Friday, May 18, 2007

Child Well-Being Index 2007 Report

The Foundation for Child Development
Following an upward swing that peaked in the early part of this decade, the progress being made improving American children's quality of life has come to a standstill, according to the Foundation for Child Development's 2007 Child and Youth Well-Being Index (CWI), an annual comprehensive measure of how children are faring in the United States.

This stall can be found across the majority of the CWI's seven domains, with the exception of children's health, which continues its dramatic decline, and in the area of children's safety. The safety domain continues its encouraging upward trend, buoyed by a general decline in teen pregnancy, violent crime, and drug and alcohol use among youth. Viewed over the last six years, the Index CWI as a whole has dipped and risen by only fractional amounts with the exception of an upsurge in 2002, attributed to community and family response to the 9/11 tragedies.
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State Early Childhood Policies

NCCP

Saturday, May 05, 2007

History of Early Neglect and Middle Childhood Social Competence: An Adoption Study

Adoption Quarterly
"This comparative study examined whether history of neglect in infancy was associated with middle childhood competence in (1) participation and performance in Extracurricular Activities, (2) quality of Social Relations, and (3) Academic Achievement. The sample included 115 girls aged 6-8 years who were adopted from China before their second birthday by American families. Based on evidence of preadoption neglect, the sample was divided into a neglected group (n = 31) and a comparison group (n = 84). Data on the girls' competence were collected with the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL/6-18). Data analysis showed that the percentage of childrenwhoseOverall Competence fell below normal range was significantly higher for the neglect group (41.9%) than for the comparison group (14.3%). The neglected group had significantly lower scores on participation and performance in Extracurricular Activities, Academic Achievement, and Overall Competence. Multiple regression results similarly concluded that history of neglect, controlling for age at adoption, age at assessment, and reported rejecting behavior toward the adoptive mothers, significantly predicted lower scores on Extracurricular Activity, Academic Achievement, and Overall Competence.