Citation URL: http://www.urban.org/SharonVandivere

Previous research using the 1999 National Survey of America's Families (NSAF) found few differences in developmental risk between children in families who were currently receiving welfare and those in families that had formerly received welfare. This paper reports on new NSAF analyses revealing a pattern in which male adolescents in the families of former recipients may be faring worse than their counterparts in the families of current recipients. Differences in family characteristics, such as income, family structure, and parental employment, did not account for the elevated levels of developmental risk found among adolescent boys in former recipient families.

Data from the 2002 National Survey of America's Families shows that school engagement declined from 43 percent in 1997 to 35 percent in 2002 among 6- to 11-year-olds. School engagement also declined for 12- to 17-year-olds from 38 to 31 percent. The share of young children whose parents read or told stories to them infrequently dropped from 17 to 14 percent. Higher-income children showed some small setbacks in their behavioral and emotional health.

According to data from the 1999 round of the National Survey of America's Families, 3.3 million 6- to 12-year-old children regularly take care of themselves without adult supervision. Seven percent of children ages 6 to 9 and 12 percent of low-income children are in self-care. Self-care is more likely among 10- to 12-year-olds and children from higher-income families. Parents' full-time employment and parental symptoms of poor mental health are related to an increase in self-care for both younger and older children. The presence of teenagers in the family is related to an increased likelihood of self-care only among younger children. A limiting physical, mental, or health condition is related to a decreased likelihood of self-care only among younger children. Full-time employment and an increase in a child's age are related to an increase in self-care for both low- and higher-income children. In both income groups, Hispanic children are less likely to be in self-care than other groups.

By the time they enter kindergarten, most children have already had experiences with a variety of nonparental caregivers in either home-based or center-based child care settings. Children’s use of and experiences in early care and education are influenced by a variety of interrelated family and community factors, including the quality and availability of care.

Attitudes toward welfare, nonmarital childbearing, and work differ between mothers who have recently received welfare payments and mothers who have not recently received welfare. These differences may be important to public policy because attitudes may influence behavior. Researchers found mothers on welfare are less likely than other mothers to believe that marriage is essential for raising children. Except for attitudes linking welfare to nonmarital childbearing, however, the attitudinal differences were relatively modest between welfare and non-welfare recipients. Researchers used data from the 1997 National Survey of America's Families to compare attitudes regarding welfare, nonmarital childbearing, and work by analyzing respondents' socioeconomic and demographic characteristics and opinions.

Data from the 1997 National Survey of America's Families indicates that poor children, children whose families received AFDC in 1996, children whose parents were unemployed, or children living in single-parent households are more likely to experience behavioral and emotional problems, fair or poor health, and school problems than are other children in the United States. Child well-being varied across states but the variation in well-being was less than the variation in poverty, welfare receipt, and single parenthood.

This Snapshot presents findings on several parent-reported measures of child well-being from the 1999 National Survey of America's Families (NSAF) and compares these findings with data reported from the 1997 NSAF. These data are available for representative samples of the United States as well as for 13 states. Findings are discussed separately for adolescents and for younger children. In addition, this Snapshot compares the status of low-income children--those living in families with incomes below 200 percent of poverty in 1998--with that of higher-income children, whose family incomes exceeded 200 percent of poverty.

This Snapshot summarizes findings from the 1999 NSAF on measures of children's family environments (as reported by their parents) for 13 states and for the United States as a whole. It compares the family environments of low-income children (those living below 200 percent of poverty in 1998) with those of higher-income children (those living above 200 percent of poverty). It also compares the family environments of children in single-parent versus two-parent families. Finally, changes that have taken place since 1997 are identified.

This report completes the methodological discussion of 1997 NSAF estimation that was begun in report no. 3 in this series. Here our goal is to describe how we brought the 1997 NSAF up to census undercount-adjusted control totals. In report no. 3, a description was given of the first estimation approaches used for the 1997 survey. (Report no. 3 also explains how we brought the survey up to census-level controls.)

This brief looks at the characteristics of children who experience turbulence. Nationwide, 6 percent of all children and 13 percent of poor children experienced turbulence (two or more changes in residence, parent’s employment, school or health). Children who experience turbulence are more likely to have high levels of emotional and behavioral problems and be less engaged in school than children who do not experience turbulence. These problems appear more often as the children get older.

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