Childhood Trauma Test (ACE Score)

Before you start: this test asks directly about difficult childhood experiences, including abuse. Please go at your own pace, answer only what feels okay, and feel free to pause or stop at any point — you don’t need to recall or relive any details. If you start to feel overwhelmed, it can help to pause, breathe slowly, and notice a few things around you right now that feel safe. Support lines are listed at the bottom of this page.

This free childhood trauma test is a private way to reflect on the difficult experiences you may have lived through growing up. It’s based on the ACE (Adverse Childhood Experiences) questionnaire — the most widely used and researched measure of childhood trauma — and gives you an “ACE score” from 0 to 10 based on the kinds of adversity you faced before the age of 18.

Two things to hold in mind before you begin. First, whatever happened to you as a child was not your fault — children are never responsible for the harm done to them or the environment they grow up in. Second, and just as important: your ACE score is not a diagnosis, and it is not your destiny. It reflects what you were exposed to, not who you’ll become. Many people who faced significant childhood adversity go on to heal and build full, meaningful lives, especially with support. This test can’t diagnose anything — it’s simply a compassionate starting point for understanding yourself.

What Are Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)?

Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACEs, are potentially traumatic events that happen before the age of 18 — forms of abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction that can leave a lasting imprint. The concept comes from the landmark CDC-Kaiser ACE Study, published by Dr Vincent Felitti, Dr Robert Anda, and colleagues in 1998, which surveyed more than 17,000 adults and uncovered a powerful link between childhood adversity and health and well-being across the lifespan. It reshaped how medicine and psychology understand trauma.

The ACE questionnaire measures ten types of childhood adversity, grouped into three categories. Abuse covers emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. Neglect covers emotional and physical neglect. Household dysfunction covers growing up with domestic violence, household substance abuse, household mental illness, parental separation or divorce, and having an incarcerated household member. You get one point for each type you experienced, for a total ACE score from 0 to 10. Importantly, ACEs are common — the CDC estimates about one in six adults experienced four or more — so if you score highly, please know you are far from alone.

Signs Childhood Trauma May Be Affecting You as an Adult

The ACE score measures what happened to you; these signs describe how childhood trauma can show up later, in adulthood. Childhood trauma doesn’t always announce itself — it often lives in patterns that feel like “just how I am.” You don’t need all of these, and having some doesn’t mean you’re damaged. Read them gently, as signs that past experiences may still be with you.

Difficulty trusting or feeling safe with people

Finding it hard to trust others, feeling on guard in relationships, or struggling to believe that people are safe or will stay — because, early on, the people who should have been safe sometimes weren’t.

Overwhelming emotions, or feeling numb

Emotions that feel too big to manage — intense reactions, being easily flooded or triggered — or the opposite: feeling numb, shut down, or disconnected from your feelings. Many trauma survivors move between the two.

A harsh inner critic and deep shame

Carrying a persistent sense of being not good enough, unlovable, or fundamentally flawed, often with heavy shame or guilt that doesn’t match reality. Childhood trauma frequently plants a false belief that something is wrong with you.

Anxiety, hypervigilance, or always bracing for something bad

A nervous system that stays switched on — chronic anxiety, difficulty relaxing, over-reading others’ moods, or a sense that danger or disappointment is always around the corner.

People-pleasing or struggling with boundaries

Putting others’ needs far ahead of your own, difficulty saying no, fear of conflict or abandonment, or losing track of what you want — patterns that often began as ways to stay safe in an unpredictable childhood.

Patterns in relationships that keep repeating

Finding yourself drawn to familiar but painful dynamics, difficulty with closeness, or relationships that echo early experiences. Our Attachment Style Test explores how early experiences shape the way we bond and trust.

How This Childhood Trauma Test Works

This test is the 10-question ACE questionnaire. Each question asks whether a type of adverse experience happened to you before your 18th birthday. Answer Yes or No — and again, only answer what feels okay, and pause whenever you need to:

Each “Yes” counts as 1 point. Your total ACE score ranges from 0 to 10.

A higher score reflects more types of childhood adversity, which research links to a higher statistical risk of later difficulties — but remember, this is a population-level pattern, not a prediction about you. Your score is a reflection of your past, not a verdict on your future. Your answers are completely private.

Understanding Your ACE Score

Your ACE score is the number of categories of adversity you experienced, from 0 to 10. Here’s what the ranges generally mean — read them as context, not as a sentence. A higher score signals a higher statistical likelihood of certain challenges, which simply means support may be especially worthwhile; it never means difficulty is guaranteed.

How Childhood Trauma Affects Adults — and How Healing Works

Childhood trauma can echo into adulthood because it shapes the brain and nervous system while they’re still developing, and because it forms early beliefs about safety, trust, and self-worth. That’s why its effects can feel like personality rather than injury — the anxiety, the harsh self-criticism, the difficulty trusting, the overwhelming or numbed emotions. Understanding that these are responses to what happened, rather than flaws in who you are, is often the first, most freeing step.

The genuinely hopeful part is that the same brain that adapted to adversity can also heal. Trauma-informed therapy — approaches like trauma-focused CBT, EMDR, and work on emotion regulation and self-compassion — helps people process the past and build new patterns of safety, trust, and self-worth. Research also highlights the power of resilience and protective relationships: a single supportive, stable relationship can meaningfully buffer the effects of childhood adversity. Healing isn’t about erasing your history; it’s about loosening its grip so it no longer runs your present. If low self-worth or anxiety are part of your picture, our Self-Esteem Test and Anxiety Test may add helpful context.

Methodology & Sources

This test uses the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) questionnaire, developed from the CDC-Kaiser ACE Study by Vincent Felitti, Robert Anda, and colleagues (1998). It consists of 10 yes/no questions about abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction before age 18, producing an ACE score from 0 to 10. The ACE questionnaire is a measure of exposure to childhood adversity — not a diagnosis, and not a measure of current symptoms or of how you’ve been affected.

Research shows a graded (“dose-response”) relationship between ACE scores and later health risks at the population level, but an individual’s outcome is shaped by many factors, including resilience and protective relationships. For how childhood trauma may be affecting you now, a trauma-informed professional (and symptom-focused measures) can help.

References

1. Felitti, V.J., Anda, R.F., Nordenberg, D., Williamson, D.F., Spitz, A.M., Edwards, V., Koss, M.P., & Marks, J.S. (1998). Relationship of childhood abuse and household dysfunction to many of the leading causes of death in adults: The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 14(4), 245–258. doi:10.1016/S0749-3797(98)00017-8
2. Hughes, K., Bellis, M.A., Hardcastle, K.A., et al. (2017). The effect of multiple adverse childhood experiences on health: a systematic review and meta-analysis. The Lancet Public Health, 2(8), e356–e366. doi:10.1016/S2468-2667(17)30118-4
3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). cdc.gov/aces

Frequently Asked Questions

What is an ACE score?

An ACE score is a number from 0 to 10 that reflects how many types of adverse childhood experiences you had before age 18, based on the Adverse Childhood Experiences questionnaire. You get one point for each category you experienced — across abuse (emotional, physical, sexual), neglect (emotional, physical), and household dysfunction (domestic violence, substance abuse, mental illness, parental separation, incarceration). It was developed from the 1998 CDC-Kaiser ACE Study. A higher score reflects more childhood adversity and a higher statistical risk of later difficulties — but it measures exposure, not symptoms, and it is not a diagnosis.

Is a high ACE score bad? Does it mean I’m damaged?

No. A high ACE score reflects how much adversity you survived — it is not a measure of damage, weakness, or your worth, and it absolutely does not mean your future is written. The research describes risk at the level of large populations, not predictions about individuals. Many people with high ACE scores lead healthy, connected, meaningful lives, especially when they have support and protective relationships. If anything, a high score is a reason for compassion toward yourself and, if you want it, a reason to seek support — not a label to carry.

Can you heal from childhood trauma?

Yes. Childhood trauma can have lasting effects, but the brain and nervous system remain capable of change throughout life, and healing is genuinely possible — even from severe or long-standing trauma. Trauma-informed therapies such as trauma-focused CBT and EMDR, along with work on emotion regulation, self-compassion, and safe relationships, help people process the past and build new patterns. Supportive relationships are themselves powerfully healing. Recovery isn’t about erasing what happened; it’s about reducing its hold on your present so you can live more fully. Reaching out for support is a sign of strength, not weakness.

Is this childhood trauma test a diagnosis?

No. The ACE questionnaire is a screening and awareness tool that measures exposure to childhood adversity — it does not diagnose any condition, and it doesn’t assess how you’ve been affected or whether you have PTSD, depression, or any other condition. Only a qualified professional can assess those. Use your ACE score as information and a compassionate starting point. If you’d like to understand how childhood experiences may be affecting you now, our Complex PTSD Test looks at present-day trauma symptoms, and a trauma-informed therapist can help you explore it fully.

Related Tests

• Complex PTSD Test — how prolonged childhood trauma can affect you now
• PTSD Test — trauma symptoms from distressing events
• Attachment Style Test — how early experiences shaped the way you bond and trust
• Anxiety Test — anxiety often has roots in early adversity
• Self-Esteem Test — the sense of self-worth childhood trauma often wounds

This test is an educational screening and awareness tool, not a diagnosis or a substitute for professional care. If you are in crisis or having thoughts of harming yourself, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, US, 24/7). For support as a survivor of sexual abuse, RAINN is available at 1-800-656-4673. If you are worried about a child’s safety, or are a young person experiencing abuse, the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline is at 1-800-422-4453. Outside the US, find helplines at findahelpline.com. Be gentle with yourself.