“We are the medicine”
7 PCES (Positive Childhood Experiences) to help offset ACES (Adverse Childhood Experiences)
Childhood is full of formative experiences. We learn to how to interpret the world, what messages to enjoy, what makes us happy, what we like and don’t like, how to trust and who to trust.
Research in the past few decades has examined certain events in childhood and how they might affect health decades later. One group researchers study is called Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACEs.
These are 10 specific negative events in childhood — such as experiencing violence, abuse, or neglect, or having a member of your household go to prison — that studies have shown can have a lasting impact on your health.
Each event gets 1 point, so your ACE score is on a scale from 0 to 10. (You can calculate your ACE score here.)
A terrific, unforgettable book about ACEs is Dr. Nadine Burke-Harris’ The Deepest Well: Healing the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Adversity. It’s her captivating story of how she realized that many of the children she was caring for as a pediatrician had additional factors to consider; their bodies had an a major stress response in place to deal with trauma in their life that sometimes made the the standard treatments for illnesses in adequate.
But having a higher ACE score doesn’t always lead to worse health outcomes.
“The presence of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) is an indicator of risk,” explained Dr. Christina Bethell, Director of the Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, an interview.
“But by only focusing on ACEs, we identify people as ‘at risk’ who may not be. All of us know people who have had a lot of adversity and are thriving. That’s because the presence of certain positive factors supports healthy development. By looking at the positive experiences necessary for healthy development, we get a more accurate picture.”
Dr. Bethell’s research has looked at Positive Childhood Experiences, or PCEs, which may help offset the impact of ACEs.
And we can all help create more PCEs.
The 7 PCEs (Positive Childhood Experiences)
Dr. Bethell and colleagues have studied 7 positive events in childhood that may have a lasting impact on health.
They published their results in JAMA Pediatrics, “Positive Childhood Experiences and Adult Mental and Relational Health in a Statewide SampleAssociations Across Adverse Childhood Experiences Levels,” (free full text) in 2019, noting a correlation between 7 positive childhood experiences and a lower risk of depression or many poor mental health days as an adult.
(Caveats: The data came from a phone survey in 2015. There may be many other positive childhood experiences that matter other than these 7; the study just looked at these. The study shows a connection, but not cause-effect. Also, the phone survey was done in a Wisconsin, in a sample of more than 6,000 people who reflected the state demographics as a whole, but Wisconsin is also not representative of the U.S. as a whole.)
Here are the 7 PCEs they studied, as detailed in an article by Pine Tree Institute
The ability to talk with your family about your feelings.
The sense that your family is supportive during difficult times.
The enjoyment of participation in community traditions.
Feeling a sense of belonging in high school.
Feeling supported by your friends.
Having at least two non-parent adults who genuinely care.
Feeling safe and protected by an adult in your home.
Dr. Bethell told NPR, “We found that having higher counts of those positive experiences was associated with 72% lower odds of having depression or poor mental health overall as an adult. We also found that those with higher levels of positive experiences were over 3 1/2 times more likely to have all the social and emotional support they needed as an adult.”
Talking about your feelings
What PCEs resonate with you?
The two PCEs that jumped out at me were #1 and #6.
#1: The ability to talk with your family about your feelings.
Whew. This is not something that’s easy in our culture in general — for kids or adults. I bet most of us could use practice with this.
Think of how many times kids hear when they are feeling big emotions: “Stop it!” “Don’t cry!” “Why are you upset now?!” “There’s no reason to feel that way!”
All of us feel big emotions.
We feel angry. We feel sad. We feel grief. We feel joy. We feel worried.
But sometimes, we get the message that it isn’t appropriate to feel that way or talk about it.
Dr. Laura Markham, whose Aha! Parenting books and website are full of parenting resources, has great advice about emotions for both kids and adults. Here are a few of her articles:
What all of us grown-ups can do
The other PCE that jumped out at me was #6: “Having at least two non-parent adults who genuinely cared.”
We all likely know a child: a niece, a nephew, a grandchild, a neighbor, or a child of a friend, colleague, acquaintance.
We might say hi to them occasionally and ask one of the pat grown-up questions (“How old are you?” “Do you like school?”), and move on.
But this research could give us more of a nudge to really engage.
What would it mean to this child for you to really talk to them for a few minutes and show you care? What would it mean for them and for you if you took a genuine interest in them?
In an interview with Pine Tree Institute, Dr. Bethell emphasizes how each of us can help provide connection and presence. As she says:
“We are the medicine.”
Learning about PCEs gave me a dose of hope and motivation to be even more present with the nieces, nephews, and friends’ children in my life.
I hope you have a wonderful week ahead. I imagine that if you look this week for a child in your life who is not your own, you will see them anew, and see a way to show you care.
To our journeys,
Brianne