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Childhood Trauma History and Present-Day Impact Survey

Screens for adverse childhood experiences and maps how they show up in adults' relationships, work, and daily wellbeing today. Built for therapists, researchers, and mental health programs running trauma-informed intake or research, with an AI follow-up that gently explores coping and resilience without pressuring anyone for details they'd rather not share.

Sample questions

A preview of what’s in the template. Every question is editable before you launch.

14 questions · ~7 min
Q01
Message

Thank you for taking part in this survey. It asks about difficult experiences from childhood and how they may affect you now. This is sensitive material — you can skip any question, and there's no pressure to share more than feels comfortable. It takes about 6-8 minutes. If anything here brings up distress, please consider reaching out to a mental health professional or a crisis line in your area.

Q02
ConsentRequired

Before we begin, please confirm you understand what this survey covers.

Q03
Multiple Choice

Which of the following did you experience before age 18? Select all that apply — you may choose 'Prefer not to say' instead.

  • Emotional neglect (feeling unloved, ignored, or unsupported)
  • Physical neglect (basic needs like food, safety, or medical care not met)
  • Emotional abuse (frequent verbal harassment, humiliation, or threats)
  • Physical abuse
  • Sexual abuse or exploitation
  • Living with a household member who misused alcohol or drugs
  • Living with a household member who had a mental illness or attempted suicide
  • Witnessing violence between household members
  • Parental separation, divorce, incarceration, or abandonment
  • Severe bullying or peer victimization
  • Prefer not to say
Q04
Opinion Scale

Overall, how much would you say these childhood experiences affect your day-to-day life now?

Scale: 010
Min:Not at allMax:A great deal
Q05
Matrix

How much impact, if any, do these childhood experiences currently have on each of the following areas of your life?

5 rows × 5 columns
  • Romantic relationships
  • Friendships and social trust
  • Work or school performance
  • Physical health
  • Emotional regulation (managing stress, anger, or sadness)
Columns: No impact · Slight impact · Moderate impact · Significant impact · Severe impact
Q06
Multiple Choice

In the last 12 months, which of these supports have you actually used to cope with or process past experiences?

  • Therapy or counseling
  • A support group
  • Medication prescribed for mental health
  • A religious or spiritual community
  • Friends or family
  • Self-help resources (books, apps, workbooks)
  • None currently
  • Prefer not to say
Q07
Rating Scale

How supported do you feel by the resources currently available to you for dealing with these experiences?

Range: 15
Min:Not supported at allMax:Extremely supported
Q08
Message

Thank you for sharing that. The next part is a short guided conversation with our AI interviewer. Please only answer what feels comfortable — you can decline or move on at any point.

Q09
AI Interview

Explore how the respondent's most impactful adverse childhood experience (based on their earlier answers) shows up in their present-day relationships, work, or emotional regulation — anchor on a concrete recent example rather than asking them to relive the original event. Ask what has genuinely helped them cope, recover, or grow, and what still feels unresolved today. If the respondent declines to elaborate, shows signs of distress, or says anything like 'I'd rather not say,' immediately validate that choice without pushing further and move toward wrapping up.

Q10
Long Text

Is there anything else about your childhood experiences, or how they affect you today, that you'd like us to know? This is optional — feel free to skip it.

Q11
Message

Just a couple of optional background questions left — these help us understand patterns across groups, and you can skip either one.

Q12
Multiple Choice

Which age range do you fall into?

  • 18-24
  • 25-34
  • 35-44
  • 45-54
  • 55-64
  • 65+
  • Prefer not to say
Q13
Multiple Choice

Which gender do you identify with?

  • Woman
  • Man
  • Non-binary
  • Another identity (please specify)
  • Prefer not to say
Q14
Message

Thank you for trusting us with this. Your responses will be combined with others' to help improve trauma-informed care and support — no individual answers will be shared without your consent. If today's questions brought anything up for you, please consider reaching out to a counselor, trusted person, or a crisis line in your area.

What’s included

  • AI follow-ups

    Adaptive probes on open-ended answers that pull out detail a static form would miss.

  • Attention checks

    Built-in safeguards against rushed answers and low-quality respondents.

  • AI-drafted copy

    Wording, ordering, and branching written by the AI — tuned to your research goal.

  • Auto report

    Themes, quotes, and a plain-English summary write themselves once responses come in.

How it compares

We reviewed the closest templates from other survey tools. Here’s what they do well — and where this template goes further.

Why this template

  • Includes an explicit consent step before any trauma questions are asked, plus a chat-based intro that sets expectations gently
  • Covers not just ACE screening (multiple-choice checklist) but present-day impact via an opinion scale and a matrix mapping effects across relationships, work, and daily wellbeing
  • Adds an AI follow-up interview that adapts to the respondent's own most-impactful experience to explore coping and resilience without pressuring for unwanted detail
  • Asks about coping resources actually used and how supported respondents feel, then closes with an optional long-text and optional demographics, so sensitive questions are never forced

Jotform

Childhood Trauma Survey Form Template

A static, ready-to-deploy form template built on Jotform's general-purpose form builder rather than a research- or clinical-specific survey tool. Useful as a quick starting point for basic intake but not designed around trauma-informed research methodology. Customization relies on manual editing rather than adaptive logic.

What it does well

  • Fast to deploy using Jotform's drag-and-drop form builder
  • Likely includes standard form features like conditional logic and export options
  • Familiar, widely-used platform for general form collection

Where it falls short

  • No adaptive AI follow-up questioning — respondents get the same fixed question set regardless of answers
  • No voice AI interview option for verbal disclosure
  • No published methodology or prompt transparency, and no automated per-response quality scoring

QuestionPro

Childhood Trauma Survey Questions Template | Sample Survey, Examples, Questions & Questionnaires

A sample question bank / template page aimed at researchers, positioned within QuestionPro's broader survey research platform. It reads more as an example questionnaire and reference than a guided, ready-to-field trauma-informed interview flow. Good for researchers wanting question ideas to adapt manually.

What it does well

  • Backed by an established survey research platform with analytics and reporting tools
  • Provides example questions researchers can copy or adapt
  • Likely supports standard survey logic and multi-channel distribution

Where it falls short

  • Static question set with no adaptive AI probing into individual responses
  • No option for a voice-based AI interview for respondents who prefer speaking over typing
  • No automated quality scoring per response and no transparent prompt/methodology disclosure

Ready to launch?

Open this template in the editor. Every part is yours to change before the first respondent sees it.