On June 6, 2003, the Federation, in conjunction with  the Foundation for Child Development, hosted a Science and Public Policy  briefing on the Child Well-Being Index (CWI).  Fasaha Traylor, Senior  Program Officer at the Foundation for Child Development moderated the briefing,  and Dr. Kenneth Land (Duke  University), one of the authors of the Index, presented information on the  history of the Index and on trends in childhood outcomes between the 1970s and  the present. 
                           
The Child Well-Being Index  is an evidence-based assessment of the quality of life and well-being of  America's children and youth.  Dr. Land began his work on the Index because  the child research field was so flooded with various indicator series that  knowing which indicators to use and which data to look for was difficult.   The new Index is based on numerous specific indicators in seven domains of  life: material well-being, social relationships, health, safety/behavioral  concerns, educational attainment, place in community, and emotional/spiritual  well-being.  Data on these domains were gathered from 28 national-level social indicators, allowing the Index to  track trends and changes in well-being from the 1970s (when many longitudinal  studies of children were first initiated) up to the present day. The Index is a  summary measure of trends over time in the quality of life or well-being of  America's children and gives us a sense of the overall direction of change in  the well-being of children and youth in United States.  

 The Index is designed to help us answer questions such as:    

 How did child well-being in the U.S. change in the past 25 years?      

 Did it improve or deteriorate?      

 By how much?      

 In which domains or areas of social life?      

 For specific age groups?      

 For particular racial/ethnic groups?      

 For each of the sexes?      

 And did racial/ethnic disparities increase or decrease?                               

Some of the Index findings highlighted by Dr. Land:    

Health has taken a dramatic turn for the worse since 1975.  However, once you take childhood obesity, a serious emerging health concern, out  of the analyses, health outcomes appear to have remained steady in the past 25  years.       

Males and females appear to be faring equally well and follow the  same trends for general well-being      

Long-term comparisons of the Index show that overall conditions  of life for children in the U.S. deteriorated steadily for a number of years in  the 1980s and reached low point between 1992 and 1994.  Index scores then  began an upturn that continued through 2001.  This downturn and upswing may  be a reflection of the changing family environment during that period of time:  increasing numbers of mothers began to work outside of the home and the number  of single-parent families was increasing.  Society has now had a chance to  adjust to these changes and childrens' Index scores reflect this adjustment.    

Speaker Bio: Click here to view the speaker bio for this briefing.

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