The Relationship of Adverse Childhood Experiences with Access to Primary Health Care
Open Access
- Author:
- Borst, Meredith Murrer
- Area of Honors:
- Health Policy and Administration
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Dr. Jessica Mittler, Thesis Supervisor
Dr. Rhonda Be Lue, Thesis Honors Advisor
Dr. Rhonda Be Lue, Faculty Reader - Keywords:
- Primary Health Care
Adverse Childhood Experiences
Access
Childhood Well-Being - Abstract:
- This thesis examines the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and access to primary health care for children ages 0 to 17. Specifically, it investigates the hypothesis that children who have had more adverse childhood experiences have worse access to primary health care using data from the National Survey of Children’s Health. Between 2011 and 2012, 23% of the 88,771 children surveyed experienced 1 adverse childhood experience and 20.2% experienced 2 or more adverse childhood experiences. Linear regression results showed that children who experienced 1 ACE and children who experienced 2 or more ACEs had, on average, a 0.15 and 0.25 point lower access to primary health care score compared to children who experienced 0 ACEs. All findings of this study were statistically significant and reveal that children who experience more adverse events have less access to primary health care. This finding is important because it identifies another risk factor for poor access to primary health care for children. Ensuring children’s access to primary care is a public policy goal because poor access leads to a number of immediate consequences, such as poor childhood health and low educational attainment, as well as long-term negative consequences such as poor adult health outcomes and low socioeconomic status (Case & Paxson, 2006).