Prevalence of adverse childhood experiences among individuals aged 45 to 85 years: a cross-sectional analysis of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging

Abstract

Background: Population-level prevalence estimates for a broad range of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), which are known to affect health across the lifespan, are currently unavailable in Canada. The purpose of this study was to estimate the prevalence of individual ACEs by sociodemographic factors among middle-aged and older adults.Methods: Data for this cross-sectional analysis were obtained from the first follow-up (2015-2018) of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (baseline recruitment from 2011 to 2015). Participants included individuals aged 45-85 years and residing in the community in the 10 Canadian provinces. Exposure to ACEs was assessed using a retrospective, self-report questionnaire. Logistic regression was used to obtain the adjusted prevalence estimates of ACEs within groups formed by the sociodemographic characteristics and each variable was adjusted for all other sociodemographic variables.Results: Of the 44 817 participants in the first follow-up, 61.6% (weighted) reported exposure to at least 1 ACE. Exposure to physical abuse (weighted prevalence of 25.7%), intimate partner violence (22.4%) and emotional abuse (21.8%) were the most prevalent types of ACEs. Individuals younger than 65 years (born in 1950-1969), with no postsecondary education or education below a bachelor's degree, or with annual household income less than $20 000 reported greater exposure to ACEs. Reporting for many ACEs was higher among women and those of nonheterosexual orientation. Overall, British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec reported relatively higher prevalence for several examined categories of ACEs.Interpretation: Adverse childhood experiences were highly prevalent across all demographic groups with substantial heterogeneity in the distribution among the middle and older age population. The high prevalence of ACEs and their potential negative consequences on health and well-being emphasize the need to develop and promote trauma-informed care to assist individuals affected by ACEs.

Associations of Adverse Childhood Experiences with Frailty in Older Adults: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of Data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging

“…The distribution of ACEs in our sample was similar to the recently reported prevalence of ACEs in the complete CLSA cohort, which includes both the in-person (i.e., comprehensive) and telephone (i.e., tracking) cohorts ( n = 44,817) [32], and consistent with the prevalence of childhood maltreatment reported in earlier Canadian population-based studies [15]. Similar to these studies, we found that younger age groups reported higher prevalence of all ACE types, except parental death, which was more prevalent in older age groups.…”

Examining the relationships between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), cortisol, and inflammation among young adults

“…From the full dataset, the average ACEs score among individuals was close to 3 ACEs exposures, with over 80% of the full dataset to have reported exposure to at least 1 ACEs. This is somewhat higher than recent longitudinal estimates based on over 40,000 participants from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging where 61.6% of participants reported exposure to at least 1 ACEs ( Joshi et al, 2021 ). The higher exposure to ACEs in the current study reported could be due to variations in the types of ACEs captured as well as the different ages of the sample affecting recall to childhood events.…”

Introducing the Adverse Life Events Inventory for Children (ALEIC): An examination of adverse experiences and related impacts in a large clinical sample of children and youth.

“…In the present clinic-referred sample, multisource assessment of a much broader array of negative event categories found that 90% had experienced at least one negative event. This compares with very large community retrospective self-report samples, where 61% of Canadians ( n > 44,000; Joshi et al, 2021) and 55% of Americans ( n > 48,000; Campbell et al, 2016) reported one ACE (Campbell et al [2016] summarized the range of those reporting at least one ACE in numerous community sample surveys as 46.4% to 79.5%). As our clinic sample contained only a small portion of youth who had turned 18, we must emphasize that all estimates of adversity (i.e., ALEIC total score) reported here are underestimates of total childhood prevalence, as many years of possible exposure had yet to be lived.…”

“…This compares with very large community retrospective self-report samples, where 61% of Canadians (n . 44,000; Joshi et al, 2021) and 55% of Americans (n . 48,000; Campbell et al, 2016) reported one ACE (Campbell et al [2016] summarized the range of those reporting at least one ACE in numerous community sample surveys as 46.4% to 79.5%).…”

“…The percentage of our clinic sample who had witnessed family violence was found to be higher (39%) than in community surveys (Anda et al, 2006; Brown et al, 2017; Felitti et al, 1998; Finkelhor et al, 2013). For example, a very large Canadian retrospective ACE study reports 22% were exposed to intimate partner violence when young (Joshi et al, 2021). Children/youth exposed to domestic violence are at risk for becoming a perpetrator of violence themselves (McGuigan & Pratt, 2001; Osofsky, 2003), as well as developing symptoms of posttraumatic stress and other internalizing and externalizing mental health struggles (McCloskey & Walker, 2000; Zinzow et al, 2009).…”