Predictors of Public Stigma Toward Survivors of Adverse Childhood Experiences

Background and Purpose: Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are traumatic or stressful events occurring before the age of 18. The CDC reports that two-thirds of U.S. adults experienced at least one ACE (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2023). Public stigma, such as endorsing stereotypes, negative emotions, and discrimination toward groups exacerbates harm for adult ACE survivors, intensifying shame, self-stigma, mental health issues, and barriers to disclosure and healing (Kennedy & Prock, 2018; Sehlo et al., 2022). ACEs evoke blame, dismissal, and exclusion, yet research on public stigma toward adult survivors remains limited, overemphasizing sexual abuse while neglecting physical abuse, parental mental illness, and neglect, which link to chronic outcomes (Merrick et al., 2017). The current study sought to examine how individual traits predicted facets of public stigma toward adult survivors of ACEs.

Methods: A national sample of 370 respondents completed an online survey, during which they were presented with a vignette about an adult ACE survivor. Survey items included questions about the respondents’ own ACE experiences, their knowledge about ACEs, measures of cognitive and affective empathy, social dominance orientation, and six dimensions of public stigma (persecution, uncaring, acquaintance distance, intimate distance, dismissiveness, and ACE attributions). A series of linear regression models were constructed in IBM SPSS Statistics (version 28) to assess the effects of individual characteristics on each of the six public stigma domains.

Results: Across the six models, individual characteristics explained between 11.7% and 35% of the variance in public stigma. Older age predicted increases in intimate distance (b=0.04, p=0.003), but lower dismissiveness (b=-0.03, p=0.042) and ACE attributions (b=-0.09, p<0.001). Higher cognitive empathy scores were predictive of lower persecution (b=-0.16, p=0.001), acquaintance distance (b=-0.40, p<0.001), and dismissiveness (b=-0.21, p=0.042), while affective empathy was related to lower uncaring (b=-0.17, p<0.001) and intimate distance (b=-0.32, p=0.010), but higher ACE attribution scores (b=0.68, p=0.006). Social dominance orientation was found to predict three of the six domains: persecution (b=0.22, p<0.001), uncaring (b=0.08, p<0.001), and dismissiveness (b=0.64, p<0.001), while ACE knowledge predicted four: uncaring (b=-0.15, p<0.001), acquaintance distance (b=-0.20, p=0.005), intimate distance (b=-0.18, p=0.042), and ACE attributions (b=1.32, p<0.001). Respondents who experienced their own ACEs reported lower uncaring (b=-0.03, p=0.037) and acquaintance distance (b=-0.11, p=0.006) scores.

Conclusions and Implications: These findings highlight empathy and ACE familiarity or knowledge as key reducers of stigma toward ACE survivors, contrasting ideology-driven enhancers like social dominance. Demographic characteristics such as age further shape attitudes, underscoring multifaceted influences. Interventions boosting empathy, awareness, and contact, particularly those tailored to demographics characteristics, could mitigate stigma, normalize disclosures, curb abuse rationalization, and promote prosocial support. Social workers should utilize this knowledge to inform trauma-informed interventions, policies, and public health efforts.