Adverse Childhood Experiences, Dysfunctional Households, and Circumcision

Abstract: Children from dysfunctional households experience a proportionally greater
number of adverse experiences than other children. One such common event is male child
genital cutting, or circumcision. This study surveyed five-hundred randomly selected
circumcised and intact men concerning their experiences before 18 years of age using the 10-
item Adverse Childhood Experiences checklist (ACE). The cumulative scores for men with
circumcised penises (2.83) were higher on average compared to those for men with intact
penises (2.44). In this cohort, male child genital cutting was more common in dysfunctional,
violent households.