Think about the challenges you faced growing up. A new survey of U.S. adults asked people to look back on their childhoods, and the results are striking: two-thirds of those surveyed reported having at least one adverse childhood experience. These experiences, often called ACEs, include things like abuse, neglect, or growing up in a household with substance abuse or mental illness.
The survey gives us a snapshot of how common these difficult starts in life are across the country. It involved adults reflecting on their past, but it's important to remember this is a survey—it tells us what people remember and report, not what definitively happened. The data also can't tell us if these childhood experiences directly caused any health problems later in life.
What we can take from this is a clearer picture of just how many people carry memories of a tough childhood. The finding that it's about two out of every three adults suggests this isn't a rare issue, but a widespread one. Understanding how common it is is a first step toward recognizing the potential scale of its impact on public health.