Spending on public benefit programs and exposure to adverse childhood experiences.
Child Abuse Negl
; : 106717, 2024 Mar 02.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38433038
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Adverse childhood experiences are associated with poverty, and public benefit programs are increasingly used as primary prevention for negative child outcomes.OBJECTIVE:
To estimate the association between spending on benefit programs and cumulative exposure to ACEs among children. PARTICIPANTS ANDSETTING:
Children aged 0-17 years in the United States during 2016-17 as reported in National Survey of Children's Health.METHODS:
We examined the sum of state and federal spending on 5 categories of public benefit programs at the state-level. The primary exposure was mean annual spending per person living below the Federal poverty limit across 2010-2017 Federal fiscal years. The primary outcome was children <18 years old having ever been exposed to ≥ 4 ACEs.RESULTS:
Nationally, 5.7 % (95 % confidence interval [CI] 5.3 % - 6.0 %) of children had exposure to ≥ 4 ACEs. After adjustment for children's race and ethnicity, total spending on benefit programs was associated with lower exposure to ≥ 4 ACEs (odds 0.96 [95 % CI 0.95, 0.97]; p < 0.001). Increased spending in each individual benefit category was also associated with decreased cumulative ACEs exposure (all p < 0.05). Inverse associations were largely consistent when children were stratified by race and ethnicity and income strata.CONCLUSIONS:
Investments in public benefit programs may not only decrease poverty but also have broad positive effects on near- and long-term child well-being beyond the programs' stated objectives. Findings support federal and state efforts to prioritize families' economic stability as part of a public health model to prevent ACEs.
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1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Child Abuse Negl
Año:
2024
Tipo del documento:
Article
Pais de publicación:
Reino Unido