ACE Self-Check (Adverse Childhood Experiences)

A Shifting Paradigms Project resource — helping you understand what happened to you, not what’s “wrong” with you.

Before You Begin

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are stressful or harmful experiences that occur before age 18 — things like emotional abuse, neglect, witnessing violence, or growing up with caregivers who were impaired, unsafe, or unstable.

This questionnaire is a public-health screening tool, not a diagnosis. It was developed to help us understand how early adversity can affect health, behavior, and the nervous system over time. Your responses are not a verdict on your worth or potential. They are one way of naming what you lived through.

If at any point this feels activating, it is okay to pause, take a breath, or stop. You are not obligated to finish this in one sitting — or at all.

How to Use This Self-Check

• Answer each question Yes or No based on what happened before you turned 18.
• Give yourself 1 point for every “Yes.”
• Add your points for a total ACE score between 0 and 10.

This is for your own reflection. You do not have to share your score with anyone unless you choose to.

The ACE Questions (CDC BRFSS Version)

1. Emotional Abuse
   Did a parent or other adult in the household often swear at you, insult you, put you down, or humiliate you?
   Or act in a way that made you afraid you might be physically hurt?
2. Physical Abuse
   Did a parent or other adult in the household often push, grab, slap, or throw something at you?
   Or ever hit you so hard that you had marks or were injured?
3. Sexual Abuse
   Did an adult or person at least 5 years older than you ever:
   • touch or fondle you in a sexual way,
   • have you touch their body in a sexual way,
   • attempt oral, anal, or vaginal intercourse with you, or
   • actually have oral, anal, or vaginal intercourse with you?
4. Household Substance Use
   Did you live with anyone who was a problem drinker or alcoholic?
   Or who used street drugs or misused prescription medications?
5. Household Mental Illness
   Was a household member depressed or mentally ill?
   Or did a household member ever attempt suicide?
6. Mother or Stepmother Treated Violently
   Was your mother or stepmother:
   • often pushed, grabbed, slapped, or had something thrown at her,
   • kicked, bitten, hit with a fist, or hit with something hard,
   • repeatedly hit over at least a few minutes, or
   • ever threatened or hurt with a knife or gun?
7. Parental Separation or Divorce
   Were your parents ever separated or divorced?
8. Incarcerated Household Member
   Did a household member ever go to prison or jail?
9. Emotional Neglect
   Did you often feel that:
   • no one in your family loved you or thought you were important or special, or
   • your family didn’t look out for each other, feel close to each other, or support each other?
10. Physical Neglect
    Did you often feel that:
    • you didn’t have enough to eat, had to wear dirty clothes, or had no one to protect you, or
    • your parents or guardians were too drunk or high to take care of you or take you to the doctor if you needed it?

Scoring Your ACE Self-Check

For each question you answered Yes, give yourself 1 point. Your ACE score is the total number of “Yes” answers, from 0 to 10.

• ACE 0–1: Low measured adversity within this specific tool. It does not mean you had no trauma; it just means fewer events captured by this questionnaire.
• ACE 2–3: Moderate adversity. People in this range often carry chronic stress responses or “overreactions” that make perfect sense in light of their history.
• ACE 4 or higher: Research shows a strong correlation between higher ACE scores and increased risk for physical and mental health challenges. This reflects the load your nervous system has carried, not a defect in who you are.

An ACE score is context, not destiny. It describes the conditions you lived through, not your capacity to heal or build something different for yourself.

If Your Score Feels Heavy

If your ACE score is high, it is normal to feel grief, anger, numbness, or even relief that there is a name for what you went through. You are not overreacting. Your body and mind adapted in ways that helped you get through.

You might consider sharing your reflections with a trauma-informed therapist, peer support specialist, or support group. You deserve spaces where your history is believed and understood.

If you are in immediate distress, thinking about harming yourself, or feel unsafe, please contact local emergency services or, in the U.S., the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

Important Disclaimers

• This ACE Self-Check is for educational and self-reflection purposes only.
• It does not provide a diagnosis or treatment.
• This page does not create a therapeutic, medical, or clinical relationship of any kind.

Source & Attribution

The ACE questions on this page are adapted from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Module. The questionnaire is in the public domain; there are no copyright restrictions or fees for use.