By Rachel C. Allen and Judi Addelston, Orlando Sentinel, January 4, 2020
“Teenage time bombs: A generation in danger,” a series of South Florida Sun-Sentinel stories printed in the Orlando Sentinel between Dec. 15 and 19, might lead readers to fear our children. Today, thanks to the research of Vincent Felliti and Robert Anda, we have a pathway to resilience and healing from the violence we see in our communities.
Felitti and Anda studied the relationship of health risk behavior and disease in adulthood to the breadth of exposure to childhood emotional, physical, or sexual abuse, and household dysfunction, known as the Adverse Childhood Experience Study (ACE Study). According to their research, more than 60% of adults have experienced at least one ACE, and over 15% of adults have experienced four or more ACEs, leading to a lifetime of mental and physical ill health.
ACEs activate a fight or flight response that alters the structure of the developing brain in a child. Children who grow up in environments of toxic stress (prolonged adversity such as physical, mental or emotional abuse, chronic neglect, and/or the accumulated burdens of family poverty, among other hardships), develop brains very different than children who grow up in households with at least one nurturing adult.
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