Free Childhood Trauma Quiz for Adults (ACE Score)

Before you begin

Go gently with yourself.

These questions ask about difficult and sometimes painful things that can happen in childhood, including abuse and neglect. There are no wrong answers, you can stop at any time, and if now is not the right moment, that is completely okay.

Support is always available. You can call or text 988 any time to reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, which helps with any kind of emotional distress, not only thoughts of self-harm. Answer for your first 18 years of life. When you finish, you will get your score and what it means, in plain language.

The quiz

While you were growing up, during your first 18 years of life...

Answer yes or no for each question.

0 of 10 answered

01 Did a parent or other adult in the household often or very often swear at you, insult you, put you down, or humiliate you, or act in a way that made you afraid that you might be physically hurt?

Yes No

02 Did a parent or other adult in the household often or very often push, grab, slap, or throw something at you, or ever hit you so hard that you had marks or were injured?

Yes No

03 Did an adult or person at least 5 years older than you ever touch or fondle you, have you touch their body in a sexual way, or attempt or actually have oral, anal, or vaginal intercourse with you?

Yes No

04 Did you often or very often feel that no one in your family loved you or thought you were important or special, or that your family did not look out for each other, feel close to each other, or support each other?

Yes No

05 Did you often or very often feel that you did not have enough to eat, had to wear dirty clothes, or had no one to protect you, or that your parents were too drunk or high to take care of you or take you to the doctor if you needed it?

Yes No

06 Were your parents ever separated or divorced?

Yes No

07 Was your mother or stepmother often or very often pushed, grabbed, slapped, or had something thrown at her, sometimes or often kicked, bitten, hit with a fist or something hard, or ever repeatedly hit over at least a few minutes or threatened with a gun or knife?

Yes No

08 Did you live with anyone who was a problem drinker or alcoholic, or who used street drugs?

Yes No

09 Was a household member depressed or mentally ill, or did a household member attempt suicide?

Yes No

10 Did a household member go to prison?

Yes No

The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) questionnaire comes from the CDC-Kaiser ACE Study (Felitti et al., 1998). It is in the public domain and reproduced here for educational use.

The past does not have to run the present

Trauma therapy in North County.

What happened to you early can echo for years, in ways that are easy to blame yourself for. Our doctoral-level clinicians help you understand those echoes and slowly change your relationship to them, using approaches like EMDR and relational therapy. In Carlsbad, Encinitas, Vista, or online across California. It starts with a free 15-minute consultation.

Book a free consultation Learn about EMDR

More from the Undercurrent.

Questions

About the ACE score.

01 What is an ACE score?

ACE stands for Adverse Childhood Experiences. Your score is simply the number of ten specific kinds of hardship, like abuse, neglect, or a chaotic household, that you experienced before age 18. It comes from a large public-health study and is used to understand patterns, not to label people.

02 Is a high ACE score a diagnosis?

No. An ACE score is not a diagnosis and not a measure of how damaged or healthy you are. It describes exposure to certain experiences. Two people with the same score can have very different lives, because what happened next, including support and relationships, matters enormously.

03 Does a high score mean I am doomed?

Not at all. Higher scores are linked with higher risk across a population, but risk is not fate. Resilience is real and can be built at any age. Many people with high ACE scores go on to live full, connected lives, often with the help of good therapy.

04 What can I do with this information?

Knowing your score can help make sense of patterns that have been hard to explain, and it can be a starting point for a conversation. Trauma-informed therapy helps you work with the past so it has less grip on the present. A free consultation is a good first step.

Free adult childhood trauma quiz.

Go gently with yourself.

A score of zero is not the whole story.

These early experiences can echo, quietly.

A higher score is not your destiny.

Trauma therapy in North County.

More from the Undercurrent.

About the ACE score.

Your history is not your future.