Abstract Context: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) refer to intensive and frequently occurring sources of stress that children may suffer early in life. The behavior adopted by people who faced such experiences can lead to serious preventable problems like substance abuse, mental health issues, eating disorders, unsafe sexual practices, and chronic diseases. World Mental Health Surveys, conducted in 21 countries, revealed that 30% of adult mental illnesses are attributed to ACE. The present study aimed to identify ACEs of youth in the rural area of Delhi. Aims: To assess the magnitude of the problem of ACEs among youth attending a primary healthcare facility in rural Delhi. Settings and Design: Facility-based, Descriptive, Cross-sectional study. Material and Methods: A facility-based study conducted on 354 youth aged 19–29 years attending a rural healthcare facility in Delhi. An equal proportion of males and females was considered and the sample size was attained by consecutive sampling. Data collection was performed in the epi-collect platform using the WHO ACE-I Questionnaire. Statistical Analysis: Analysis was performed using SPSS-25 software. ACEs scoring was performed using the Binary ACE-International Questionnaire version and then the percentages and proportions were calculated. Results: Total sample included 177 males and 177 females. The present study revealed a very high prevalence of ACEs, with each subject reporting experience of any one or the other form of ACE. However, the majority of the subjects (45.19%) had experienced less number (1–4) of ACEs. Over two-thirds of subjects reported emotional abuse. Contact sexual abuse was more commonly seen in females (21.5%) as compared to males (13.0%). Community violence was reported by 71.1% of the subjects. Conclusions: This present study, carried out among a sample of 354 youth aged 19–29 years, reveals a high prevalence of ACEs. Large-scale longitudinal studies are needed to address how to mitigate the negative impacts of ACEs, early recovery, and build up resilience among individuals with ACEs.
Kumari et al. (Fri,) studied this question.