As a voracious reader, I come across a lot of information that helps give me a particular worldview. And it’s different than what is shared by many others. This article -- "I spent five years with some of Trump's biggest fans. Here's what they won't tell you." -- captures a world view that I don’t totally share, but it also seems to be one that is not informed by any discussion of the pervasive impact of childhood trauma and living though generations of a certain transmission of culture. My exposure to the CDC-Kaiser Permanente ACE Study challenged my worldview and changed it.
Yesterday, I visited an Alaska Native village, and heard stories that developed in the same context of a small middle class and a larger group living at the edge. One element of the discussion was about economic development. For about eight years, I worked in the field of economic development. I proposed the creation of the Juneau Economic Development Council to then Mayor Ernie Polley in the mid 1980’s. JEDC survives and thrives today. The same cannot be said for efforts to develop a rural economy.
The article cited focuses on one of our presidential candidates. I have not heard any discussion by any of our four major presidential candidates about the role of adverse childhood experiences in the development and issues faced by our nation. We need to change that.
The symptoms of childhood trauma appear to be described time and again in the article in the context of Louisiana. Here is one. “For most, education stopped after high school.” For 2012-2013, Louisiana actually graduated only about 73.5% of all of its students (although it has increased since then) [LINK HERE], and about 68% of its low-income students. Alaska has, from the same data, graduated 71.8% of its total students and just 59.5% of its low-income students. The percentage of Louisiana adults with three ACEs is listed at 12% in 2014. Alaska is listed as having 14%. In the ACE Study, 23% of the population was listed at 3 plus. It appears (this was called to my attention by Jane) that the numbers used in the Childtrends report [LINK HERE] I pulled the data from did not properly calculate the data. Alaska's 2013 rate for 3+ ACE's is actually 27.4% and I suspect Louisiana's is somewhat similar.
“Louisiana is…dead last in overall health.” This is very telling, especially since the ACE Study clearly implicates childhood trauma in poor health. The linkages between poor health and ACEs have been extensively studied.
And a final quote, again full of ACE behaviors. “Her renters, she said, had been a hard-living lot. A jealous boyfriend had murdered his girlfriend. Some men drank and beat their wives. One man had married his son's ex-wife.”
It will take a long time for people to accept the behaviors that come out of traumatized individuals. You will continue to hear “I Don’t Get It And It Drives Me Nuts” as you continue to talk to those who are unaware of the ACE Study. They are the “Pick yourself up by your bootstraps” folk. And the culture that passes on the desire to secure disability checks from generation to generation, it’s not surprising. Once you find a way to survive, it becomes a sure thing if you replicate it. To end it, we need to try new things.
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