{"id":25144,"date":"2014-08-16T10:00:16","date_gmt":"2014-08-16T17:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/?p=25144"},"modified":"2014-08-18T09:08:26","modified_gmt":"2014-08-18T16:08:26","slug":"study-uncovers-what-parents-fear-most","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/study-uncovers-what-parents-fear-most-081614","title":{"rendered":"Study Uncovers What Parents Fear Most"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ChildParenthood<\/a> makes worry inevitable, but the threats parents worry<\/a> about change with each generation. The National Poll on Children’s Health, conducted annually by the\u00c2\u00a0University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, is a phone survey that asks a nationwide sample of adults\u00c2\u00a0to list the top 10 threats faced by children in their communities, as well as for children across the country.<\/p>\n

The most recent poll suggests that violence and health are ongoing concerns for most parents. Over the years, obesity tends to top the list of concerns among those polled, along with bullying and substance abuse, and this year’s poll brings gun-related injuries and school violence into the mix.<\/p>\n

What Do Parents Fear? <\/strong><\/h2>\n

When parents were surveyed on the biggest threats to children<\/a> across the United States, 55% put childhood obesity<\/a> on the list, making childhood obesity the greatest concern of all.<\/p>\n

The top 10 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153big problems\u00e2\u20ac\u009d affecting children nationwide, according to adults\u00c2\u00a0surveyed, include:<\/p>\n

[fat_widget_left]<\/p>\n

1. Childhood obesity \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 55%
\n2.\u00c2\u00a0Bullying<\/a> \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 52%
\n3.\u00c2\u00a0Substance abuse<\/a> \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 49%
\n4. Smoking \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 47%
\n5. Violence at school \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 44%
\n6. Child abuse \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 42%
\n7. Alcohol abuse \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 41%
\n8. Internet safety \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 40%
\n9. Gun-related injuries \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 39%
\n10. Teen pregnancy \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 37%<\/p>\n

Adults frequently expressed different concerns for children living in their local communities. Childhood obesity still topped the list, with 29% of parents ranking it as a major local threat.<\/p>\n

The top 10 biggest local threats included:<\/p>\n

1. Childhood obesity \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 29%
\n2. Smoking \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 26%
\n3. Drug abuse \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 26%
\n4. Bullying \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 23%
\n5.\u00c2\u00a0Stress<\/a> \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 22%
\n6. Alcohol abuse \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 19%
\n7. Internet safety \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 18%
\n8. Child abuse and neglect \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 18%
\n9. Teen pregnancy \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 16%
\n10. Not enough physical activity \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 15%<\/p>\n

The Most Common\u00c2\u00a0Threats for Children<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Parents’ fears can be influenced by media coverage of frightening events, such as mass shootings. In some cases, parental fear<\/a> is reflective of common threats. Child abuse, for example, is startlingly common, with more than 6 million cases reported to state child protection organizations<\/a> in 2012.<\/p>\n

Parents don’t always worry about the biggest threats, though. Some leading causes of childhood deaths didn’t make the list. Among babies, the leading causes of death are sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), developmental and congenital conditions, and low birth weight. Among children ages 1\u00e2\u20ac\u201c14, cancer, developmental and genetic conditions, and accidents are the leading causes of death. Suicide<\/a>, homicide, and accidents top the list among older teenagers.<\/p>\n

Though parents’ worries might not always directly reflect the threats their children face, it makes sense that parents might feel anxious in general. In 2013, UNICEF rated child welfare in industrialized countries. The U.S. had the second-highest child poverty rate, and overall, the U.S. ranked 26 out of 29 countries on measures of child welfare.<\/p>\n

References:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Child abuse and neglect stats. (2014, August). Retrieved from https:\/\/www.firststar.org\/library\/national-statistics.aspx<\/li>\n
  2. Death among children and adolescents. (2012, August 1). Retrieved from http:\/\/www.nlm.nih.gov\/medlineplus\/ency\/article\/001915.htm<\/li>\n
  3. School violence, gun-related injury among top 10 child health concerns nationally. (2014, August 11). Retrieved from http:\/\/www.mottchildren.org\/news\/archive\/201408\/school-violence-gun-related-injury-among-top-10-child-health<\/li>\n
  4. Schwayder, M. (2013, April 11). UNICEF report on child well-being shows U.S. near bottom of list. Retrieved from http:\/\/www.ibtimes.com\/unicef-report-child-well-being-shows-us-near-bottom-list-1186975<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    An annual, nationwide poll regarding health and safety concerns for children place childhood obesity, bullying, and substance abuse at the top of the list.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2555,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[159],"tags":[31,21,390,51,25,414],"class_list":["post-25144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-therapy-news","tag-psychotherapy-practice","tag-child-and-adolescent-issues","tag-fear","tag-healthy-parenting","tag-psychotherapy-issues","tag-worry"],"acf":{"author_show":false,"author_name":"","author_role":"","author_avatar":null,"author_profile_url":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2555"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25144\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}