Section 3: Social inequalities

We all face emotionally challenging situations during our childhood and adolescence.

It is a normal part of growing up and this emotional distress can come from a range of experience such as moving to a new area, feeling stressed revising for exams, falling out with friends or forming and experimenting with our identities and sexualities.

That said many children and young people grow up in environments, or have experiences, that are more emotionally distressing, difficult and frequent. These environments and experiences are adverse and can have a potentially traumatic and long-lasting impact on their development, health and way of life.

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are more common that we might think. Almost half of all adults living in England have experience at least one form of adversity in their childhood or adolescence 

The ten sentinel markers of adversity in the above diagram are from the original American Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (Sentinel markers of ACE's from the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study. Source Felitti V et al.) and were deliberately limited to direct harm and factors taking place within the home.