Political Digest

UW-Madison: Childhood traumas related to fewer mental health problems later

An analysis of national data by the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health psychiatry researchers showed that the type of trauma a person experiences could be more impactful than the amount of trauma they encounter in youth.

Justin Russell, research assistant professor of psychiatry, UW School of Medicine and Public Health, and his colleagues examined data from more than 11,000 children participating in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, which is the largest long-term investigation into child health in the United States.

Recognizing the lasting impact of childhood trauma and adversity, a growing number of states are mandating that all children who see a pediatrician complete the Adverse Childhood Experiences questionnaire, or ACEs, which asks about children’s exposure to several types of harmful events or circumstances, Russell said.

The resulting ACEs score is a widely used measure of early life adversity that is broadly predictive of future health problems, he said. Yet, the ACEs score isn’t a good predictor of specific health problems, and therefore has limited value for medical professionals, according to Russell.

“Critically, it doesn’t take into account how a type of trauma might influence a child, rather it only tabulates the amount of the trauma they faced early in life,” he said. “It’s not just how much happens to you but what happens to you that can shape your future.”

To get a better sense of what might be impacting children and how that might affect them later in life, Russell and his team distilled 268 answers to questions about children’s exposure to negative life events or circumstances from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study down to eight key types of traumatic or adverse childhood experiences that the UW team called TRACEs: community threat, peer aggression, caregiver maladjustment, chronic pain, discrimination, family conflict, poverty and interpersonal violence.

The study was recently published in JAMA Psychiatry.

Supreme Court to decide if serving the needy is religious

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Superior’s care for the poor, the elderly, and the disabled is part of its religious mission. 

In Catholic Charities Bureau v. Wisconsin Labor & Industry Review Commission, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled 4-3 earlier this year that Catholic Charities’ service to the poor and needy was not “typical” religious activity. This means that Catholic Charities is prevented from leaving the state’s unemployment compensation program and joining the Wisconsin Catholic Church’s own program.

Catholic Charities is asking the justices to protect its freedom to join the Church program. 

Most Catholic dioceses have a social ministry arm that serves those in need, Catholic Charities says, adding that it carries out such work for the Diocese of Superior, Wisconsin, by helping the disabled, elderly, and those living in poverty — regardless of their faith. 

The requirement to serve everyone in need comes directly from Catholic social teaching and advances the Church’s religious mission through the corporal works of mercy, the bureau states.

“Catholic Charities Bureau is on the front lines bringing love, healing, and hope to the most vulnerable members of our community,” said Bishop James Powers, Bishop of the Diocese of Superior. “We pray the Court recognizes that this work of improving the human condition is our answer to Christ’s call to serve those in need.” 

Under Wisconsin law, non-profits that are operated for a religious purpose are generally exempt from the state’s unemployment compensation program. The Wisconsin Supreme Court, however, ruled that Catholic Charities was not exempt because it serves everyone, not just Catholics. 

The court said that Catholic Charities could qualify for an exemption only if it limited its hiring to Catholics and tried to convert those it served — even though the Catholic Church teaches that care for the poor cannot be conditioned on acceptance of the Church’s teachings. 

The justices will now decide if Catholic Charities, like other religious ministries in Wisconsin, can receive a religious exemption from this state law. 

“Wisconsin is trying to make sure no good deed goes unpunished,” said Eric Rassbach, vice president and senior counsel at Becket. “Penalizing Catholic Charities for serving Catholics and non-Catholics alike is ridiculous and wrong. We are confident the Supreme Court will reject the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s absurd ruling.”  

Catholic Charities Bureau is also represented by Kyle H. Torvinen of Torvinen, Jones & Saunders, S.C., in Superior, Wisconsin.