The reliability and validity of acomprehensive, integrative strategy for assessing adversity exposure in childhood andadolescence was examined in a community-based longitudinal study of 205 children. Extensivedata from multiple measures completed by adolescents and their parents regarding chronic andacute life experiences were aggregated into a Life Chart record of lifetime adversity exposure.Severity of adversity in three nonoverlapping time spans was rated by trained judges withexcellent interrater reliability. As hypothesized, Family adversity predominated over all othertypes of adversity in childhood, remained salient into midadolescence, and showed considerablestability over time. Adversity related to an individual's own behavior and psychologicalfunctioning rose to equal prominence by late adolescence. Adversity arising from physicalailments that were independent of the individual's psychological functioning declined overtime, while adversity arising from the community rose; physical and community events wereuncommon for most individuals but substantial for some. Results suggest that coherentdevelopmental trends in adversity exposure may be identified effectively through judges'ratings of severity of adversity over multiple-year time spans.