Adverse childhood experiences are leading to toxic stress in our kids

A version of this column originally appeared in The Alpena News.

In Michigan, 63% of high school students have experienced one or more adverse childhood experiences. Adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs, are potentially traumatic events that occur in childhood. These events could refer to things like physical or emotional abuse and neglect, witnessing violence in the home or community, or having family members that struggle with mental illness or substance abuse. 

Overall, children of color and girls experience higher exposure rates of adverse childhood experiences. When disaggregating the data by race, Black and Hispanic children experienced the highest rates of adverse childhood experiences, at 27% and 23% respectively in Michigan. In the United States, girls are almost double as likely to be exposed to multiple adverse childhood experiences in their first 18 years of life than boys. 

The more adverse childhood experiences a child encounters, the higher their likelihood is to experience toxic stress and adverse outcomes in adulthood. Toxic stress refers to the body’s response to lasting and serious stress, without support from caregivers. Prolonged exposure to toxic stress wreaks havoc on the body and nervous system, leading to worse health outcomes like mental illness, substance abuse and chronic diseases in adulthood. In total, 15% of Michigan’s high school students reported having experienced four or more adverse childhood experiences. You can see how children in your county are faring in regards to adverse childhood experiences with the Michigan ACE Data Dashboard.

Toxic stress negatively affects our emotional and physical well-being, spiking levels of the stress hormone cortisol and throwing us into “fight or flight” mode. When our bodies perceive danger, and this “fight or flight” mode is constantly being triggered, this leads to long-term wear and tear on our bodies and minds. As with cortisol, other physical functions can get stuck in high or low patterns as a part of our body’s survival mode, leading to symptoms of disease.

Though these outcomes may seem bleak, as someone who has experienced eight out of the 10 types of primary adverse childhood experiences, I can say there is hope about what we can do to eliminate their negative effects. Cultivating emotional safety is one of the most important steps in healing the negative effects of adverse childhood experiences. To do this, children need a safe and stable adult to turn to in times of need. 

Throughout the state, 72% of children who experienced four or more ACEs felt sad or hopeless for more than two weeks in the last month. Among Michigan children who experienced four or more ACEs, 46% have seriously considered suicide in the past year. As we know, when children do not have a steady caregiver to count on, they are more likely to experience prolonged toxic stress. Parents or caregivers can create this safety by building connections with their children, encouraging and praising them, managing their reactions, and encouraging creativity and play time. 

Of course, the ultimate goal is to prevent adverse childhood experiences from happening in the first place. Many times, adverse childhood experiences occur in families that have a hard time getting their basic physical needs met. Children need to be in stable environments and homes in order to reduce the amount of toxic stress they experience. This means making sure that parents and caregivers have access to necessities like child care, nutritious food, livable wages, healthcare, education and adequate housing to start.  

If parents do not have these physiological needs met, it will be harder to cultivate the second tier of emotional regulation skills. Even so, it is still difficult for many parents to access mental healthcare, especially in rural areas. Presque Isle County had the worst rates of mental health providers in northeastern Michigan, at a ratio of 2,533 people to every 1 mental health provider. Situations like these are dire, because the few mental healthcare workers that do exist in these areas are overwhelmed with the amount of work they are expected to take on, leading to burnout and less adequate care to patients. 

We must take a multigenerational approach to healing. Parenting is already a stressful job, and it helps for caregivers to have tools to help manage stress. The Michigan League for Public Policy is calling on legislators to help prevent adverse childhood experiences from occurring by providing multi-year continuous coverage to kids and 12-month continuous coverage to adults enrolled in Medicaid and increasing funding for local public health services. This would mean increased access to mental healthcare, primary care and substance abuse services. With the help of policies like these, we can continue to build resilience in our current, future, and inner children, so that they all may thrive.