Parents Reporting Adverse Childhood Experiences Among Young Children With Disabilities: Informing Systems Transformation

Abstract

This study provides new insights regarding the associations and risk factors of nine specific adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and young children (0–5 years of age) with disabilities. Utilizing the 2016 National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) dataset ( N = 14,494), we conducted descriptive analysis and regressions with complex survey weighting procedure. The results suggested that one in three children (35.0%) with disabilities would have at least one ACE. The prevalence rates of experiencing the nine specific ACEs were much higher for children with disabilities. Importantly, the five most prevalent ACEs for children with disabilities were hard to cover basic food and housing (40.9%), parental divorce (24.3%), alcohol/drug problems (11.1%), parent or guardian incarceration (10.6%), and adult abuse (6.8%), which were all related to family challenges. We identified several key child/family risk factors (e.g., child age, marital status, adult health) that helped inform cross-system screening, referral, and collaboration opportunities. A discussion about policy implication and further research directions is provided.