Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are related to shortand long-term negative physical and mental health consequences among children and adults. Studies of the last three decades on ACEs and traumatic stress have emphasized their impact and the importance of preventing and addressing trauma across all service systems utilizing universal systemic approaches. Current developments on the implementation of trauma informed care (TIC) in a variety of service systems call for the surveillance of trauma, resiliency, functional capacity, and health impact of ACEs. Despite such efforts in adult medical care, early identification of childhood trauma in children still remains a significant public health need. This article reviews

Familism, or familismo, refers to attitudes, behaviors, and family structures operating within an extended family system and is believed to be the most important factor influencing the lives of Latinos. Because of the complexity of the construct, this article begins by separating out and defining each dimension of familism, and then clarifies its relationship to the broader literature on social networks, social support, and child maltreatment. The analysis tests whether each dimension of familism is related to child maltreatment within and between 35 abusive Latino, 35 nonabusive Latino, 51 abusive Anglo, and 51 nonabusive Anglo families. Nonabusing Latinas appear to have a higher level of familism than the other three groups of mothers. However; when intraethnic comparisons were made, nonabusive Anglos, compared with abusive Anglos, had higher levels of familism on several variables. Hence, familism seems to characterize families--Latino and Anglo--who do not maltreat their children.

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This study examined the relationship among severe child sexual abuse, disclosure, and mental health symptoms during adulthood. The sample consisted of 172 adults who were sexually abused in childhood. The multivariate model showed that respondents in their 30s and 40s who were abused by more than one abuser, who were injured by their abusers, who were abused by a biological relative, who told someone about the abuse when it occurred, and who did not discuss their abuse in depth within one year of the abuse had a greater number of mental health symptoms. Abuse severity and disclosure history should be assessed by professionals to identify clients who are at higher risk of mental health symptoms and to focus therapy.

To understand the relationship between characteristics of mothers' social networks and domestic violence, battered mothers who were severely assaulted were compared to battered mothers who were not severely assaulted and mothers who were not assaulted. The results showed that all three groups of mothers had several family members in their social networks with whom they had frequent contact during the past month. No differences were found between the groups on the number of family members who gave emotional support. However, the mothers who were severely assaulted had fewer friends, fewer contacts with their friends, fewer long-term friendships, and fewer friends who really listened to them than did the nonbattered mothers and the battered mothers who were not severely assaulted. Batterers may be more successful in disrupting friendship ties than family ties.