Assessing Health Outcomes and Youth-Related Items for the Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire

Abstract

Recently, several researchers have suggested additional items be included to the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) questionnaire for a younger population (children ages 10–17). Two sets of items have been proposed by Finkelhor and colleagues. However, it is unclear which set of items is the most useful in an emerging adult population. The current study compared the original ACE questionnaire with two revised sets of items proposed by Finkelhor, Shattuck, Turner, and Hamby in young adults. The best model depended on the outcome used as the original ACE questionnaire was the best fit in predicting depression, but the revised models were the best predictors of anxiety and perceived physical health. Future studies should continue to investigate whether these new items continue to improve the usefulness of the ACE scale or whether these items become less salient across the life span.