The reliability and validity of a
comprehensive, integrative strategy for assessing adversity exposure in childhood and
adolescence was examined in a community-based longitudinal study of 205 children. Extensive
data from multiple measures completed by adolescents and their parents regarding chronic and
acute 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 with
excellent interrater reliability. As hypothesized, Family adversity predominated over all other
types of adversity in childhood, remained salient into midadolescence, and showed considerable
stability over time. Adversity related to an individual's own behavior and psychological
functioning rose to equal prominence by late adolescence. Adversity arising from physical
ailments that were independent of the individual's psychological functioning declined over
time, while adversity arising from the community rose; physical and community events were
uncommon for most individuals but substantial for some. Results suggest that coherent
developmental trends in adversity exposure may be identified effectively through judges'
ratings of severity of adversity over multiple-year time spans.