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ACEs Aware Quiz

Discover how your childhood experiences may still be shaping your life today.

 

The American SPCC Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Test is a free, research-based ACE questionnaire designed to help adults better understand the impact of childhood adversity on their emotional, physical, and relational well-being.

ACEs are potentially traumatic experiences that occur before age 18, such as abuse, neglect, household dysfunction, or other significant stressors. Research has shown that these experiences can influence health, relationships, parenting, and overall well-being throughout life—but understanding your ACE score is also an important first step toward healing and building resilience.

Every person’s story is unique. This questionnaire is not about defining you by your past—it’s about increasing awareness, recognizing the protective factors that support healing, and helping you take meaningful steps toward the future you want to create.

What Are ACEs?5
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ACEs Aware Quiz

When conflict happens in a relationship, I feel myself shutting down emotionally.
I worry that people I care about will eventually leave or reject me.
I have trouble trusting others, even when they seem dependable.
I feel like everyone else’s needs must come before mine.
Receiving negative feedback feels deeply uncomfortable and critical; I feel ashamed.
Receiving positive feedback feels uncomfortable and critical because I still know I could be doing better than what the other person sees in me.
I sometimes react strongly (emotionally or physically) to minor stressors and feel overwhelmed.
I feel uncomfortable when relationships get too close or too intimate.
I’m highly reactive to changes in tone, mood, or body language from others.
I fear that expressing my needs directly may cause conflict.
When someone is upset, I assume I’ve done something wrong. I try hard to keep the peace even if I’m not sure what happened.
I notice patterns in my relationships that repeat, even when I want things to be different.

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Your ACE Score Is Not Your Story

Your ACE score is a measure of past experiences—not your potential, your worth, or your future. While research shows that higher ACE scores can increase the likelihood of certain health and life challenges, protective relationships, positive experiences, and evidence-informed support can help build resilience throughout life.

Our goal is not simply to provide an ACE score, but to help you understand what it means and offer practical next steps you can begin today.

This ACEs Aware Quiz is intended for personal reflection and educational purposes only and is not a clinical assessment or diagnostic tool. The questionnaire was developed by American SPCC based on current research and was peer-reviewed by our trauma-informed experts and Board of Directors to help reflect a broader understanding of the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) that can affect children and youth today.

If you are looking for the original ACE questionnaire developed through the CDC and Kaiser Permanente study, you can access it here (Original ACEs Quiz). Please note that the original Kaiser Permanente ACE assessment was developed in 1998 and does not fully reflect the expanded understanding of adverse childhood experiences and related factors recognized through more recent research.