Explore Our Newly Released Data Platform on Childhood Experiences!
CTData has just released the Adverse and Positive Childhood Experiences: Data to Action Platform, which makes data on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Positive Childhood Experiences (PCEs) in Connecticut available to the general public. This data platform was developed by CTData in collaboration with the Department of Public Health Sciences at the University of Connecticut Health Center.
This blog post explains the importance of ACEs and PCEs, along with some information about the data sources we used for our analyses and visualizations. The full data to action platform includes interactive tools to explore ACE and PCE data, along with resources such as infographics and data downloads. Explore the full data platform here!
What Are ACEs and PCEs?
ACEs are potentially traumatic events that occur in childhood that may increase the risk for mental health problems, chronic illnesses, health-risk behaviors, and adverse social outcomes later in life, while PCEs are factors that have been found to promote healthy child development and well-being. These factors can also buffer against the effects of ACEs.
The underlying mechanism connecting ACEs and negative health outcomes is the toxic stress resulting from prolonged or extreme exposure to abuse and other challenges at home or in the community. In Connecticut, we are interested in preventing ACEs and promoting factors that can protect against adverse health outcomes.
Data Sources
Data sources used on this platform are classified as the youth report, the parent report, and more timely data sources (service-seeking data). The youth report is based on data from the Youth Risk Behavioral Survey (YRBS), known in Connecticut as the CT School Health Survey (CSHS). The parent report is based on National Survey on Children’s Health (NSCH). Both the youth report and parent report are broken out by ACEs and PCEs. The timely data is based on the number of calls made to 211 by individuals seeking information about services.
For More Information
This data platform has been developed by the Connecticut Data Collaborative with the financial support of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), through a collaborative agreement with the CT Office of Early Childhood. The Department of Public Health Sciences at the University of Connecticut Health Center provides data surveillance expertise. For questions or comments, please contact Mayte Restrepo, PhD. at UCHC (restreporuiz@uchc.edu) or Jason Cheung at CTData (jc@ctdata.org).