRFS), which tracks eight specific ACEs, and research shows that the higher the number of ACEs a person experiences, the more likely they are to take part in risky health behaviors and experience chronic disease and health conditions.

ACEs are common among Michigan residents of all ages, and in 2019, 68% or nearly seven out of 10 adults — reported having one or more ACEs, while 20%, or one in five, have experienced 4 or more ACEs in their childhood (Tian & McKane, 2021). In 2019, 15% of Lenawee County adults surveyed were estimated to have experienced four or more ACEs (Bradley, Brugger, & Nagle, 2019). Additionally, 53% of adults in Lenawee County reported having experienced some form of abuse in their childhood (Tian & McKane, 2021). In 2019, six in 10 youth in Michigan reported having one or more ACEs (Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, 2019). Reported ACEs among Lenawee County high school students are visualized in Figure 15.