U.S. Youth Perceptions of the Importance of Vision

Abstract

Purpose : Uncorrected refractive error (URE) is common among U.S. youth. We aimed to understand how youth perceive eyesight compared to other aspects of their health, as valuing vision highly could facilitate treating URE.

Methods : An open-ended 5 question poll was distributed to the MyVoice Text Message Cohort of U.S. youth aged 14–24 years (www.hearmyvoicenow.org). Question 1 asked, “How important is your eyesight compared to other aspects of your health? Why?” Respondents’ demographic information was analyzed. Low socioeconomic status (SES) was defined as receiving free or reduced-price lunch. Text message responses were coded with modified Grounded Theory.

Results : Of 1204 recipients, 1063 (88.3%) responded. Mean age was 20.3 ±2.4 years (range 15-24 years); 625 (58.8%) were male; 787 (74.0%) were white; and 440 (41.4%) had low SES. Over half (n=609, 57.3%) reported eyesight was very important, 296 (27.8%) reported it was somewhat important and 90 (8.5%) reported that it was not important. Nearly half (n=507, 47.7%) reported eyesight was needed for daily life (e.g. “sight is one of the most important aspects of my health because in our time everything is technology and images”), 152 (14.3%) discussed personal or family experiences with vision problems (e.g. “very important, I've had two blind family members and I am hard of hearing so if my vision goes I'm very screwed”), and 68 (6.4%) expressed fear of developing eye problems (e.g. “very [important], I would be severely depressed if I lost [my eyesight]”).

Conclusions : U.S. youth value vision highly compared to other aspects of their health, yet there are high rates of URE in this population. Future research should focus on identifying barriers to eyeglasses.

This abstract was presented at the 2022 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Denver, CO, May 1-4, 2022, and virtually.