NCJ Number
196819
Date Published
2002
Length
200 pages
Annotation
This report uses the best available 2002 data to measure the educational, social, economic, and physical well-being of children in each State.
Abstract
The 10 indicators for which State-by-State data are provided are the percentage of low-birthweight babies; the infant mortality rate; the child death rate; the rate of teen deaths by accident, homicide, and suicide; the teen birth rate; the percentage of teens who are high school dropouts; the percentage of teens not attending school and not working; the percentage of children living with parents who do not have full-time, year-round employment; the percentage of children in poverty; and the percentage of families with children headed by a single parent. To provide a framework for better understanding, the 10 indicators of child well-being used to rank States, several background measures, including the number and percentage of children living in low-income working families, are included for each State. The most recent data on these indicators are compared with corresponding data from 1990 to assess the trends in each State during the 1990's. At the national level, seven of the indicators of child well-being showed that conditions for children improved between 1990 and 1999, while child well-being worsened on two other indicators (percentage of low-birthweight babies and percentage of families with children headed by a single parent) and remained unchanged on yet another (the percentage of teens who are high school dropouts). The report advises that some of the positive changes over the 1990's were very small and may be nothing more than random fluctuations. Profiles are presented for each of the 50 States and the District of Columbia. Appended standard scores and national rankings, multi-year trend data for the 10 indicators, and multi-year national composite ranks