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New Report Shows Progress in Child Education and Health Despite Economic Declines

July 27, 2012 Comments off

New Report Shows Progress in Child Education and Health Despite Economic Declines (PDF)

Source: Annie E. Casey Foundation

The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s latest KIDS COUNT ® Data Book shows both promising progress and discouraging setbacks for the nation’s children: While their academic achievement and health improved in most states, their economic well-being continued to decline.

Over the period of roughly 2005 to 2011, the improvements in children’s health and education include a 20 percent decrease in the number of kids without health insurance; a 16 percent drop in the child and teen death rate; an 11 percent reduction in the rate of high school students not graduating in four years; and an 8 percent reduction in the proportion of eighth-graders scoring less than proficient in math.

The 2012 Data Book indicates kids and families nationwide are still struggling economically in the wake of the recession. In 2010, one-third of youths had parents without secure employment — an increase of 22 percent, or about 4 million children, in just two years. From 2005 to 2010, the number of children living in poverty rose by 2.4 million.

+ 2012 KIDS COUNT Data Book

Categories: Annie E. Casey Foundation, children and families, education, health and health care, poverty, social and cultural issues

Disadvantaged Families and Child Outcomes: The Importance of Emotional Support for Mothers

May 13, 2012 Comments off

Disadvantaged Families and Child Outcomes: The Importance of Emotional Support for Mothers (PDF)
Source: Annie E. Casey Foundation (Child Trends)

Raising children is a challenge for parents from all walks of life. However, parents who experience social and economic disadvantages face particular challenges in trying to meet the needs of their children. Some of these parents have support in rearing their children, but many do not. This Research Brief takes a close look at the link between the emotional support that mothers receive—or do not receive—in raising their children and their children’s development.

To address this question, Child Trends analyzed available data from the 2007 National Survey of Children’s Health. Our analyses found that emotional support matters, even when family structure, income, gender, race/ ethnicity, and child age are taken into account. Overall, we found that children and adolescents from disadvantaged families were less likely to engage in externalizing (acting out behavior) and display depression symptoms (sadness, feelings of worthlessness or withdrawn behavior), or to have been retained in a previous grade, when their mothers reported having emotional support with childrearing. These children and adolescents were also more likely to display social competence and school engagement than were their counterparts whose mothers did not report having emotional support. Similar patterns were found among children in more socially and economically advantaged families.

Results from our study suggest that emotional support for mothers may serve to protect children in both disadvantaged and advantaged families from negative outcomes.

Categories: Annie E. Casey Foundation, children and families, mental health and substance abuse, poverty, social and cultural issues

Analyzing State Differences in Child Well-Being

January 23, 2012 Comments off

Analyzing State Differences in Child Well-Being (PDF)
Source: Annie E. Casey Foundation (Foundation for Child Development)

The index is composed of 25 indicators clustered into seven different domains or dimensions of child well-being. These are the same seven domains used every year in the construction of FCD‘s CWI. The seven domains are:
1. Family Economic Well-Being
2. Health
3. Safe/Risky Behavior
4. Education Attainment
5. Community Engagement
6. Social Relationships
7. Emotional/Spiritual Well-Being

Key findings from this study include:

  • The six states with the best child well-being scores are New Jersey, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Utah, Connecticut, and Minnesota.
  • The six states with the worst scores are New Mexico, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Nevada, and Arizona.
  • There is a strong positive correlation across six of the seven domains. The exception is the Emotional/Spiritual domain, which is negatively correlated with most of the other domains.
  • No state ranks in the top ten across all seven domains, but 32 different states are in the top ten on a least one of the seven domains. New Hampshire is in the top ten in six domains. Four states (Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Utah) are in the top ten in five domains.
  • No state ranks in the bottom ten across all seven domains, but 30 states are in the bottom ten on at least one of the seven domains. Five states (Arizona, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Oklahoma) are in the bottom ten in five different domains.

See also: Investing in Public Programs Matters: How State Policies Impact Children’s Lives: 2012 State Child and Youth Well-Being Index (CWI)

Categories: Annie E. Casey Foundation, children and families, education, health and health care, lists and rankings, safety, social and cultural issues
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