By Joel Edouard, Milwaukee Courier, May 15, 2020
Adverse childhood experiences (ACE) are defined as multiple risks factors such as child abuse, neglect, parental substance abuse and maternal depression experienced prior to an individual turning eighteen years old. The trauma of physical abuse is one ACE which commonly leads to substance abuse. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), childhood physical abuse is defined as “any non-accidental physical injury to the child and can include striking, kicking, burning or biting the child, or any action that results in a physical impairment of the child.”
Researchers found that “adolescents with a history of multiple risk factors are more likely to initiate drinking alcohol at a younger age and are more likely to use alcohol as a means of coping with stress than for social reasons” (Shonkoff, Garner, Siegel, et al., 2012). This trauma may also occur in an intergenerational cycle where an individual was abused then later becomes an adult, and is unable to provide their child with a supportive social network that can protect them from the effects of the toxic stress. Toxic stress is a dangerous stress response that “can result from strong, frequent or prolonged activation of the body’s stress response systems in the absence of the buffering protection of a supportive, adult relationship” (Shonkoff, Garner, Siegel, et al., 2012).
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