My opinion

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Over the last few decades, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) [1-3] have been documented to play a role in the evolving pathophysiology among modern humans. However, humanhood does not end once childhood evolves into adulthood. Moreover, chronological age may NOT always reflect mental age [4-5] of each and every modern human unless we mysteriously stop assessing mental age after chronological age achieves adulthood as per the deemed initiation age of adulthood. However, the brain is no longer considered to stop changing itself once the deemed initiation age of adulthood is achieved because human brain variably remains plastic as well as elastic, learning and adapting, across the period of human life [6-7]. Therefore, it may be time to investigate, explore and document whether Adverse Adulthood Experiences (AAEs) as well contribute to modern humans’ pathophysiology. This is because neglect and abuse are not restricted to only childhood when adulthood too suffers from neglect and abuse although in different forms. During childhood, victims primarily suffer at the hands of parents, teachers, relatives and other adults in their lives. During adulthood, victims primarily suffer at the hands of partners, friends, employers and other peers in their lives [8]. Although the effects of adverse experiences may be more during childhood, the effects of adverse experiences cannot be zilch during adulthood because human life across its lifetime experience positive, tolerable and toxic stress [9] to variable levels and at variable time points in its lifetime. To exemplify some, human manipulators may misuse and abuse fluctuating neurotransmitters and adverse experiences as excuses for how they live and behave but their plastic and elastic brains too must have factually learnt and adapted from their adverse experiences whether during childhood or during adulthood so as to start manipulating their environments. To exemplify further, as instead of overbearing or abusive parents affecting helpless children which lead to designing of 10-11 questions in ACEs questionnaires [10], overbearing or abusive systems affecting helpless adults warrant redesigning 10-11 questions of AAEs questionnaires. To exemplify contemporary, it may be interesting to investigate and explore if ACEs/AAEs are affecting how modern humans during global pandemic are choosing whether or not to get vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2 [11-12] and whether or not COVID-19 vaccinations are inducing less antibodies among those who have had ACEs/AAEs thus providing such victims of ACEs/AAEs less protection against breakthrough COVID-19 infections/hospitalizations/deaths potentially warranting early boosters of COVID-19 vaccinations. Summarily, adverse experiences whether ACEs/AAEs have a life of their own shaping the scarring of modern human lives and warranting salvaging of those scarred modern human lives because healing processes in modern tumultuous societies seem to be maladapted despite recognizing frequent occurrence of ACEs/AAEs among their constituents. Herein comes the role of to-be-defined Positive Adulthood Experiences (PAEs) on the line of recently-defined Positive Childhood Experiences (PCEs) [13-15] to counter the adversities especially when such adversities become unavoidable during imperfect existence in the matrix because recognizing ACEs/AAEs and their role in human suffering and diseases may be very depressing creating a feeling of helplessness [16] until and unless we recognize PCEs/PAEs role in empowering humans to counter ACEs/AAEs by drawing inspirations from PCEs/PAEs inducing cross-cultural differences [17-19] in the etiopathogenesis of human suffering and diseases after having faced similar ACEs/AAEs during their lifetimes.

Reference(s)

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1. Preventing Adverse Childhood Experiences. https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevent ion/aces/fastfact.html
2. Risk and Protective Factors. https://www.cdc.gov/vi olenceprevention/aces/riskprotectivefactors.html
3. Adverse childhood experiences are different than child trauma, and it’s critical to understand why. https://www.childtrends.org/blog/adverse-childhood-experiences-different-th an-child-trauma-critical-to-understand-why
4. Binet pioneers intelligence testing: 1905. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databa nk/entries/dh05te.html
5. Developmental Level and Psychopathology: Comparing Children with Developmental Delays to Chronological and Mental Age Matched Controls. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl es/PMC4314378/
6. Neuroscientist's research helped unearth how human brains can make new cells. https://www.washing tonpost.com/science/neuroscientists-research-helped-unearth-how-human-brains-can-make-new-cells/2021 /02/05/5ae79ea4-60be-11eb-9430-e7c77b5b0297_story.html
7. Elasticity and Plasticity of Brain. https://www.excelerol.com/elast icity-and-plasticity-of-brain/
8. Simplest definition of "CAGE" abuse: Whenever freedom to quit is absent, abuse is happening. https://www.webmedcentral.com/article_view/5732
9. Toxic Stress. https://developingchil d.harvard.edu/science/key-concepts/toxic-stress/
10. BRFSS Questionnaires. https://www.cdc.gov/brfss/questionnaires/i ndex.htm
11. Willingness to get a COVID-19 Vaccine by Adverse Childhood Experiences History. https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Willingness-to-get-a-COVID- 19-Vaccine-by-Adverse-Childhood-Experiences-History_tbl1_351544451
12. Older adolescents and young adults willingness to receive the COVID-19 vaccine: Implications for informing public health strategies. https://www.sciencedirect .com/science/article/pii/S0264410X21005909
13. Positive Childhood Experiences and Adult Mental and Relational Health in a Statewide Sample: Associations Across Adverse Childhood Experiences Levels. https://jamanetwork.com/j ournals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2749336
14. Positive Childhood Experiences. https://www.childandadoles cent.org/positive-childhood-experiences/
15. 7 Positive Childhood Experiences (PCE’s) that Shape Adult Health and Resiliency – Illustrated. https://lindsaybraman.com/posi tive-childhood-experiences-aces/
16. The happy secret to better work. https://www.ted.com/tal ks/shawn_achor_the_happy_secret_to_better_work
17. The prevalence of adverse childhood experiences, nationally, by state, and by race or ethnicity. https://www.childtrends.org/publications/prevalence-adverse-childhood-experienc es-nationally-state-race-ethnicity
18. Comparison of number of ACEs from selected countries. https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Comparison-of-number-of-ACEs-from-selected-countries_ tbl2_318344603
19. Father to a nation, stranger to his son. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2007/aug/ 10/india

Source(s) of Funding

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NOT APPLICABLE

Competing Interests

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NOT APPLICABLE