Health Policy

44% of adults believe e-cigarettes will encourage kids to use tobacco products. Nearly half of parents are concerned their child will try e-cigarettes. 86% of adults support prohibiting sale of e-cigarettes to youth under age 18.

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.

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.

Two-thirds of adults think children should be at least 13 to use the Internet on their own. 29% of parents with children age 9-12 say their child has their own Wi-Fi enabled device; 21% of parents of children age 5-8 have such devices. Nearly two-thirds of adults strongly support proposed updates to COPPA legislation to protect children under age 13.

Most US adults support laws allowing teens to get medical care for sexually transmitted infections without parental consent. Less than half of US adults support laws allowing teens to receive HPV vaccine without their parents’ consent. For those opposing teen vaccination without parental consent, the parental decision-making role was most important.

Overall, 44% of adults in the U.S. believe that sexting is a very serious issue among teens. Most adults (81%) would support state laws requiring schools to educate kids and parents about youth sexting. Most adults do not favor legal consequences for sexting among minors.

73% of parents turned their child forward-facing before their child was two years old. 30% of parents turned their child forward-facing before their child reached one year of age. Parents most often look to car seat packaging and health care providers for information on when to turn their child’s car seat to face forward.

6 in 10 parents of children 2 and under gave their children over-the-counter cough and cold medicine within the last 12 months. About half of parents who use OTC cough and cold medicine report that their young children’s health care providers say these types of medicines are safe and are effective.

Most adults would strongly support new strategies to encourage greater responsibility for teen fathers, and to provide ‘teen and tot’ programs for teen mothers in high schools.

5 of 6 adults support government coverage for children in families with annual income up to 200% of the federal poverty level. Nearly two-thirds of adults support government coverage for children in families with annual income up to 300% of the federal poverty level.