288 - Parents’ Perceptions about Adverse Childhood Experiences and Child Health Outcomes in Illinois

Poster Number: 288
Publication Number: 288.2354

Background: Adverse childhood experiences (ACE) are a major public health concern, increasing a child’s risk for poor physical and mental health outcomes over their life course. However, little is known about lay parents’ perceptions of such health outcomes when children are exposed to specific ACE.

Objective: To examine Illinois parents’ perceptions regarding physical and mental health outcomes for children depending on a hypothetical child’s exposure to specific ACE, and specific physical or mental health conditions.

Design/Methods: Data were collected in an online survey through the Qualtrics panel from March 16-22, 2023, administered in English and Spanish to Illinois parents. Eligible parents had at least one child between 1-17 years old living in the household. This study focuses on parent responses about the health of a hypothetical child after reading a vignette about the child. Parents were randomly assigned to one of six vignette conditions (see Table 1). The vignette either included an ACE that the child experienced (poverty, familial drug use, gun violence), a health condition the child experienced (physical – asthma, mental – ADHD), or neutral information (control condition). Parents then rated the child’s physical and mental health. Parents self-identified their race and ethnicity, and other demographic information was also collected. Data were analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and stratified ANOVA.

Results: Responses were obtained from 1,030 parents, response rate of 78% (8.3% Asian/Other, 14.2 % Black, 13.8% Latinx, 63.7% White) (Table 2). One-way ANOVA revealed overall parents’ mean physical (F(5, 1022) = [9.54], p < 0.001) and mental health (F(5, 1022) = [30.81], p < 0.001) ratings for all ACE vignette conditions were significantly lower than the physical and mental health ratings in the control vignette condition (Table 3). When stratified by region results from urban parents mimic those of the overall sample, with significantly lower physical (F(5, 824) = [9.59], p < 0.001) and mental health (F(5, 824) = [21.1], p < 0.001) ratings if a parent was assigned to an ACE or health vignette condition compared to the control condition. Parents who identified as Black (F(5, 139) = [7.83], p < 0.001) or Asian/Other (F(5, 80) = [3.01], p < 0.03) had a significant difference by vignette condition in their ratings of the child’s mental health outcome.

Conclusion(s): Parents perceive a strong connection between exposure to specific ACE conditions and children’s physical and mental health outcomes in the same way they are considering a child’s health condition (asthma and ADHD).