Cited by 390Child Abuse and TraumaChild Welfare and AdoptionChild and Adolescent Health

Adverse childhood experiences: towards a clear conceptual meaning

Kalmakis, Karen A., Chandler, Genevieve E.·2014·Journal of Advanced Nursing

Abstract

Aim: To report an analysis of the concept of adverse childhood experiences. Background: Adverse childhood experiences have been associated with negative physical and psychological health outcomes, but this phenomenon lacks the clear, consistent meaning necessary for use in nursing research, theory development and practice. Design: Concept clarification. Data Sources: The literature search was not limited a priori by date and included publications with abstracts in English from PubMed, CINAHL , Psych INFO and Social Abstracts. The search retrieved 128 articles published from 1970–2013. The search term ‘adverse childhood experiences’ was used, with similar terms permitted. A snowball approach was used to expand the search to relevant literature. Methods: The articles were read and analysed following Norris's five steps for concept clarification to refine, elucidate and operationally define the concept and the context in which it occurred. Results: Adverse childhood experiences were defined operationally as childhood events, varying in severity and often chronic, occurring in a child's family or social environment that cause harm or distress, thereby disrupting the child's physical or psychological health and development. Conclusion: This concept clarification should raise awareness and understanding of the diverse nature and shared characteristics of adverse childhood experiences that are believed to influence the health of individuals as they age. This clarified concept will help expand research on health consequences of adverse childhood experiences and interventions to improve health. We recommend promoting a model of primary care that pays attention to the social and familial influences on the health of individuals worldwide.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1111/jan.12329

Cites

102 of 102 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Kalmakis, K. A., & Chandler, G. E.
Affiliations
University of Massachusetts Amherst (US)
Venue
Journal of Advanced Nursing
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2013-12-11
Volume
70
Issue
7
Pages
1489-1501
ISSN
  • 0309-2402 (ISSN-L)
  • 1365-2648
OpenAlex
W1972616797
Cited by
390
References
102
Citations by year
2026: 38 · 2025: 60 · 2024: 61 · 2023: 48 · 2022: 38 · 2021: 36 · 2020: 44 · 2019: 24 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 1
FWCI
6.30
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Journal of Advanced Nursing (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
  • Social Sciences › Safety Research › Child Welfare and Adoption
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Child and Adolescent Health
Keywords
adverse childhood experiences, conceptual clarification, operational definitions, childhood trauma, child health outcomes, mental health, physical health, family environment, social determinants of health, primary care, nursing research
MeSH terms
Child, Psychology, Child, Humans, Social Environment

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review