This article was originally published in The Notebook. In August 2020, The Notebook became Chalkbeat Philadelphia.
The results are from the Philadelphia Urban ACE survey of adults about traumatic events in their childhood. It was conducted by Philadelphia Health Management Corporation for the Institute for Safe Families in 2012-13; 1784 adults age 18 and older were asked about experiences during their first 18 years. ACEs are known to be predictors of poor health outcomes in adulthood.
To assess physical and emotional abuse, adults were asked if they were victims more than once. To assess emotional neglect, they were asked if there was someone in their life who made them feel important or special. For physical neglect, they were asked if the family cut meals for lack of money for food.