Abstract There is a lack of validated instruments to evaluate child protection programs in Portugal. The present study analyzed the psychometric characteristics of the Child Well-Being Scales (CWBS), a multidimensional measure of potential situations of abuse and neglect, in 276 families at psychosocial risk. Measures of parental efficiency, satisfaction and parental symptomatology were also collected. Through exploratory factor analysis, a 3-factor solution, similar to the original version was identified, with high levels of internal consistency (α between 0.82-0.86) and good model fit (GFI = 0.97, RMSR = 0.06). Regarding construct validity, significant correlations were found that were in line with theoretical expectation. Our results support the utility of EBI as a guide to the assessment and decision-making regarding child protection measures.
Cristina Nunes, Lara Ayala‐Nunes, Laura Inês Ferreira et al.
The 30th edition of the Annie E. Casey Foundation's KIDS COUNT® Data Book begins by exploring how America's child population — and the American childhood experience — has changed since 1990.And there's some good news to share: Of the 16 areas of child well-being tracked across four domains — health, education, family and community and economic well-being — 11 have improved since the Foundation published its first Data Book 30 editions ago.The rest of the 2019 Data Book — including the latest national trends and state rankings — rely on a shorter review window: 2010 to 2017.The data reveal, in the United States today, more parents are financially stable and living without burdensome housing costs. More teens are graduating from high school and delaying parenthood. And access to children's health insurance has increased compared to just seven years ago.But it is not all good news. The risk of babies being born at a low weight continues to rise, racial inequities remain systemic and stubbornly persistent and 12% of kids across the country are still growing up in areas of concentrated poverty.Locally, New Hampshire has claimed the No. 1 spot in overall child well-being, followed by Massachusetts and Iowa. Mississippi, Louisiana and New Mexico sit at the other end of this list — and among familiar company. In fact, save for California and Alaska, the lowest 18 ranked states call Appalachia, the South or the Southwest home.
The 33rd edition of the Annie E. Casey Foundation's KIDS COUNT® Data Book describes how children in America are in the midst of a mental health crisis, struggling with anxiety and depression at unprecedented levels.This year's publication continues to present national and state data across four domains — economic well-being, education, health and family and community — and ranks states in overall child well-being. The report includes pre-pandemic figures as well as more recent statistics, and shares the latest information of its kind available.
Abstract Family Team Conference (FTC) has been suggested as a promising practice model to effectively reduce racial disproportionality and disparities in child welfare. However, previous studies have noted ongoing challenges to promoting cultural responsiveness in FTC. This study analysed caseworkers’ survey data (n = 736) to explore the role of racial matching between caseworkers and children as an effective practice to strengthen the high fidelity of FTC associated with child well-being. The results of the extended regression model indicate that high FTC fidelity was a necessary condition to improve child well-being. However, racial matching was neither a significant factor of child well-being nor a moderator that strengthened the positive association between FTC fidelity and child well-being. Instead, a follow-up analysis showed that caseworkers’ competencies for facilitating FTC were a significant moderator to promote the positive effect of FTC fidelity on the well-being of all children regardless of their race. This paper concludes with research and practice implications to make FTC more culturally responsive to achieve its intended outcomes especially for children of colour.
Jangmin Kim, Mijin Choi, Catherine A. LaBrenz et al.
Despite the growing importance of the multidimensional methods of assessing child poverty, few studies in the U.S. have applied a rights-based approach to examining child deprivation. This study examines multidimensional child deprivation using eight dimensions and twelve indicators based on the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Using a sample of children at age nine from the fifth wave of the Future of Families and Child Well-being Study, this study applied the multiple overlapping deprivation analysis (MODA), a comprehensive analytic method to assess the multidimensionality of child deprivation and to provide a detailed picture of material and social forms of deprivation among the U.S. children. This study found that the overall child deprivation rate was 8.89%; environmental safety (20.36%), information (15.94%), and housing security (14.23%) dimensions contributed the highest to the overall child deprivation; the overlap between deprivation and income poverty was 12.83%. Results suggest that understanding multifaceted and interrelated contexts of child deprivation is crucial to promote child rights.
Abstract Estimating the impact of COVID-19 on the multiple dimensions of child well-being requires quasi-random variation in exposure to it, which is unlikely to occur during a pandemic. Recent developments in econometrics have highlighted the relevance of subjective evaluations of treatment effects in the absence of randomization. This paper delivers new evidence, based on primary data collected in Luxembourg in Spring 2021 about their subjective appraisal of the effects of COVID-19 on multiple dimensions of children’s well-being. Effects are recovered through specific survey questions, asking children to compare actual outcomes with counterfactual ones, that they believe would have occurred in the absence of COVID-19. Children report negative effects of COVID-19 on subjective health and on schooling outcomes, as well as disruptions on the time used to interact with the family. The paper explores the sources of heterogeneity behind these results.
Francesco Andreoli, Claudine Kirsch, Eugenio Peluso et al.
Drawing on integrated data from focus groups and diary entries, we explored the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on child well-being for children from five Majority World Countries. We focus on the disruptions the pandemic caused, the adjustments made in response to these, and children's vision of a post-pandemic world. Underlying children's experiences of loss, boredom and concerns about educational progress, was an awareness of systemic inequalities that disadvantaged them or others in their community. Findings have implications on capturing children's voices through introspective and dialogical approaches that transcend cultures and for the development of preventive and responsive interventions during crises.
Sadiyya Haffejee, Panos Vostanis, Michelle J. O’Reilly et al.
In this study, we examined whether and how the income gradient in child well-being may vary by grandparental coresidence and proximate residence in Japan, a country characterized by a high prevalence of intergenerational proximity and intensive family investment in children’s development. Using data from the Japan Child Panel Survey, we first demonstrated that household income is positively associated with multiple dimensions of children’s well-being, a relationship that was particularly strong for cognitive skills. We also found that children from lower-income families were more likely to coreside with grandparents than their counterparts from middle- and higher-income families, and that children from both lower- and higher-income families had similar likelihoods of living near their grandparents. However, children in lower- and higher-income families who coresided with grandparents had lower math and Japanese test scores than those living at a distance. These relationships resulted in smaller income gradients in test scores for children coresiding with grandparents and near their grandparents, relative to those whose grandparents lived farther away. International comparisons showed that the income gradient in children’s academic performance is largest in the US and smallest in urban China, with Japan being in the middle, and that multigenerational coresidence is generally associated with worse cognitive outcomes for children in both lower- and higher-income families across these three very different contexts. These findings provide new insights into the complex ways in which intergenerational proximity is related to economic disparities in children’s well-being.
The aim of the current investigation was to examine the appropriateness of propensity score methods for the study of incarceration effects on children by directing attention to a range of conceptual and practical concerns, including the exclusion of theoretically meaningful covariates, the comparability of treatment and control groups, and potential ambiguities resulting from researcher-driven analytic decisions. Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, we examined the effects of maternal and paternal incarceration on a range of child well-being outcomes, including internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors, Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test scores, and early juvenile delinquency. Our findings suggested that propensity scores and treatment effect estimates are highly sensitive to a number of decisions made by the researcher, including aspects where little consensus exists. In light of the conceptual underpinnings of propensity score analysis and existing data limitations, we suggest the potential utility of different identification methods and specialized data collection efforts.
Jennifer E. Copp, Peggy C. Giordano, Wendy D. Manning et al.
