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Abstract

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are traumatic events that occur in childhood. ACEs are frequently encountered, and their effects are far-reaching. They can significantly impact a child’s physical, emotional, and psychological wellbeing and have long-lasting impacts. Because of this, ACEs research has become a crucial field of study, particularly research on strategies to mitigate ACEs and their impacts. This dissertation explores the subject of ACEs and seeks to answer three questions: ‘What are they?’, ‘What impacts do they have?’, and ‘How can they be remedied?’.
Chapter One explores the contested definitions of ACEs and examines a range of ethical and theoretical controversies intrinsic to the concept of ACEs. Abuse, neglect, paternal abandonment and poverty, ACEs commonly found within UK society, are defined and their causes are discussed.
Chapter Two raises awareness of the negative consequences of ACEs in terms of their impacts on a child’s social development and physiological, emotional, and mental health, before exploring the longer-term effects of ACEs, such as their impacts on employment prospects, health problems that persist into adulthood, or their intergenerational impacts.
Chapter Three critically assesses the benefits and limitations of several family-support and child-focused interventions designed to reduce the impact and prevalence of ACEs and discusses working practices that can help professionals promote recovery in young people affected by ACEs.
The concluding chapter synthesises the contents of the dissertation to summarise the key issues and highlight knowledge gaps and research imperatives. As appropriate interventions can reduce the negative impacts of ACEs, the conclusion puts forward suggestions on how to make greater use of the education system to improve the identification and screening of children affected by ACEs and provide those children with timely support to help them overcome adversity.

Course: Childhood and Youth Studies - BA (Hons) - C1989F

Date Deposited: 2022-04-07

URI/permalink: https://library.port.ac.uk/dissert/dis13871.html