Adverse childhood experiences (ACE) are defined as multiple risks factors such as child abuse, neglect, parental substance abuse and maternal depression experienced prior to an individual turning eighteen years old.
This trauma may also occur in an intergenerational cycle where an individual was abused then later becomes an adult, and is unable to provide their child with a supportive social network that can protect them from the effects of the toxic stress.
Toxic stress is a dangerous stress response that “can result from strong, frequent or prolonged activation of the body’s stress response systems in the absence of the buffering protection of a supportive, adult relationship” (Shonkoff, Garner, Siegel, et al., 2012).
Trauma and stress are experienced by all groups of people, but due to the legacy of slavery, African Americans are more vulnerable to the intergenerational impact of ACE.
White students in Wisconsin had the third highest graduation rates (92.7%) in the nation during the 2015-16 school year, while their African American counterparts had the second lowest rate (64.2%) in the country.
