What it is
Identifying what helped.
Research led by Dr. Christina Bethell and colleagues has helped demonstrate the importance of positive childhood experiences for lifelong health, well-being, relationships, and resilience.
PCEs can include experiences such as:
- Feeling able to talk with family about your feelings
- Feeling that your family stood by you during difficult times
- Having supportive friends
- Feeling a sense of belonging at school
- Having adults who took a genuine interest in you
- Feeling safe and supported in your community
- Having opportunities to participate and contribute
These experiences remind us that childhood is more than a collection of difficult events.
There can be challenge and connection, adversity and support, stress and belonging — sometimes at the same time.
What it measures
Ten positive childhood experiences categorized as Family & Relationships, Friends & Belonging, Community & Support, and Identity & Voice.
Think about your experiences before age 18.
For each statement, select:
- Yes — this was true for me
- No — this was not true for me
There are no right or wrong answers.
This survey is not designed to determine whether you had a “good” or “bad” childhood. Instead, it gives you an opportunity to notice the people, relationships, and experiences that may have supported you.
Community & Support
7. As a child, did you feel supported by other adults in your community?
8. As a child, did you have opportunities to participate in activities, groups, or organizations that were meaningful to you?
Identity & Voice
9. As a child, did you feel comfortable being yourself and expressing who you were?
10.As a child, did you feel that adults listened to you and took your thoughts and feelings seriously?
Your PCE Results
Your Childhood Story Includes More Than Adversity
Your PCE score is the number of positive childhood experiences you identified.
A higher or lower score does not tell you whether your childhood was “good” or “bad.”
It doesn’t erase adversity.
It doesn’t predict your future.
Instead, it helps you notice the people, relationships, and experiences that may have supported your development.
What Your Score Can Help You Notice
Connection
Who made you feel cared about, supported, or understood?
Belonging
Where did you feel like you were part of something?
Support
Who showed up for you when things were difficult?
Voice
Where did you feel heard, valued, or taken seriously?
Community
What people, places, activities, or groups helped you feel connected?
And perhaps most importantly:
What of these experiences can you create, strengthen, or seek out now?
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More Positive Experiences, Better Outcomes Dr. Christina Bethell’s research found a similar dose-response relationship with Positive Childhood Experiences (PCEs): the more positive experiences people reported from childhood, the less likely they were to report depression or poor mental health in adulthood. The takeaway is hopeful and practical: positive experiences matter. Supportive relationships, safety, belonging, connection, and caring adults can become powerful protective factors across the lifespan. More connection. More protection. More opportunity to thrive.
Why Positive Childhood Experiences Matter
For many years, conversations about childhood trauma focused primarily on identifying what went wrong.
That work is important.
But it doesn’t tell the whole story.
Research by Christina Bethell and colleagues has helped demonstrate that positive childhood experiences are associated with better adult mental and relational health — including among people who experienced significant adversity.
This gives us an important message:
Positive experiences matter.
They don’t necessarily prevent adversity from happening.
They don’t erase trauma.
But supportive relationships and experiences can provide resources that help children develop, adapt, connect, and thrive.
Connection Is Powerful
Many PCEs involve relationships.
A parent or caregiver who listens.
A friend who shows up.
A teacher who notices.
An adult who believes in you.
A community where you belong.
These experiences communicate something powerful:
You matter.
You belong.
You are worthy of care.
You don’t have to do everything alone.
These messages can become important resources for navigating stress throughout life.
Children build resilience through repeated experiences of being supported, understood, encouraged, connected, valued, and given opportunities to participate.
This means resilience-building isn’t only about teaching people how to cope.
It is also about creating environments where people have opportunities to experience:
- Safety
- Connection
- Belonging
- Support
- Encouragement
- Meaning
- Participation
- Healthy relationships
If we want resilient people, we also need supportive families, schools, workplaces, and communities.
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Positive Childhood Experiences Can Help Buffer Adversity Dr. Christina Bethell’s research shows that positive experiences in childhood matter. Seven Positive Childhood Experiences (PCEs)—including feeling safe, supported, connected, and having a sense of belonging—are associated with better mental and relational health in adulthood. As the chart shows, people who reported more PCEs were less likely to report depression or poor mental health as adults, even among those who had experienced adversity. Adversity matters. And so do the relationships and experiences that help protect us.
Get the full picture
Take all three.
Adversity, protective factors, and benevolent experiences — together they map both where you’ve been and what helps you thrive.
