People who report more traumatic experiences in childhood — from domestic, verbal and sexual abuse to having an incarcerated or deceased parent — are more likely to later develop their own problems with chronic disease, social dysfunction, drug dependency and even early death.
A recent report released by the West Virginia ACES Coalition found that 55.8 percent of West Virginia adults reported experiencing at least one “adverse childhood experience” (or ACE), and 13.8 percent reported experiencing four or more ACEs. Both of these figures rank significantly above the national average.
At 28.8 percent, the most common adverse childhood experience reported was substance abuse in the household. There is an extremely strong correlation between experiencing the negative effects of substance abuse in your childhood home and becoming an adult who struggles with drug addiction. For example, male children with six or more ACEs are 46 times more likely to become intravenous drug users as adults compared to boys with zero ACEs, according to the West Virginia study.
[For more on this story by Liz Brunello and Joe Solomon, go to https://www.wvgazettemail.com/...ee-e0dc2eaa0e6e.html]
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