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QuickStats: Percentage* of Children and Adolescents Aged 0–17 Years Who Have Experienced a Specified Stressful Life Event,† by Type of Event and Poverty Status§ — National Health Interview Survey, United States, 2019¶
Weekly / August 27, 2021 / 70(34);1181
* With 95% confidence intervals indicated with error bars.
† Percentages for the specified stressful life events are based on the following questions: 1) “Has child ever been the victim of violence or witnessed violence in their neighborhood?”; 2) “Did child ever live with a parent or guardian who served time in jail or prison after child was born?”; 3) “Did child ever live with anyone mentally ill/depressed?”; 4) Did child ever live with anyone who had a problem with alcohol or drugs?” Having any stressful event was based on having answered “yes” to any of these four questions. The four stressful life event questions are part of a larger battery of questions called adverse childhood experiences.
§ Poverty status was based on family income and family size, using the U.S. Census Bureau’s poverty thresholds. Family income was imputed when missing.
¶ Estimates are based on household interviews of a sample of the civilian, noninstitutionalized U.S. population.
In 2019, 20.7% of children and adolescents in families with incomes <200% of the poverty threshold and 12.6% of children and adolescents in families with incomes ≥200% of the poverty threshold had experienced at least one specified stressful life event. Children and adolescents in families with incomes <200% of the poverty threshold were more likely than children and adolescents in families with incomes ≥200% of the poverty threshold to have been the victim or witnessed violence (8.1% versus 3.5%); lived with someone who had been in jail (8.7% versus 3.5%); lived with a person with problems with mental health or depression (10.1% versus 6.4%); or lived with a person with problems with alcohol or drugs (10.2% versus 6.5%).
Source: National Health Interview Survey, 2019. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis.htm
Reported by: Cynthia Reuben, MA, creuben@cdc.gov, 301-458-4458; Nazik Elgaddal, MS.
Suggested citation for this article: QuickStats: Percentage of Children and Adolescents Aged 0–17 Years Who Have Experienced a Specified Stressful Life Event, by Type of Event and Poverty Status — National Health Interview Survey, United States, 2019. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2021;70:1181. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7034a7.
For more information on this topic, CDC recommends the following link: https://www.cdc.gov/injury/priority/aces.html
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