Prevalence and timing of childhood adversity: Test-retest reliability of the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Questionnaire in a mid-aged, female cohort

11/06/2026

AI Summary

ACE Questionnaire demonstrated strong test-retest reliability for individual adversities in women in their 50s and 60s.
No significant differences in mean total or prepubertal ACE scores across assessments; timing relative to menarche remained consistent.
Retrospective ACE reports are reliable for examining links between childhood adversity and adult health outcomes in midlife women.

Psychol Trauma. 2026 Jun 11. doi: 10.1037/tra0002197. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: The developmental timing of childhood adversity is a critical risk factor for negative health outcomes. Specifically, whether adverse events occurred before or after puberty is relevant to health outcomes due to the different developmental landscapes between these periods. Furthermore, women have unique health risks due to sex differences in pubertal timing, hormones, and types of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) relative to males. However, a prospective determination of childhood adversity’s impact on adult health outcomes is difficult because of the decades between exposure and onset of disease. Therefore, we sought to determine the test-retest reliability of retrospectively recalled ACEs and the timing of such events in relation to menarche (prepubertal vs. postpubertal), among women in their 50s and 60s.

METHOD: The ACE Questionnaire was administered to participants (N = 106) in the Penn Ovarian Aging Study, first by phone and second during a home interview approximately 1 year later. Age of menarche and age at onset of ACEs were documented at each assessment.

RESULTS: Kappa values for individual ACEs indicated strong test-retest reliability of the ACE Questionnaire between the two assessments. There were no significant differences between either the mean ACE total scores or prepubertal ACE scores between the two assessments. Overall, women demonstrated consistency in their retrospective reporting of early childhood adversity in total and with respect to onset of experiences in relation to menarche.

CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that investigators can rely on retrospective reports when studying the relationship between childhood adversity and adult health outcomes for midlife women. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

PMID:42275035 | DOI:10.1037/tra0002197

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