Poll Reports

Childhood cancer is rated as the top priority for children’s health research, with 76% of adults rating it as “very important” to improving children’s health. Diabetes (70%) is the 2nd priority, and birth defects & other genetic problems (68%) are 3rd. Priorities for children’s health research differ by parent status and by race/ethnicity of the respondent.

Adults across the US rate childhood obesity at the top of the list of big health problems for children in their communities. Hispanic adults rate bullying as the #2 health concern for children in their communities. Black adults rate school violence as the #3 health concern for children in their communities; Hispanic adults also rate school violence in their top 10.

82% of adults support banning smoking in vehicles with children under age 13. 75% of adults support banning smoking in homes where children have asthma or another lung disease. Even among current smokers, over one half support bans on smoking to reduce children’s exposure to secondhand smoke.

72% of adults agree that parents have the right to insist that visitors receive the pertussis vaccine before visiting a newborn baby in the hospital. 61% of adults agree that parents should make sure all adults receive the pertussis vaccine before visiting a newborn baby at home.

Only 1 in 100 parents believe their teens have used “study drugs,” while recent studies report 1 in 10 10th-graders and 1 in 8 12th-graders have used these drugs. 50% of all parents say they are “very concerned” about teens using “study drugs” in their communities.

Over-the-counter cough and cold medicines have warning labels that say these products should not be given to children under four years old. 4 in 10 parents reported giving cough medicine or multi-symptom cough and cold medicine to their children under four years old.

1 in 10 parents follow the advice of their children’s healthcare provider only occasionally. Lower-income, black, and Hispanic parents are more likely to follow provider advice only occasionally. Following advice is associated with how parents rate the provider’s quality of care.

50% of parents say that word of mouth is very important when selecting a doctor for their children, compared with 25% of parents who say that doctor rating websites are very important. Mothers are more likely than fathers, and parents under 30 more likely than parents 30 and over, to say that online doctor ratings are very important.

About one-third of parents report they had received at least one pain medicine prescription for their children in the last five years. 35% of parents are very concerned about misuse of narcotic pain medicines by children and teens in their communities; only 19% are concerned about misuse in their families.

A majority of parents favor requiring regular hearing screenings for children from preschool through teenage years. For preschool-age children, two-thirds of parents prefer primary care offices for hearing screening. About half of parents prefer that hearing screening for older children take place in schools.