Department of Health Management and Policy, Drexel University Dornsife School of Public Health, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Division of Health Policy and Management, University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
Child Maltreat. 2022 Aug;27(3):344-355. doi: 10.1177/10775595211004783. Epub 2021 Mar 26.
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are receiving increasing attention in academic, policy, and media discourses. However, no public opinion research has focused on ACEs. We conducted a nationally representative survey of U.S. adults to address this knowledge gap. A web-based survey was conducted using the Ipsos KnowledgePanel ( = 503, completion rate = 60.5%) in fall 2019. We found that inter-personal stigma and parental blame related to ACEs were prevalent, with 25.0% of respondents unwilling to have a person with "a lot of ACEs" as a close co-worker and 65.2% believing that parents were very much to blame for the consequences of ACEs. Fifty percent of respondents believed that government intervention to prevent ACEs was very important. After adjustment for demographic characteristics, inter-personal stigma toward people with ACEs and conservative ideology were significantly associated with lower perceived importance of government intervention to prevent ACEs. Black race, Hispanic ethnicity, and female gender were significantly associated with higher perceived importance of government intervention. These findings provide an empirical foundation to inform strategies to communicate ACE science to public and policymaker audiences.
不良的童年经历（ACEs）在学术、政策和媒体话语中受到越来越多的关注。然而，目前还没有针对 ACEs 的公众意见研究。我们对美国成年人进行了一项全国代表性调查，以填补这一知识空白。2019 年秋季，我们使用益普索知识面板（=503，完成率=60.5%）进行了一项基于网络的调查。我们发现，与 ACEs 相关的人际污名和父母指责很普遍，25.0%的受访者不愿意让一个“有很多 ACEs”的人成为亲密同事，65.2%的人认为父母应该对 ACEs 的后果承担很大责任。50%的受访者认为政府干预预防 ACEs 非常重要。在调整人口统计学特征后，对 ACE 人群的人际污名和保守意识形态与降低对政府干预预防 ACEs 的重要性感知显著相关。黑人和西班牙裔以及女性与更高的政府干预重要性感知显著相关。这些发现为向公众和政策制定者传播 ACE 科学提供了实证基础。
