Schuster M A, Halfon N, Wood D L
RAND, Santa Monica, Calif, USA.
Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 1998 Mar;152(3):264-8. doi: 10.1001/archpedi.152.3.264.
To determine what African American mothers in a low-income community fear for their newborn's future.
An interview survey was conducted with mothers of recently born infants randomly sampled from birth certificate records in the spring of 1994 in 10 postal codes in the Compton Health District in south central Los Angeles, Calif, with high concentrations of low-income African American children. Among 522 eligible mothers, 419 (80%) were interviewed. Children were an average of 17.7 days old at the time of the interview.
The open-ended survey item, "What is your biggest fear for [child's name] growing up?" Mothers were prompted to give more than 1 answer. Responses were classified into 16 categories.
Thirty-nine percent of the mothers reported a fear of gangs, violence, or both. The largest other response categories included disease, illness, and health problems (17%); drugs and alcohol (15%); growing up in the local environment (10%); and society and the world in general (6%). Fifty percent of the mothers of boys reported a fear of gangs, violence, or both compared with 28% of the mothers of girls (P < .001).
More than half the fears are in the medical and public health domains. Some involve traditional health concerns (e.g., disease), while others are problems that the health professions have been addressing more recently (e.g., violence). The American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended counseling families about violence prevention and the prevention of firearm injuries. While this study shows that many mothers are concerned about these subjects, we need a greater understanding of what role physicians can play in helping their patients (and their patients' families) address violence in their lives.
确定低收入社区的非裔美国母亲对其新生儿未来的担忧。
1994年春季，在加利福尼亚州洛杉矶中南部康普顿健康区的10个邮政编码区域，从出生证明记录中随机抽取近期分娩婴儿的母亲进行访谈调查，这些区域低收入非裔美国儿童高度集中。在522名符合条件的母亲中，419名（80%）接受了访谈。访谈时孩子的平均年龄为17.7天。
开放式调查问题“你对[孩子名字]成长最大的担忧是什么？” 鼓励母亲给出多个答案。回答被分为16类。
39%的母亲表示担心帮派、暴力或两者兼有。其他最大的回答类别包括疾病和健康问题（17%）；毒品和酒精（15%）；在当地环境中成长（10%）；以及一般的社会和世界（6%）。50%的男孩母亲表示担心帮派、暴力或两者兼有，而女孩母亲的这一比例为28%（P <.001）。
超过一半的担忧涉及医学和公共卫生领域。一些涉及传统的健康问题（如疾病），而另一些则是卫生专业人员最近一直在解决的问题（如暴力）。美国儿科学会建议为家庭提供预防暴力和预防枪支伤害的咨询。虽然这项研究表明许多母亲关心这些问题，但我们需要更深入地了解医生在帮助患者（及其患者家庭）解决生活中的暴力问题方面可以发挥什么作用。
