Health Care Access and Use Among Children & Adolescents Exposed to Parental Incarceration-United States, 2019

Parental Legal System Involvement, Positive Childhood Experiences, and Suicide Risk

OBJECTIVES

To examine whether adverse parental legal system involvement (incarceration, arrest) was associated with suicide risk, accounting for other adverse childhood experiences, and whether there was a moderating relationship between positive childhood experiences (PCEs) and parental legal system involvement in suicide risk.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study used 2-year follow-up data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study when children were age 11 to 12 years. Outcomes were lifetime suicidal ideation, attempts, and nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI). Exposures were parent incarceration or arrest. We used generalized linear models to estimate the relative risk of suicide outcomes from adverse parent legal involvement and whether there was an interaction between parent legal system involvement and PCE count, controlling for adverse childhood experiences and demographic factors.

RESULTS

Among our sample (n = 10 532;), 687 children (6.5%) reported parent incarceration and 1265 (12.0%) reported parent arrest. Suicidal ideation was the most frequent risk outcome (n = 490; 4.7%). Children whose parents had been incarcerated had a relative risk of suicidal ideation of 1.74 (95% CI: 1.32-2.31). Children whose parents had been arrested had a relative risk of suicidal ideation of 1.89 (95% CI: 1.53-2.37) and a relative risk of suicide attempt of 2.69 (95% CI: 1.7-4.25). Parental incarceration/arrest were not associated with NSSI. PCEs were associated with reduced relative risk of suicidal ideation and NSSI, though there was no significant interaction between PCEs and adverse parent legal system involvement exposures.

CONCLUSIONS

Parental legal system involvement may negatively affect child mental health. Strengthening PCEs in childhood may mitigate suicide-related risks.

Health Care Access and Use Among U.S. Children Exposed to Neighborhood Violence

INTRODUCTION

Neighborhood violence is an adverse childhood experience which impacts millions of U.S. children and is associated with poor health outcomes across the life course. These effects may be mitigated by access to care. Yet, the ways in which exposure to neighborhood violence shapes children's health care access have been understudied.

METHODS

This is a cross-sectional analysis of 16,083 children (weighted N=67,214,201) ages 1 to <18 years from the 2019 and 2021 National Health Interview Survey. Guardians were asked about preventive care access, unmet health needs, and health care utilization in the last year. Changes associated with exposure to neighborhood violence were estimated using marginal effects from multivariable logistic regression models adjusted for year, age, sex, race/ethnicity, parental education, family structure, rurality, income, insurance type, insurance discontinuity, and overall reported health.

RESULTS

Of 16,083 sample children, 863 (weighted 5.3% [95% CI 4.8-5.7]) reported exposure to neighborhood violence, representing a weighted population of ∼3.5 million. In adjusted analyses, exposure to violence was associated with forgone prescriptions (adjusted difference 1.2 percentage-points (pp) [95%CI 0.1-2.3]; weighted national population impact 42,833 children), trouble paying medical bills (7.7pp [4.4-11.0]; 271,735), delayed medical (1.5pp [0.2-2.9]; 54,063) and mental health care (2.8pp [1.1-4.6]; 98,627), and increased urgent care (4.5pp [0.9-8.1]; 158,246) and emergency department utilization (6.4pp [3.1-9.8]; 227,373).

CONCLUSIONS

In this nationally representative study, neighborhood violence exposure among children was associated with unmet health needs and increased acute care utilization. Evidence-based interventions to improve access to care and reduce economic precarity in communities impacted by violence are needed to mitigate downstream physical and mental health consequences.

Exploring Parental Incarceration, US Government Support Programs, and Child Health and Well-Being: A National Cross-Sectional Study

OBJECTIVES

To describe relationships between parental incarceration and child health and flourishing-a measure of curiosity, resilience, and self-regulation-and to identify government programs that moderate this relationship.

METHODS

Using the National Survey of Children's Health data from 2016 through 2019 for children 6-17 years old, we estimated associations with logistic regression between parental incarceration and overall health and flourishing, adjusting for child, caregiver, and household factors. We secondarily examined physical health (asthma, headaches), mental health (attention deficit disorder/attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, depression), developmental needs (learning disability, special educational plan use), and educational (missing ≥11 school days, repeated grade) outcomes. We performed interaction analyses to determine whether government program participation (eg, free/reduced lunch, cash assistance) moderated relationships between parental incarceration and child outcomes.

RESULTS

Children with parental incarceration accounted for 9.3% of the sample (weighted n = 4 400 000). Black, American Indian/Alaska Native, and multiracial children disproportionately experienced parental incarceration. Parental incarceration was associated with worse health (aOR, 1.31; 95% CI, 1.11-1.55) and higher odds of not flourishing (aOR, 1.66; 95% CI, 1.46-1.89). Physical health, mental health, developmental issues, and educational needs were also associated with parental incarceration. Participation in free and reduced lunch moderated the relationships between parental incarceration and general health and flourishing, and cash assistance moderated the association between parental incarceration and flourishing. For each, parental incarceration had an attenuated association with health among people who participated in government programs.

CONCLUSIONS

Parental incarceration is disproportionately experienced by Black and Indigenous children and associated with worse child health and well-being. Government support program participation may mitigate negative associations between parental incarceration and child outcomes.

COVID-19 Vaccination among a Population Experiencing Homelessness: A Survey in Italy

The purposes of this cross-sectional study were to determine the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors about COVID-19 and its vaccination among 313 individuals experiencing homelessness in Italy and to identify the associated factors. A total of 20.5% identified the virus as a causative agent for COVID-19 and 44.2% identified how the SARS-CoV-2 infection wastransmitted. Those living in homeless shelters were more likely to have this knowledge. Concerns about the safety of the COVID-19 vaccine werehigher in those who were younger, with secondary school as the highest level of education, who practiced Christianity, and who did not believe that COVID-19 was a severe disease. A total of 83.9% received the vaccination. Those who were older, who had correct knowledge, whoperceived to be at a higher risk of getting the disease, and who had a lower concern about the vaccine side effects were more likely to have received the vaccination. The primary reasons for accepting the COVID-19 vaccine were that it wasa preventive measure and that it wasmandatory; those unvaccinated indicated, as the main reasons, a fear of side effects and that it wasnot useful. A relationship and communication between healthcare professionals and this hard-to-reach population are needed, with the implementation of educational and information programs.