National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW), No. 20: Adverse Child Experiences in NSCAW

Publication Date: August 8, 2013
Current as of:

Introduction

More than half of the children in the NSCAW II sample report four or more adverse childhood experiences. This finding is from a brief that uses the second cohort of the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW II) to examine rates of adverse childhood experiences among children who have been reported for maltreatment to the child welfare system.  It also compares this sample’s adverse experiences to those reported in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (ACES). ACES is a study from the mid-1990s which surveyed over 17,000 adults and examined the association between adverse childhood experiences and later adult outcomes. The report examines the prevalence of the adverse experiences identified in ACES among NSCAW participants and compares rates between the two studies.

NSCAW II is a national longitudinal study of 5,873 children, ranging in age from 2 months to 17.5 years old, who had contact with the child welfare system between 2008 and 2009.