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Index of Child Well-Being: Trends in Quality of Life for American Children 1975-2002 with Projections for 2003

The Foundation for Child Development's Index of Child Well-Being (CWI) is a comprehensive measure of the quality of life of America's children and youth. It consists of 28 social indicators across seven domains and provides insights into trends and changes in child well-being over time.

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Index of Child Well-Being: Trends in Quality of Life for American Children 1975-2002 with Projections for 2003

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  1. The Foundation for Child Development Index of Child Well-Being (CWI)1975 to 2002 with Projections for 2003 A Social Indicators Project Supported by the Foundation for Child Development Kenneth C. Land, Ph.D., Project Coordinator Duke University

  2. What is the CWI? • A composite measure of trends over time in the quality of life, or well-being, of America’s children and young people. • It consists of several interrelated summary indices of annual time series of 28 social indicators of well-being.

  3. The Objective of the CWI: • To give a sense of the overall direction of change in the well-being of children and youth in the United States as compared to 1975.

  4. The CWI is designed to address the following questions: • Overall, on average, how did child and youth well-being in the United States change in the last quarter of the 20th century? • Did it improve or deteriorate, and by how much? • In which domains or areas of social life?

  5. For specific age groups? • For particular race/ethnic groups? • For each of the sexes? • And did race/ethnic group and sex disparities increase or decrease?

  6. Methods of Index Construction • Annual time series data (from vital statistics and sample surveys) have been assembled on some 28 national level indicators in seven quality-of-life domains. • Material Well-Being • Health • Safety/Behavioral Concerns • Productive Activity (Educational Attainments) • Place in Community (Participation in Schooling or Work Institutions) • Social Relationships (with Family and Peers) • Emotional/Spiritual Well-Being

  7. These seven domains have been well-established in over two decades of empirical research on subjective well-being by numerous social psychologists and other social scientists. • In this sense, the CWI is an evidence-based measure of trends in averages of the social conditions encountered by children and youths in the United States.

  8. Each of the 28 Key Indicators is indexed by percentage change from the base year, 1975. • That is, subsequent annual observations are computed as percentages of the base year. • Three indicators being in the mid-1980s and use corresponding base years. • The base year is assigned a value of 100. • The directions of the indicator values are oriented such that a value greater (lesser) than 100 in subsequent years means the social condition measured has improved (deteriorated).

  9. The time series of the 28 indicators are grouped together into the seven domains described above and domain-specific summary well-being indices are constructed. • Within these summary indices, each indicator is equally weighted. • The seven component indices are then combined into an equally-weighted summary index of child and youth well-being.

  10. Significant Findings • The following charts show changes over time in the CWI and its various components. • Overall Index of Child Well-Being • Domain Specific Indexes • Obesity, Single Parent Families, Poverty, Criminal Offending and Victimization, Teenage Birth Rates, and Suicide • Race Specific Indexes

  11. Conclusions • The overall well-being of children and youth in the United States showed substantial improvement for the seven years from 1994 to 2000. • These improvements continued in 2001, and are likely to continue through 2003, but at a slower pace. • However, historically, the CWI showed a decline in well-being for a number of years in the 1980s and reached low points in 1993 and 1994. • These declines mirror economic restructuring, recessions, and demographic changes. • Only since 1999 has the CWI improved to above 1975 levels.

  12. Conclusions (cont.) • A number of Key Indicators have had a significant impact on the CWI: • Obesity • Single Parent Families • Poverty • Criminal Offending and Victimization • Teenage Birth Rates • Suicide

  13. Conclusions (cont.) • Although children and youth in the United States are currently faring better than they did in 1975, they could be doing much better. • If the CWI is calculated using the best value for all 28 Key Indicators its value would be some 15 to 20 percent higher than the value observed in 2001.

  14. The CWI on the Web: http://www.soc.duke.edu/~smeadows/ cwi/cwi_webpage/

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