In the article “Health Care Use and Health Behaviors Among Young Adults with History of Parental Incarceration,” Heard-Garris et al1 use the nationally representative longitudinal survey “Add Health” to demonstrate strong associations between parental incarceration before age 18 years and higher rates of forgone health care and unhealthy behaviors in early adulthood (ages 25–32 years). This work is valuable given the scope of parental incarceration and the social vulnerabilities of many justice-involved families. Overall, >2.7 million US children (1 in 28; roughly 1 per school classroom or dozens per general pediatrician’s average panel) have a parent who is currently incarcerated.2 For African American children, the proportion is 1 in 9.2 On any given day, approximately one-half of federal and state prisoners are parents of children <18 years of age.3 Moreover, parental incarceration is disproportionately high among poor children, and for immigrant children, concomitant parent status concerns...
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September 2018
Commentary|
September 01 2018
Responding to Parental Incarceration As a Priority Pediatric Health Issue
Elizabeth S. Barnert, MD;
aDepartment of Pediatrics, David Geffen School of Medicine,
bChildren’s Discovery and Innovation Institute, Mattel Children’s Hospital, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California; and
Address correspondence to Elizabeth S. Barnert, MD, MPH, MS, Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, 10833 Le Conte Ave, 12-467 MDCC, Los Angeles, CA 90095. E-mail: ebarnert@mednet.ucla.edu
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Paul J. Chung, MD
Paul J. Chung, MD
aDepartment of Pediatrics, David Geffen School of Medicine,
cDepartment of Health Policy and Management, Jonathan and Karin Fielding School of Public Health, and
bChildren’s Discovery and Innovation Institute, Mattel Children’s Hospital, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California; and
dRAND Health, RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, California
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Address correspondence to Elizabeth S. Barnert, MD, MPH, MS, Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, 10833 Le Conte Ave, 12-467 MDCC, Los Angeles, CA 90095. E-mail: ebarnert@mednet.ucla.edu
POTENTIAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST: The authors have indicated they have no potential conflicts of interest to disclose.
FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE: The authors have indicated they have no financial relationships relevant to this article to disclose.
Pediatrics (2018) 142 (3): e20181923.
Article history
Accepted:
June 20 2018
Citation
Elizabeth S. Barnert, Paul J. Chung; Responding to Parental Incarceration As a Priority Pediatric Health Issue. Pediatrics September 2018; 142 (3): e20181923. 10.1542/peds.2018-1923
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