Peer-reviewed article
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), resilience, and outcomes in older adulthood: A scoping review
Kelsey M. Haczkewicz, Sheza Shahid, Heather A. Finnegan, Caroline Monnin, Courtney D. Cameron et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This scoping review examines how adverse experiences in childhood affect the health and wellbeing of older adults, and how resilience may protect against these harms. The authors searched five databases for studies published after 1998 and found 27 relevant studies. The review concludes that childhood adversity is linked to worse outcomes in later life, but that resilience and coping strategies can reduce these negative effects.
Key points
- Of 4926 studies screened, 27 met inclusion criteria for examining ACEs and resilience in older adults
- Exposure to adversity during childhood was associated with worse outcomes in older adulthood
- Resilience and resiliency-related factors such as problem-focused coping strategies mitigated or reduced harms from ACEs
- Previous reviews focused on younger and middle-aged adults, excluding older adults from analysis
- The review identifies a need for better individual- and population-level interventions for older adults exposed to childhood adversity
Limitations
This is a scoping review that synthesizes existing literature rather than conducting original research, so it cannot establish causal mechanisms or provide new empirical evidence. The review does not assess the quality of included studies or provide detailed analysis of intervention effectiveness.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Previous research has demonstrated a dose-response relationship between exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and adverse outcomes in adulthood. Despite widely known associations, previous reviews have primarily focused on outcomes in younger and middle-aged adults exposed to ACEs to the exclusion of older adults and do not consider the potential role of resilience for understanding outcomes in older adulthood. OBJECTIVE: The present scoping review aimed to examine the extent and nature of existing literature on the influence of ACEs and resilience on the cognitive, physical, mental, and social health outcomes among older adults. METHODS: We conducted a search of five electronic databases (CINAHL, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, AgeLine, Scopus) using the following keywords: adversity, resilience, aging, and older adults. We limited our inclusion criteria to works published in English or French after 1998 as Felitti et al. published the first study describing ACEs in this year. RESULTS: Of the 4926 studies screened, 27 studies met the inclusion criteria. Overall, results from the included studies indicated that exposure to adversity during childhood was associated with worse outcomes in older adulthood. Additionally, we found that resilience and resiliency-related factors (e.g., problem-focused coping strategies) mitigated or reduced harms associated with ACEs to improve outcomes in older adulthood. CONCLUSIONS: Exposure to ACEs is associated with reduced functioning in later adulthood. Findings from this review indicate a need for further exploration into the role of ACEs, and the potential effects of resilience, on health outcomes in older adults to develop better individual- and population-level interventions for this group.