While the confidence intervals for females overlapped with the confidence intervals in males in seven of the eight categories, there was a substantial difference (and no confidence interval overlap) between the frequencies of sexual assault for females compared to males (16 to 6%, respectively). Though this difference in stark, it seems unsurprising given past research has shown that while one in five women experience sexual assault, only one out of 70 men experience sexual assault [33], thus accounting for an overall higher mean ACE score in females. Generally, those who were younger reported higher mean ACEs than older individuals. Three possible rationales exist for these disparities. The first is that research has suggested that ACEs may be increasing [34]. Next, it is possible that individuals with higher ACEs may experience early death (thus these individuals are not representative in the data), as empirical evidence claims strong linkages between ACEs and shortened lifespans [35]. Lastly, it is possible that older individuals tend to minimize and/or fail to recall adverse childhood events [22], though this is less extensively studied in the literature.
