This report measures how children from different racial backgrounds are faring in the United States and focuses particularly on children in immigrant families. The data presented are drawn from 2013-2015, and indicate significant racial and ethnic inequities among children, with Asian and Pacific Islander and white children generally doing better in almost every area of child well-being than their African-American, Latino, and American Indian peers. The data also indicate the number of children living in low poverty neighborhoods has decreased across all groups. Following an introduction,…
Boys and young men of color are at risk for poor health and developmental outcomes from birth through young adulthood. Many risks flow from a lack of economic resources and residence in segregated neighborhoods of concentrated disadvantage. This paper outlines these developmental challenges and identifies societal, institutional, and community changes that would increase resources, eliminate or reduce stress and trauma, and provide support for boys and families. It also identifies some knowledge gaps that must be filled in order to increase the effectiveness of programs directed toward this…
This report uses the 2011-2012 National Survey of Children’s Health to examine both the prevalence of parental incarceration and child outcomes associated with it. Based on the analyses, more than five million children, representing 7% of all U.S. children, have had a parent who lived with them go to jail or prison. The proportion was found to be higher among black, poor, and rural children. After accounting for effects associated with demographic variables such as race and income, the study found parental incarceration was associated with: a higher number of other major, potentially…
This study investigated the association of family structure and instability patterns with children's cognitive and socioemotional well-being among a sample of low-income, primarily Hispanic and African American children. Analyses employed longitudinal data from the "Three-City Study" to track maternal partnerships; data were stacked across the three waves, leading to a sample size of 2,216 children aged 2 to 11 years. Children in married-parent households scored higher in reading and math skills and lower in internalizing and externalizing problems than children in single-parent households.…
Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (N=7,686) are used to determine whether racial and ethnic differences in socioeconomic stress and social protection explain group differences in the association between family structure instability and three outcomes for white, black, and Mexican-American adolescents: delinquent behavior, age at first sex, and age at first nonmarital birth. Findings indicate that the positive association between mothers' union transitions and each outcome for white adolescents is attenuated by social protection. The association of instability with…
This study examines the role and influence of fathers and father figures in the lives of African American adolescent girls (N=302) from a representative sample of poor and low-income families. Sixty five percent of the adolescents identified a primary father, of whom two-thirds were biological fathers and one-third were father figures. Adolescent girls reported more contentious and less close relationships with biological fathers than with father figures. Multivariate regression analyses indicated that fathers' emotional disengagement predicted greater depressive symptomatology and behavioral…
