South Carolina and Wisconsin’s optional ACE Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) module and the supplemental ACE questionnaires provided a unique opportunity to examine the relationship among ACEs, extreme childhood poverty and mental and physical health in adulthood, as poverty is not included as an ACE in BRFSS ACE module. This study used the 2014 Wisconsin BRFSS and the 2016 South Carolina BRFSS to (1) assess the prevalence of ACEs and poverty and (2) examine the association between poverty and physical and mental health in adulthood, adjusting for ACEs. These are the only states that included both the optional adverse childhood experiences (ACE) module and the supplemental ACE questionnaires which include items on childhood poverty. Our results confirm prior research that poverty in childhood is associated with poorer mental and physical health outcomes in adulthood. Findings from this study will be instructive for creating interventions and policies that enhance the health and well-being of children and families who live in poverty and experience multiple other childhood adversities.
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