Locations
Maine
Statistics on children, youth and families in Maine from the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Maine Children's Alliance
Adverse childhood experiences by age group
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Note: Non-consecutive years appear adjacent in the trend line
because one or more years have been deselected.
because one or more years have been deselected.
Why This Indicator Matters
Adverse Childhood Experiences or (ACES) are potentially traumatic events that occur in childhood. ACEs can include violence, abuse, and growing up in a family with mental health or substance use problems. Toxic stress from ACEs can change brain development and affect how the body responds to stress. Children who experience adverse childhood experiences may have more difficulty thriving and tend to experience more difficulty in completing school, maintaining good physical and mental health and achieving success in adulthood.
What the data shows
In Maine, the percent of children experiencing two or more adverse incidents for each age group was higher in 2017 than for the most recent time period. Still, in 2020-2021 in Maine, more than 1 in 4 youth ages 6 to 11 and ages 12 to17 have experienced two or more adverse incidents. In 2020-2021, Maine had the 15th highest rate for all age groups in the country at 20.4%, a rate higher, but not statistically significantly higher, than the national average of 17.2%.
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What the data shows
In Maine, the percent of children experiencing two or more adverse incidents for each age group was higher in 2017 than for the most recent time period. Still, in 2020-2021 in Maine, more than 1 in 4 youth ages 6 to 11 and ages 12 to17 have experienced two or more adverse incidents. In 2020-2021, Maine had the 15th highest rate for all age groups in the country at 20.4%, a rate higher, but not statistically significantly higher, than the national average of 17.2%.
Definition and Source
PROVIDER
Definition
The percent of parents who answer the National Child Health Survey in Maine and report that their child has experienced two or more adverse childhood experiences from a list of 9 items including violence in the home, parental death or divorce, economic hardship and a family member who has mental health issues or substance abuse disorder.
Adverse Childhood Experiences or (ACES) are potentially traumatic events that occur in childhood. ACEs can include violence, abuse, and growing up in a family with mental health or substance use problems. Toxic stress from ACEs can change brain development and affect how the body responds to stress.
The numerator is the estimated number and percentage of parents in Maine answering the National Child Health Survey who indicate that their child has experienced two or more adverse incidents from the 9 listed. Adverse incidents asked in the survey: hard to cover basics on family's income (ACE1); parent or guardian divorced or separated (ACE3); parent or guardian died (ACE4); parent or guardian served time in jail (ACE5); saw or heard parents or adults slap, hit, kick, punch one another in the home (ACE6); was a victim of violence or witnessed violence in neighborhood (ACE7); lived with anyone who was mentally ill, suicidal, or severely depressed (ACE8); lived with anyone who had a problem with alcohol or drugs (ACE9); and treated or judged unfairly due to race/ethnicity (ACE 10).
The numerator is the number who answered yes to two or more of these questions and the denominator is the number of survey respondents from Maine in the National Child Health Survey who responded. In order to have more respondents, two years of surveys are used, so 2021 data is actually for surveys in 2020 and 2021. The previous data point for 2019-2020 has overlapping years.
Adverse Childhood Experiences or (ACES) are potentially traumatic events that occur in childhood. ACEs can include violence, abuse, and growing up in a family with mental health or substance use problems. Toxic stress from ACEs can change brain development and affect how the body responds to stress.
The numerator is the estimated number and percentage of parents in Maine answering the National Child Health Survey who indicate that their child has experienced two or more adverse incidents from the 9 listed. Adverse incidents asked in the survey: hard to cover basics on family's income (ACE1); parent or guardian divorced or separated (ACE3); parent or guardian died (ACE4); parent or guardian served time in jail (ACE5); saw or heard parents or adults slap, hit, kick, punch one another in the home (ACE6); was a victim of violence or witnessed violence in neighborhood (ACE7); lived with anyone who was mentally ill, suicidal, or severely depressed (ACE8); lived with anyone who had a problem with alcohol or drugs (ACE9); and treated or judged unfairly due to race/ethnicity (ACE 10).
The numerator is the number who answered yes to two or more of these questions and the denominator is the number of survey respondents from Maine in the National Child Health Survey who responded. In order to have more respondents, two years of surveys are used, so 2021 data is actually for surveys in 2020 and 2021. The previous data point for 2019-2020 has overlapping years.
Data Source
National Children's Health Survey, the data is for the combined years of 2011-2012, 2016-2017; 2017-2018, 2019-2020, 2020-2021 Indicator 6-13 Adverse Incidents
Notes
Note that the year refers to the last year of the survey, but the survey includes two years. For example, 2021 refers to surveys of the combined years of 2020-2021.
Updated December 2022.
Updated December 2022.
Last Updated
December 2022