Abstract
The income available in children’s families can profoundly impact child well-being, and the recent economic recession has
drawn renewed attention to income inequality in the U.S. The present research is the first-ever to assess changing disparities
in well-being among U.S. children who live in families with vastly different incomes through the use of an overall composite
index that incorporates wide ranging domains and indicators of child well-being. Annually since 2004, Kenneth Land and colleagues
have developed new results and presented findings for the Foundation for Child Development Child Well-Being Index (CWI) to monitor changes in overall child well-being for the U.S. To study changing disparities in child well-being across five
income groups from 1985 to 2008, the present research combines this general approach for calculating a national CWI with a
methodology developed by Hernandez and Macartney for assessing both levels and disparities in child well-being. The primary
aim is to track and describe these trends, but some attention is devoted to discussion of public policies relevant to several
indicators. Results regarding trends in overall well-being show for every income group that the small to negligible changes
occurring between 1985 and 1992 were followed by substantial increases in well-being to a historic peak in 2000 for the overall
index, and for specific income groups in one of the years between 1998 and 2003. This in turn was followed changes that led
to a decline in well-being by 2008 for every income group.
drawn renewed attention to income inequality in the U.S. The present research is the first-ever to assess changing disparities
in well-being among U.S. children who live in families with vastly different incomes through the use of an overall composite
index that incorporates wide ranging domains and indicators of child well-being. Annually since 2004, Kenneth Land and colleagues
have developed new results and presented findings for the Foundation for Child Development Child Well-Being Index (CWI) to monitor changes in overall child well-being for the U.S. To study changing disparities in child well-being across five
income groups from 1985 to 2008, the present research combines this general approach for calculating a national CWI with a
methodology developed by Hernandez and Macartney for assessing both levels and disparities in child well-being. The primary
aim is to track and describe these trends, but some attention is devoted to discussion of public policies relevant to several
indicators. Results regarding trends in overall well-being show for every income group that the small to negligible changes
occurring between 1985 and 1992 were followed by substantial increases in well-being to a historic peak in 2000 for the overall
index, and for specific income groups in one of the years between 1998 and 2003. This in turn was followed changes that led
to a decline in well-being by 2008 for every income group.
- Content Type Journal Article
- Pages 1-29
- DOI 10.1007/s12187-011-9115-5
- Authors
- Donald J. Hernandez, Department of Sociology, Hunter College, 1622 Hunter West, 695 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10065, USA
- Karen G. Marotz, Department of Sociology, AS-351, University at Albany (SUNY), Albany, NY 12222, USA
- Journal Child Indicators Research
- Online ISSN 1874-8988
- Print ISSN 1874-897X