A brief report on the prevalence of adverse childhood experiences among United Methodist clergy.

OBJECTIVE

This brief report examines the prevalence of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) among United Methodist Church clergy in North Carolina. Clergy serve the mental, spiritual, emotional, and material needs of their congregants and communities, making it important to understand whether childhood adversity is associated with occupational selection as in other caregiving occupations.

METHOD: Using data from the 2023 wave of the Clergy Health Initiative Longitudinal Survey and the 2023 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey, we compared the prevalence of ACEs among clergy to a general population sample. Propensity score matching was used to balance covariates between samples.

RESULTS

Clergy were more likely to report growing up in a household with an individual experiencing mental illness and experiencing childhood sexual abuse. Clergy were less likely to have experienced physical abuse, to have experienced parental separation or divorce, and to have lived with an incarcerated person.

CONCLUSIONS

These results contribute to the study of ACEs and career choice, highlighting the need for targeted support and training for clergy with these experiences. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).