Crouch E, Shi S, Kelly K, McLain A, Eberth JM, Probst JC, Brown M, Merrell M, Bennett K. 2022. Rural-urban differences in adverse and positive childhood experiences: Results from the National Survey of Children's Health. Columbia, SC: Rural and Minority Health Research Center, 11 pp. Annotation: This policy brief uses data from the 2016-2018 National Survey of Children's Health to assess the differences in adverse and positive childhood experiences among rural and urban children. The study provides the questions from the NSCH that deal with adverse experiences, which include: divorce or separation of parents/guardians; death of parent/guardian; incarceration of parent/guardian; violence among parents/guardians; violence aimed at child; witnessing violence in the neighborhood; mental illness among family/household members; substance abuse among family/household members; discrimination based on ethnicity; low income, resulting in food and/or housing insecurity. The NSCH also provides positive experiences that can help balance the adverse events. Study results show that rural and minority children and adolescents have higher rates of exposure to adverse experiences than their peers, but that rural children were also more likely to have multiple different positive experiences, such as community service or volunteer work, school, church, and having a mentor for guidance. Contact: Rural and Minority Health Research Center, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, 220 Stoneridge Drive, Suite 204, Columbia, SC 29210, Telephone: 803-251-6317 E-mail: [email protected] Web Site: https://sc.edu/study/colleges_schools/public_health/research/research_centers/sc_rural_health_research_center/ Keywords: Child health, Family health, Maltreated children, Rural health, Rural populations, Stress, Trauma, Urban health, Urban populations |