Reducing Unwanted Pregnancies & Abortion Through Prevention in Early Childhood © 2005
By Andrew Kenny Donlan, Ph.D.

Few national policy issues are so politically charged as abortion, and few so polarize citizens concerned with good government, values and public policy. Many citizens passionately advocate policies that might reduce abortion rates, such as prohibiting late stage abortion. Yet many others argue as fervently that abortion should remain legal and accessible. Despite the intensity of the debate, few avenues appeal to partisans of opposing political orientations, and rates of unwanted pregnancy and abortion remain high relative to other industrialized nations. To many the opposing views seem irreconcilable, and the result is political stalemate with little hope of resolution.

Many voters seek assurances that policy proposals will succeed in achieving their intended aims; however, in some instances policy makers are charged to advance whatever legislative change may be readily attainable, regardless of efficacy. But initiatives developed ad hoc may undermine the intended aims, and cases of policy failures are not too rare. In other instances, the impact of legislation is merely benign without impact.

In a debate as emotional as that over abortion, there seems greater threat that public demands for legislative change will be based on the political inertia of the moment, and conceived with less forethought than is called for. Such considerations remind us of the imperative that policy change be crafted with due reflection. Accordingly, lessons of history and research may play an essential role in guarding society from the impulse to implement hastily conceived initiatives.

This paper introduces the strategy of early prevention to reduce unwanted pregnancy and abortion. This approach is research based and provides a novel opening for common ground. It differs from policies such as prohibition of abortion, which has been debated yet lacks support. And it differs from policies such as sex education, which too employs prevention, but has its operative action only after an adolescent's development (and risk profile for later life unwanted pregnancy) have been powerfully affected by factors already at play in early childhood.

The strategy of early prevention stands out somewhat in that it would proactively target risk factors for later unwanted pregnancy (and abortion) in an individual's childhood, before the many risk factors arising from early family experiences have a chance to so fully determine an individuals risk for later unwanted pregnancy.

The policy avenue of prevention in early childhood draws on evidence to a greater degree than is required of many policy proposals. Voluminous research indicates, with as much certainty as can be attained in the social sciences, that early childhood is a critical period in human development; in this period individuals are particularly susceptible to family influences on later life outcomes (such as social relationships and economic status). In particular, aspects of early family life such as parent-child interactions and socioeconomic status have been consistent predictors of later life outcomes.

Furthermore, research provides many instances of effective social policy interventions that target early childhood and that positively impact social and economic outcomes in later life such as social attachments to others and economic status. Examples of initiatives identified as effective include domestic violence prevention, high quality early education, parenting classes, family support through home visitation, and WIC. Many preventive interventions have been identified that yield long term societal benefits that can exceed by several factors the initial investment.

Such findings are of no small consequence for abortion; the social and economic outcomes they can influence are a pivotal part of the context in which a woman makes decisions about becoming a mother. A woman's support network and economic status have been linked to abortion and the reasons given for having an abortion. Related, studies indicate that poor women represent a disproportionate share of those that have elected to have an abortion. Early childhood experiences are a consistent risk factor for poverty and risky behavior later in adulthood.

These findings provide a strong foundation for the idea that social policy interventions that target early childhood could positively affect social and economic precursors of unwanted pregnancy and abortion. If children growing up in poverty and/or a conflictive family environment are at greater risk for unwanted pregnancy and abortion in adulthood, then it follows that policy initiatives designed to strengthen the early family experiences of children could be a sound strategy for preventing abortion.

In short, early prevention derives support from in three research areas. The first is the critical role of the early years of life. Research points to a rich array of ways that early life factors can influence later life outcomes. The second set of research points to the many early-preventive programs that have been found effective in influencing diverse socioeconomic and behavioral outcomes in later life. Moreover, there are many programs whose societal benefits are found to be much greater than the initial investment outlays. Finally, findings indicate that the many social and economic outcomes that prevention can influence are a pivotal part of the context in which a woman makes decisions about becoming a mother.

The strength of the theoretical and empirical foundation of the strategy of early prevention of abortion compares well to many popular policy proposals; accordingly, the prevention approach warrants attention as an important new line or research. Innumerable studies in the social sciences affirm in broad outlines the long-term benefits of early prevention, but no study identified has comprehensively synthesized relevant evidence from the pertinent literatures such as child development, sociology, abortion, and public policy. A new line of research should be spawned and supported.

In parallel, social science research and media ought to give attention to many policy options and scrutinize carefully claims that they will be successful in reducing abortion rates. Does parental notification reduce abortion rates? What about other strategies? Questions of the likely efficacy of policy proposals ought not go unexamined by national institutions of news and research.

Furthermore, activists and researchers drawn to just this or that insular policy avenue ought keep in mind that strategies that employ comprehensive and multifaceted interventions are often more effective than those using a narrower piecemeal approach. Early prevention may complement well other options such as public support to expecting mothers, limits on abortion where viable, and the advance of non-government and other initiatives have been effective.

Policy proposals of past decades addressing abortion have yielded doubtful consensus and uncertain policy impact. Strategies of early prevention are a promising alternative that may complement well other policy options, and should provide an opening to change the spirit of the debate over abortion. Equally important, in this policy avenue there is promise of positively impacting a multiplicity of social and economic outcomes in adult life, not just unwanted pregnancy and abortion.


Andrew K. Donlan, Ph.D. is a teacher and writer in Washington, D.C.

Cost-Effective Investments in Children - Brookings Institution

Brookings Institution
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American children are facing an uncertain economic future. Rising spending for health and retirement benefits for an aging population, combined with falling tax revenues after several rounds of tax cuts, have led to a fiscal crisis. If the current generation fails to take on the responsibility for balancing the budget, future generations will pay the cost—plus interest—of paying off the debt and addressing unfunded financial commitments. Balancing the budget will require a combination of reductions in entitlement spending, reforms in defense and other discretionary spending, and increases in revenues. While the major focus of a responsible, future-oriented budget plan should be deficit reduction, a good budget strategy also needs to make targeted investments in programs that will improve America’s future economic well-being. Chief among these is effective investments in children to ensure they have the skills to become tomorrow’s adult workers, caregivers, taxpayers, and citizens.

Abortion Reduction Has Its Day

Third Way
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The Democrats are showing signs of change on abortion. Yesterday, the Democratically controlled House easily passed an appropriations bill that contains a major – and brand new – abortion initiative. But unlike Democratic abortion bills of yore, this one brings together both sides of the debate and is aimed squarely at abortion reduction.

This “Reducing the Need for Abortions Initiative,” which grew out of a bill crafted by Tim Ryan (pro-life D-OH) and Rosa DeLauro (pro-choice D-CT) passed as part of the FY 2008 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education funding bill. It invests real money – $647 million – in reducing the need for abortion by funding programs that address the circumstances that lead to abortion. It contains provisions that prevent unintended pregnancies, such as increasing the funding for the nation’s only dedicated family planning program (Title X) and also creates and funds a new teen pregnancy prevention program at CDC. At the same time, it includes measures designed to help support pregnant women and new families who need more support to go forward with their pregnancies, such as increased funding for child care, after-school programs, and nurse home visitation programs for new moms. It also funds an adoption awareness campaign at CDC and domestic violence prevention.

In proposing and then passing this bill, the Democrats have made a bold new statement about their changed outlook on abortion. First, they are showing that they are dedicated to finding common ground on this divisive issue. As Congressman Ryan put it: “It is our moral obligation to address those issues with which all sides agree. Whether you are pro-life like me or pro-choice like my friend Congresswoman DeLauro, the common ground we must build upon is our serious desire to reduce the rate of abortions.”

Second, – the Party is now letting pro-life Democrats inside the tent. We saw this with their loyalty to Bob Casey, Jr. in Pennsylvania – his dad was barred from the podium at the 1992 Democratic Convention for his pro-life views, but now-Senator Casey (who shares his father’s views on abortion) was warmly embraced by the Party during his Senate run last year. We are seeing it again in their decision to listen closely and follow the lead of pro-life Congressman Tim Ryan.

Third, by prioritizing an initiative designed to reduce the need for abortion, Democrats are making a clear statement that they understand the moral complexity of abortion.

The Democrats remain and will always be the party of abortion rights, but they are looking more and more like they are ALSO the party of reducing the need for abortion.

Importance of Early Neglect for Childhood Aggression

Pediatrics
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...
RESULTS. Only early neglect significantly predicted aggression scores. Early abuse, later abuse, and later neglect were not significantly predictive in a controlled model with all 4 predictors.

CONCLUSION. This longitudinal study suggests that child neglect in the first 2 years of life may be a more-important precursor of childhood aggression than later neglect or physical abuse at any age.

Community Violence, Interpartner Conflict, Parenting, and Social Support as Predictors of the Social Competence of African American Preschool Children

Journal of Black Psychology
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Adopting an ecological framework, this study examines the role of community violence exposure, interpartner conflict, positive parenting, and informal social support in predicting the social skills and behavior problems of low-income African American preschoolers. Participants were 184 African American mothers and female caregivers of Head Start children who completed study measures in a structured interview. Regression analyses revealed that greater community violence exposure predicted more internalizing and externalizing child behavior problems and lower levels of self-control and cooperation. Greater interpartner conflict predicted more internalizing problems. Positive parenting was predictive of fewer internalizing and externalizing problems and higher levels of child self-control and cooperation. Greater informal social support predicted higher levels of all four child social skills, including self-control, cooperation, assertion, and responsibility. Positive parenting and informal social support failed to moderate the relationships between community violence exposure and interpartner conflict and child outcomes. Implications of the findings for intervention and future research are discussed.

Predictors (0–10 months) of psychopathology at age 1½ years ...

J Child Psychol & Psychiatry
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...
Conclusions: Predictors of neuro-developmental disorders and parent–child relationship disturbances can be identified in the first 10 months of life in children from the general population.

Current-Generation Youth Programs: What Works, What Doesn't, and at What Cost?

RAND
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Policymakers nationwide must decide how to best invest in education and related opportunities, such as out-of-school-time programs targeting youth and early-childhood education programs. In this paper, we review the costs, benefits, and costs and benefits relative to one another for one alternative type of investment: youth programs that are offered during the time that students are not in school. Such programs are often viewed as a mechanism for addressing working parents’ needs for care of their school-age children, for improving the developmental outcomes of youth, and for reducing the gap in academic achievement between advantaged youth and disadvantaged youth.

At this time, the evidence of evaluations of such programs, all of which were geared to at-risk youths, is strongest for programs that are costlier and provide more-intense resources to youth.

The Family: America's Smallest School

ETS
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If the United States is to reach our ambitious national education goals, we need to focus as much attention on the starting line as we do on the finish line. While most reform debate centers on improving schools, increasing teaching quality and raising student achievement, success also requires changes within America’s smallest school as well: the family.

In the ETS Policy Information Center’s new report, The Family: America's Smallest School, ETS researchers Paul E. Barton and Richard J. Coley outline the family and home conditions affecting children’s cognitive development and school achievement and how gaps beginning early persist throughout life. With a preface and endorsement by Marc H. Morial, President of the National Urban League, both organizations call on leaders and policymakers to improve not only schools, but also home and family conditions, to help all students succeed.

Critical factors examined in the report include child care quality, parental involvement in schools, parent/pupil ratio, family finances, literacy development, student absences and physical home environments.

Early motherhood and subsequent life outcomes

Journal Child Psychology & Psychiatry
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..
Results: Early motherhood was associated with higher levels of mental health disorders, lower levels of educational achievement, higher levels of welfare dependence, lower levels of workforce participation, and lower income. Control for confounding factors reduced the associations between early motherhood and later mental health disorders to statistical non-significance. However, the associations between early motherhood and later educational achievement and economic circumstances persisted after control for potentially confounding factors.

Conclusions: The findings suggest that early motherhood puts young women at risk for educational underachievement and poorer economic circumstances. The linkages between early motherhood and later mental health difficulties can largely be accounted for by childhood, family, and related circumstances that occurred prior to parenthood.

Reducing Maternal Depression and Its Impact on Young Children

NCCP
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Maternal depression is a significant risk factor affecting the
well-being and school readiness of young children. Low-income
mothers of young children experience particularly high levels
of depression, often in combination with other risk factors.
This policy brief provides an overview of why it is so important
to address maternal depression as a central part of the effort
to ensure that ALL young children enter school ready to succeed.
...

Early motherhood and subsequent life outcomes

Blackwell Synergy - J Child Psychol & Psychiat, Volume 49 Issue 2 Page 151-160, February 2008 (Article Abstract)
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Results: Early motherhood was associated with higher levels of mental health disorders, lower levels of educational achievement, higher levels of welfare dependence, lower levels of workforce participation, and lower income. Control for confounding factors reduced the associations between early motherhood and later mental health disorders to statistical non-significance. However, the associations between early motherhood and later educational achievement and economic circumstances persisted after control for potentially confounding factors.

Conclusions: The findings suggest that early motherhood puts young women at risk for educational underachievement and poorer economic circumstances. The linkages between early motherhood and later mental health difficulties can largely be accounted for by childhood, family, and related circumstances that occurred prior to parenthood.

Programs that Work | Healthy Families New York (HFNY)

Promising Practices Network | RAND
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The Healthy Families New York program seeks to improve the health and well-being of children at risk for abuse and neglect by providing intensive home visitation services. The study on which the updated HFNY program summary is based found that this Proven program continued to reduce child abuse and neglect in the second year of the study. This study is noteworthy because it is one of the few evaluations of home visiting programs that have used a rigorous randomized control design. Additionally, it is the only study of a program using the Healthy Families America guidelines that meets PPN study design criteria, and it finds significant and sizeable effects at a much lower cost than models that rely exclusively on nurses.

Twenty-First Century Pink or Blue: How Sex Selection Technology Facilitates Gendercide and What we Can do About It

Family Court Review
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In the midst of a genetic revolution in medicine, Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) has become a well-established technique to help infertile women achieve pregnancy. But many women are now turning to ART not just to circumvent infertility, but consciously to shape their families by determining the sex of their children. Many patriarchal cultures have a gender preference for males and to date have used technological advances in reproductive medicine to predetermine the sex of the child being born. Women have sought sex-selective abortions, where the pregnancy was being terminated solely on the basis of the sex of the unborn fetus. The combination of ART advances and gender preference has led to the disappearance of at least 100 million girls from the world's population leading to a mass gendercide. This article examines the societal impact of unbalanced gender ratios and the need to regulate sex selection to avoid nations of bachelors.

Perspect Sexual Reprod Health

Perspectives Sexual Reproductive Health
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RESULTS: In recent years, more countries experienced a decline in legal abortion rates than an increase, among those for which statistics are complete and trend data are available. The most dramatic declines were in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, where rates remained among the highest in the world. The highest estimated levels were in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, where surveys indicate that women will have close to three abortions each, on average, in their lifetimes. The U.S. abortion rate dropped by 8% between 1996 and 2003, but remained higher than rates in many Northern and Western European countries. Rates increased in the Netherlands and New Zealand. The official abortion rate declined by 21% over seven years in China, which accounted for a third of the world’s legal abortions in 1996. Trends in the abortion rate differed across age-groups in some countries.

In Gaps at School, Weighing Family Life

New York Times
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In Gaps at School, Weighing Family Life
By MICHAEL WINERIP

THE federal No Child Left Behind law of 2002 rates schools based on how students perform on state standardized tests, and if too many children score poorly, the school is judged as failing.

But how much is really the school’s fault?

A new study by the Educational Testing Service — which develops and administers more than 50 million standardized tests annually, including the SAT — concludes that an awful lot of those low scores can be explained by factors that have nothing to do with schools. The study, “The Family: America’s Smallest School,” suggests that a lot of the failure has to do with what takes place in the home, the level of poverty and government’s inadequate support for programs that could make a difference, like high-quality day care and paid maternity leave.

The E.T.S. researchers took four variables that are beyond the control of schools: The percentage of children living with one parent; the percentage of eighth graders absent from school at least three times a month; the percentage of children 5 or younger whose parents read to them daily, and the percentage of eighth graders who watch five or more hours of TV a day. Using just those four variables, the researchers were able to predict each state’s results on the federal eighth-grade reading test with impressive accuracy.

“Together, these four factors account for about two-thirds of the large differences among states,” the report said. In other words, the states that had the lowest test scores tended to be those that had the highest percentages of children from single-parent families, eighth graders watching lots of TV and eighth graders absent a lot, and the lowest percentages of young children being read to regularly, regardless of what was going on in their schools.

Which gets to the heart of the report: by the time these children start school at age 5, they are far behind, and tend to stay behind all through high school. There is no evidence that the gap is being closed.

“Kids start school from platforms of different heights and teachers don’t have a magic wand they can wave to get kids on the same platform,” said Richard J. Coley, director of E.T.S.’s policy information center and co-author of the report with Paul E. Barton, a senior researcher. “If we’re really interested in raising overall levels of achievement and in closing the achievement gap, we need to pay as much attention to the starting line as we do to the finish line.”

What’s interesting about the report — which combines E.T.S. studies with research on families from myriad sources, including the Census Bureau and Child Trends research center — is how much we know, how often government policy and parental behavior does not reflect that knowledge, and how stacked the odds are against so many children. (The study is at www.ets.org/familyreport.)

Being raised by a single parent in itself steepens the odds considerably. Keep in mind that findings are based on statistical averages, and we all know people raised by a single parent who have thrived; I count seven nieces, nephews and cousins in my own extended family. But on average, the child with a single parent is 2.5 times more likely to repeat a grade. That child on average scores a third of a standard deviation lower on tests — the difference between 500 and 463 on the SAT.

And the demographics are not promising. In 1980, 77 percent of American children lived with two parents compared with 68 percent today. For black children the numbers are more stark: 42 percent lived with both parents in 1980, versus 35 percent today. In contrast, in Japan, 92 percent of children live with both parents.

Single parents on average will have less income and less time for a child, given all the demands. While 11 percent of white children live in poverty, 36 percent of black children and 29 percent of Hispanic children are poor. Half of black children live in families where no parent has year-round full-time employment, according to the analysis.

By age 4 the average child in a professional family hears about 35 million more words than a child in a poor family. While 62 percent of kindergartners from the richest 20 percent are read to at home every day, 36 percent of kindergartners in the poorest 20 percent are read to daily.

The report also found that 24 percent of white eighth graders spend at least four hours in front of TV on a weekday compared with 59 percent of black eighth graders.

These issues are intertwined in complex ways. A child watching five hours of TV can be a case of neglect or it may mean a single parent is trying to make ends meet by working two jobs and is not around to supervise. Absence rates are higher for poor children, whose families are more transient than wealthier families.

But whether it is a parent’s fault or the societal pressures on the parent, the results are hard on the child: The average scores for black and Hispanic children on reading and math assessments at the start of kindergarten are 20 percent lower than for white children.

And when those children are ready to apply to college, one of the surest predictors of how they will perform on the SAT is their family’s income: for every $10,000 of additional family income, the SAT score climbs an average of about 10 points, according to statistics from the College Board.

The report describes how much we rely on child care from an early age — half of 2-year-olds are in some kind of nonparental care — and how much worse that care is for poor and minority children. According to the report, poor children are twice as likely to be in low quality care as middle and upper class children, black children more than twice as likely as white children.

And it is black families who rely on day care most: 63 percent, compared with 49 percent of whites and 44 percent of Asians. Says Mr. Coley, “Our day care system may be reinforcing the gap rather than closing it.”

Another way to support parents of young children is paid leave when a child is born, which is routine in most of the world, but not in the United States.

According to Dr. Jody Heymann, director of the Institute of Health and Social Policy at McGill University, 172 of the 176 countries she surveyed this year offer guaranteed paid leave to women who have just had babies. The four that do not? Liberia, Papua New Guinea, Swaziland and the United States.

The United States guarantees 12 weeks of unpaid leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, but many parents do not qualify for even that, since employers with fewer than 50 workers are exempt.

To better support young families, California in 2004 became the first state to pass a law providing paid leave for new parents. A few more states, including New Jersey and New York, are considering similar legislation.

Mr. Coley believes this kind of government support is necessary if we are serious about closing the gap. “We don’t seem to get it,” he said. “Or maybe we think we can’t afford it, I don’t know.”

Parenting programmes: a systematic review and synthesis of qualitative research

Child Care Health Dev
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Background Parenting programmes are at the heart of intervention strategies for parents of children with emotional and behaviour problems. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials have indicated that such programmes can improve many aspects of family life. However, there is currently a dearth of information concerning what it is that makes parenting programmes meaningful and helpful to parents. The aim of this paper was to examine parents' experience and perceptions of parenting programmes using the meta-ethnographic method, in order to sensitize policymakers and practitioners to the key factors that parents perceive to be of value.

A lines-of-argument synthesis was developed which suggests that the acquisition of knowledge, skills and understanding, together with feelings of acceptance and support from other parents in the parenting group, enabled parents to regain control and feel more able to cope. This led to a reduction in feelings of guilt and social isolation, increased empathy with their children and confidence in dealing with their behaviour.

Conclusion
This evaluation provides an indication of the components that parents perceive to be necessary in the provision of parenting programmes, independent of the particular type of programme being provided. It may therefore aid policymakers in decisions about which programmes to provide.

Scholastic Attainment Following Severe Early Institutional Deprivation: A Study of Children Adopted from Romania

JOurnal of Abnormal Child Development
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The relationship between severe early institutional deprivation and scholastic attainment at age 11 in 127 children (68 girls and 59 boys) adopted from institutions in Romania was compared to the attainment of 49 children (17 girls and 32 boys) adopted within the UK from a non-institutional background. Overall, children adopted from Romania had significantly lower attainment scores than those adopted within the UK; the children within the Romanian sample who had spent 6 months or more in an institution had significantly lower attainment scores than those who had spent less than 6 months in an institution, but there was no additional risk of low attainment associated with longer institutional care after 6 months. The lower scholastic attainment in the children adopted from Romanian institutions, as compared with domestic adoptees, was mediated by IQ, and to a lesser degree, inattention/overactivity. When these factors were taken into account, only small between-group differences in attainment remained.

The Next Generation of Antipoverty Policies

The Future of Children

Reduce Nonmarital Births and Increase Marriage.

Poverty in female-headed families is four or five times greater than poverty in married-couple families, and studies have shown that children fare better in married-couple families. Paul Amato and Rebecca Maynard argue for investments in more effective teen pregnancy reduction programs and premarital education to increase the share of children reared by their married parents.

Improve Preschool Education.

Greg Duncan and his colleagues note that high-quality preschool can boost children’s development and decrease the achievement gap between poor children and their more advantaged peers. They propose to fund a high-quality preschool initiative that targets resources towards the most disadvantaged children.

Improve Public Education.

Children living in poverty tend to be concentrated in low-performing schools staffed by ill-equipped teachers. These children are especially likely to drop out and to leave school without the skills necessary to earn a decent living in a rapidly changing economy. Richard Murnane proposes to build on the No Child Left Behind Act in ways that would improve the accountability, incentives, and capacity for schools to address these shortcomings.

Help the Most Disadvantaged Mothers.

Some mothers face multiple barriers to work, including low education, health problems, or a history of domestic violence or substance abuse. Rebecca Blank argues that these mothers and their children need greater assistance and support than that provided by current welfare-to-work programs. She proposes a new program that would focus exclusively on serving the most disadvantaged mothers.

Food Insecurity and Adjustment Problems in a National Sample of Adolescents

Journal of Children and Poverty
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This study examined a structural equation model of the associations among food insecurity, parental emotional distress, quality of parenting, and adolescents' adjustment problems, controlling for socioeconomic status (SES), sex, and race/ethnicity. Additionally, we examined the relative effects of food insecurity, SES, parental emotional distress, and quality of parenting on adjustment problems. A sample of 11,139 12-17-year-olds selected from the 2002 National Survey of American Families data set were used. The results revealed the following: first, the model exhibited a reasonable fit to the data. Second, heightened food insecurity was associated with increased parental emotional distress, poor quality of parenting, and increased adjustment problems. Third, increased parental emotional distress was associated with poor quality of parenting and with higher levels of adjustment problems; and better quality of parenting was associated with lower levels of adjustment problems. Fourth, food insecurity had an indirect effect on adjustment problems through its effect on parental emotional distress and quality of parenting. Finally, parental emotional distress and quality of parenting had stronger total effects on adjustment problems than did food insecurity. The implications of these findings for policy are also discussed.

The Response of Abortion Demand to Changes in Abortion Costs

Social Indicators Research
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This study uses pooled cross-section time-series data, over the years 1982, 1992 and 2000, to estimate the impact of various restrictive abortion laws on the demand for abortion. This study complements and extends prior research by explicitly including the price of obtaining an abortion in the estimation. The empirical results show that the real price of an abortion has a statistically and numerically significant negative impact on abortion demand. Over the period 1982–2000 approximately 20% of the decline in the incidence of abortion was due solely to the increase in the real price of obtaining an abortion. A state Medicaid funding restriction of abortion and a parental involvement law reduce the abortion demand, but a state waiting period and a mandatory counseling law have no statistically significant impact on the abortion demand. The empirical results also provide support for the hypothesis that increases in abortion costs not only reduce the number of abortions, but also reduce the number of pregnancies by altering women’s sexual/contraceptive practices.

Maternal Predictors of Rejecting Parenting and Early Adolescent Antisocial Behavior

Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology
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The present study examined relations among maternal psychological resources, rejecting parenting, and early adolescent antisocial behavior in a sample of 231 low-income mothers and their sons with longitudinal assessments from age 18 months to 12 years. The maternal resources examined were age at first birth, aggressive personality, and empathy. Each of the maternal resources predicted rejecting parenting during early childhood in structural equation models that controlled for toddler difficult temperament, and rejecting parenting in early childhood predicted antisocial behavior in early adolescence. Rejecting parenting accounted for the indirect effect of each of the maternal resources on antisocial behavior, but a direct effect was also supported between maternal aggressive personality and youth antisocial behavior. Results highlight the importance of these relatively understudied maternal resources and have implications for prevention and intervention programs that focus on parenting during early childhood.

Underreporting of Induced and Spontaneous Abortion in the United States

Studies in Family Planning
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Underreporting of induced abortions in surveys is widespread, both in countries where the procedure is illegal or highly restricted and in those where it is legal. In this study, we find that fewer than one half of induced abortions performed in the United States in 1997–2001 (47 percent) were reported by women during face-to-face interviews in the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG). Hispanic and black women and those with low income were among the least likely to report their experience of abortion. Women were also less likely to report abortions that occurred when they were in their 20s. Second-trimester abortions were more likely to be reported than first-trimester terminations. The levels of recent spontaneous abortion reported in the 2002 NSFG were consistent with the accumulated body of clinical research, although substantially more lifetime pregnancy losses were reported on self-administered surveys than in face-to-face interviews. Subsequent research should explore strategies to improve information collected on abortion, and, in the interim, research involving pregnancy outcomes should be adjusted for unreported induced abortions.

Corporal punishment can lead to more bad behavior by children

Medical News net
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"'Even minimal amounts of spanking can lead to an increased likelihood in antisocial behavior by children,' said Grogan-Kaylor, whose findings are published in the September issue of Social Work Research."
...

Family Connections: A Program for Preventing Child Neglect

Child Maltreatment
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Family Connections was a demonstration program specifically designed to prevent child neglect. This article describes the development of prevention strategies and the assessment of outcomes for families who received two versions of the intervention. The sample included 154 families (473 children) in a poor, urban neighborhood who met risk criteria for child neglect and who were randomly assigned to receive either a 3- or 9-month intervention. Self-report and observational data were analyzed using analyses of variance (ANOVA) with repeated measures. Results for the entire sample indicated positive changes in protective factors (parenting attitudes, parenting competence, social support); diminished risk factors (parental depressive symptoms, parenting stress, life stress); and improved child safety (physical and psychological care of children) and behavior (decreased externalizing and internalizing behavior). Results further reflected no advantage of the 9-month intervention for improving parenting adequacy. Further testing of the intervention with other target populations is being conducted.

The Long-Term Sequelae of Childhood Sexual Abuse in Women: A Meta-Analytic Review

Child Maltreatment
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The authors conducted a meta-analytic review of the relationship between a history of child sexual abuse (CSA) and psychological problems in adult women in 38 studies meeting rigorous research criteria. Across all symptoms, a significant association was found between history of CSA and adult symptomatology. Analysis of the role of moderating variables indicated the associations were stronger among subjects recruited from clinical populations. When individual symptom domains were examined, anxiety, anger, depression, revictimization, self-mutilation, sexual problems, substance abuse, suicidality, impairment of self-concept, interpersonal problems, obsessions and compulsions, dissociation, posttraumatic stress responses, and somatization all yielded significant associations with sexual abuse. These results are discussed in light of their relevance to research methodology and clinical intervention.

Corporal punishment can lead to more bad behavior by children

medical news net
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A new University of Michigan study that used stronger statistical controls than previous research lends additional support against corporal punishment, saying the effects can be detrimental to children.

Andrew Grogan-Kaylor, an assistant professor in U-M's School of Social Work and the study's author, used data from three years (1994, 1996 and 1998) of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, which examined the effects of corporal punishment. The analysis attempted to determine if corporal punishment, which typically involves spanking, affected children's antisocial behavior in later years.

"Even minimal amounts of spanking can lead to an increased likelihood in antisocial behavior by children," said Grogan-Kaylor, whose findings are published in the September issue of Social Work Research.

In addition, the study found no evidence for differences in the impact of physical punishment across racial and ethnic groups.
...

International Comparisons Child Well Being

The Foundation for Child Development
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This analysis compares the United States to the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. By comparing the United States to other industrialized, English-speaking countries, the report provides a more accurate baseline for comparison than other international assessments of child well-being. These Anglophone countries share a common language, similar cultural heritage, as well as comparable political and economic cultures. The report assembles 19 key international indicators of child well-being within seven domains of social life.

Released at a July 17, 2007 event at the New America Foundation, 2007 Child Well-Being Index (CWI) Special Focus Report on International Comparisons finds that American children are generally in the middle of the pack in terms of their overall well-being; but there are serious deficiencies in key areas.
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Number of Physical Abuse Victims (by state)

Stop Hitting org

State Number of Physical Abuse Victims
Alabama 3,659
Alaska 392
Arizona 1,303
Arkansas 1,566
California 12,118
Colorado 1,623
Connecticut 809
Delaware 544
D. Columbia 457
Florida 15,661
Georgia 4,919
Hawaii 307
Idaho 344
Illinois 7,783
Indiana 2,630
Iowa 1,881
Kansas 603
Kentucky 2,407
Louisiana 3,427
Maine 751
Maryland 3,893
Massachusetts 5,055
Michigan 4,399
Minnesota 1,438
Mississippi 1,302
Missouri 2,460
Montana 225
Nebraska 931
Nevada 887
New Hampshire 192
New Jersey 3,273
New Mexico 1,055
New York 7,957
North Carolina 1,162
North Dakota 258
Ohio 8,889
Oklahoma 2,545
Oregon 1,064
Pennsylvania 1,411
Puerto Rico 3,802
Rhode Island 479
South Carolina 3,228
South Dakota 187
Tennessee 6,126
Texas 14,491
Utah 1,937
Vermont 523
Virginia 1,773
Washington 1,311
West Virginia 2,588
Wisconsin 1,234
Wyoming 60
Total 149,319
No. Reporting 52

Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration on Children, Youth and Families. Child Maltreatment 2005 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2007).

State of the States’ ECCS Initiatives

NCCP
q:
The primary purpose of the federal Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration’s (MCHB-HRSA) State Maternal and Child Health Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems (ECCS) grants is to assist states and territories in their efforts to build and implement comprehensive statewide systems of care that support family and community approaches to promote positive early development and early school success for young children. These grants originated with a MCHB-HRSA Strategic Plan for Early Childhood that called on State Title V MCH programs to use their leadership and convening powers to foster the development of cross-agency early childhood systems development planning.1

Building a more comprehensive early childhood system requires intentional efforts to bridge the gaps created by multiple, discrete funding streams for early childhood services to create a deliberate framework to foster integrated early childhood service systems at the federal, state, and community levels.2 This Project THRIVE Short Take summarizes the results of Project THRIVE’s review and analysis of state ECCS plans, reports, and other related documents related to early childhood systems.
...

Reducing Disparities Beginning in Early Childhood

NCCP
Research shows that many disparities in health and well-being are rooted in early childhood. These disparities reflect gaps in access to services, unequal treatment, adverse congenital health conditions, and exposures in the early years linked to elevated community and family risks. 1 Early health risks and conditions can have long-range implications for physical, emotional, and intellectual development as well as health. Their contribution to disparities in health status, disabilities, and educational achievement is well documented. 2 But many risks can be addressed in the early years, starting with quality prenatal care and interventions in the earliest stages of life. Thus, literally, reducing disparities begins with babies.

Risks for disparate outcomes disproportionately affect young children, low-income children, and minority children. 3 Poverty brings risks for children of all races; however, racial/ethnic status is an independent risk factor. 4 Young children are more likely than older children to live in families without economic security. Of the 10.2 million U.S. children ages birth through 5 years, 42 percent lived in low-income families (with income below the federal poverty level—FPL) and 20 percent lived in poor families (income below 100 percent of FPL) in 2005. (See Figure 1.) Minority young children also are overrepresented among the 2.2 million U.S. children ages birth through 5 who live in extremely poor families (income below 50 percent of FPL). The younger the child, the more harmful poverty is to developmental outcomes. 5 Below we highlight patterns of disparities in both risks and outcomes, and access and treatment.
...

2007 Child Well-Being Index (CWI) Special Focus Report on International

The Foundation for Child Development
* The percent of households without an employed adult is lower in the United States than in all comparison countries. However, poverty rates are higher in the United States than in all comparison countries.

* Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom have better outcomes than the United States in the Health domain. Relatively high rates of infant mortality and children who are overweight and obese disadvantage the United States in this domain.

* Teen birth rates in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand are lower than in the United States. This indicator is a key figure in the Safety/Behavioral Concerns domain.
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The future of a preventive policy towards juveniles

European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research

Polarization-vilification, Frame Saving, and Frame Debunking

Sociological Quarterly
This article investigates how frame alignment processes are employed by a social movement organization in competitive response to a countermovement. Though the battles between feminist organizations such as NOW and conservative opposition are waged in many arenas, we focus exclusively on the ideological clash around abortion. After briefly describing the context of encounters, we examine the challenges launched against perceived threats to reproductive rights using New York State NOW chapter newsletters spanning 1970–1988. We identify three rhetorical strategies used by NOW to counterframe the debate for its members. polarization-vilification, frame debunking, and frame saving. Our findings suggest that in the face of opposition, framing strategies are modified with the goal of mobilization.

Much of Achievement Gap Traced to 'Summer Slide'

Education Week
quote:
It’s been a truism for decades that students’ learning slips during the summer, and that low-income children fall farther behind than their classmates, but no one had connected the longitudinal data dots to show just what the cumulative consequences of the summer slide might be. Until now.

A recent study by sociology professor Karl L. Alexander and colleagues at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore concludes that two-thirds of the reading achievement gap between 9th graders of low and high socioeconomic standing in Baltimore public schools can be traced to what they learned—or failed to learn—over their childhood summers.

The study, which tracked data from about 325 Baltimore students from 1st grade to age 22, points out that various characteristics that depend heavily on reading ability—such as students’ curriculum track in high school, their risk of dropping out, and their probability of pursuing higher education and landing higher-paying jobs—all diverge widely according to socioeconomic levels.
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Child Protection: Using Research to Improve Policy and Practice

brookings
The National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW) is the first nationally representative study of children who have been reported to authorities as suspected victims of abuse or neglect and the public programs that aim to protect them. Child Protection: Using Research to Improve Policy and Practice is the first book to report the results of NSCAW, interpret the findings, and place them in a broader policy context.

The authors, all experts in child welfare issues, explain the survey's implications. They also suggest new alternatives for designing and implementing future programs that not only protect at-risk children from further harm but also provide them with security and support. The book addresses a range of issues associated with the child protection system, including the types of problems experienced by children and families involved with the system, the range of services and interventions it provides, and an assessment of its programs. By offering specific ways that those working in the system can improve their practice, the authors hope to improve the odds that abused and neglected children will grow up to lead happy and productive lives.
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The Effects of Investing in Early Education on Economic Growth

brookings
Many in Congress and the administration have called for new investments in education in order to make the United States more competitive, with President Bush stressing the importance of education in preparing young Americans to "fill the jobs of the 21st century." Yet advocates of early childhood education have only recently stressed the economic benefits of preschool programs, and it has been difficult to win support for these short-term investments given the long-term nature of the benefits to the economy.

This policy brief analyzes the impact of a high-quality universal preschool policy on economic growth, concluding that such a policy could add $2 trillion to annual U.S. GDP by 2080. By 2080, a national program would cost the federal government approximately $59 billion, but generate enough additional growth in federal revenue to cover the costs of the program several times over.
...

The Interlocking Trajectories between Negative Parenting Practices and Adolescent Depressive Symptoms

Current Sociology
quoting
...This study traces the links between negative parenting practices and adolescents' depressive symptoms in a dynamic manner. In general, the findings of this study support the hypothesis that there is an interlocking relationship between mothers' negative parenting practices and adolescents' depressive symptoms.

Developmental trajectories of depressive symptoms from early childhood to late adolescence: gender differences and adult outcome

Journal Child Psychology & Psychiatry
""Conclusions: This study shows the value of estimating growth-mixture models separately for boys and girls. Girls with early childhood or adolescence-onset depressive problems and boys with depressive problems during childhood or starting in adolescence are especially at risk for poor outcome as young adults and should be considered candidates for intervention.

Class divide hits learning by age of three

The Guardian
""By the age of three, children from disadvantaged families are already lagging a full year behind their middle-class contemporaries in social and educational development, pioneering research by a London university reveals today.

Association Between Adolescent Pregnancy And a Family History of Teenage Births

Perspectives Sexual Reproductive Health
""Compared with young women with no family history of teenage births, young women whose sister had had a teenage birth and those whose sister and mother both had had teenage births were significantly more likely to experience a teenage pregnancy (odds ratios, 4.8 and 5.1, respectively). Young women who had only a sister who had had a teenage birth had greater odds of pregnancy than young women who had only a mother who had had a teenage birth (4.5). Having both a mother and a sister who had had teenage births was independently associated with an elevated risk of pregnancy (3.7), even after controlling for socioeconomic and mothers’ parenting characteristics. Frequent companionship with an older sister was associated with increased odds of teenage pregnancy (4.5); frequent conflict with an older sister who had had a teenage birth was marginally associated with decreased odds of the outcome (0.3).

Parental Divorce and Children's Socio-economic Success: Conditional Effects of Parental Resources Prior to Divorce, and Gender of the Child

Sociology
""Both the level and allocation of pre-divorce parental and family resources may be impor tant predictors for the effects of divorce on child outcomes. This study estimates specific divorce effects on socio-economic outcomes of children in families having a different amount and allocation of both cultural and economic resources. In addition, this study tests whether general divorce effects differ between boys and girls. Data are used from the Family Survey Dutch Population 1998 and the Family Survey Dutch Population 2000 . The first conclusion was that a high level of paternal resources increases divorce effects on children's educational level and their occupational status. Moreover, a high level of maternal resources decreases the divorce effect. These findings suppor t the loss of resources theory.

An Increase in the Sex Ratio of Births to India-born Mothers in England and Wales: Evidence for Sex-Selective Abortion

Population & Development Review
Male preference in many Asian cultures results in discriminatory practices against females, including neglect and infanticide. This preference, together with the availability of prenatal sex determination and sex-selective abortion, has led to an increase in sex ratios at birth in China, India, and South Korea. The resulting expected gender imbalances raise ethical, demographic, and social concerns. We analyzed birth statistics to see whether similar trends are apparent among births to foreign-born mothers in England and Wales. Before 1990, sex ratios at birth were consistently nearly one point lower (104) for the three major Asian grou