What helps children grow up healthy, connected, and hopeful?
For a long time, conversations about childhood adversity, including abuse and neglect, have understandably focused on preventing and reducing Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). But prevention is also about what we intentionally build around children and families: strong relationships, supportive communities, opportunities to belong, and experiences that help children feel safe, valued, and connected.
These are Positive Childhood Experiences (PCEs), and growing research continues to demonstrate just how important they are for lifelong health and well-being.
Our partners at the North Carolina Institute of Medicine (NCIOM) recently explored this growing body of evidence in Data-to-Action: Measuring Positive Childhood Experiences for Evidence-Based Policy, including what we know about PCEs, how they are measured, and opportunities to strengthen PCE data in North Carolina.
More Than Preventing Adversity
Research highlighted by NCIOM reinforces an important shift in how we think about prevention: reducing adversity matters, but it is only part of the picture.
Positive experiences can promote resilience and well-being and help buffer against some of the long-term effects of adversity. Research cited by NCIOM found that adults reporting three to five PCEs had a 50% lower likelihood of depression or poor mental health compared with adults reporting zero to two. Other emerging research has connected greater exposure to PCEs with better physical and mental health outcomes.
There are seven key Positive Childhood Experiences identified in the PCE Scale:
- Being able to talk with family about feelings
- Feeling supported by family during difficult times
- Participating in community traditions
- Feeling a sense of belonging in high school
- Feeling supported by friends
- Having at least two non-parent adults who genuinely care
- Feeling safe and protected by an adult at home
What stands out about this list is how attainable many of these experiences can be. They happen through relationships and environments created every day in homes, schools, neighborhoods, programs, faith communities, workplaces, and other places where children and families live, learn, work, and play.
That means all of us have a role to play. Positive Childhood Alliance North Carolina is proud to partner with NCIOM through this work. Through the Task Force on Essentials for Childhood, we are helping advance a public health approach that strengthens systems and creates safe, stable, and nurturing environments for children and families. Together, we’re moving beyond a focus solely on preventing harm toward intentionally creating more of the relationships, supports, and positive experiences children and families need to thrive.
Because positive childhoods don’t happen by chance. We create them together.
Dig deeper: Read NCIOM’s full Data-to-Action: Measuring Positive Childhood Experiences for Evidence-Based Policy to explore the research, current North Carolina data, and opportunities to strengthen how our state measures and promotes PCEs.