Life Chances Of Children Research Articles

CHILDREN AND THE ENVIRONMENT: VALUING INDIRECT EFFECTS ON A CHILD'S LIFE CHANCES

Children can face disproportionately greater risk from environmental hazards because they are kids—smaller bodies, faster metabolisms, shorter attentions spans, less knowledge, and fewer resources. Environmental programs that reduce risks to children produce benefits to society that should be adequately represented so policy makers have more information to help them decide which policies are most worthwhile relative to their costs. The open question is just how exactly to value these reductions in risks to children, risks which can arise either from a direct effect on their health, or an indirect effect on their life chances because of illness in other family members or the degradation of the environment. This article focuses on valuing these indirect effects to a child's life chances. The question addressed here is whether standard benefits estimation adequately captures the indirect effects on healthy children. If policy makers presume caregivers make fully informed, rational choices when dealing with adverse family health, indirect effects are already accounted for in revealed and stated values: estimating indirect effects implies double counting of benefits. But if policy makers fear that caregivers face choice without complete information or experience, indirect effects might be understated. Then it becomes constructive to devote resources to explore the importance of these indirect effects.

How Hungry is the Selfish Gene?

We examine resource allocation in step-households in the United States and South Africa to test whether child investments vary according to economic and genetic bonds between parent and child. In the United States, households spend less on food when a child is raised by a nonbiological mother. The reduction is identical for step, adoptive, and foster households, consistent with the hypothesis that genetic ties are the ones that binds. In South Africa, where food spending can be disaggregated, households spend less on milk, fruit and vegetables, and more on tobacco and alcohol, in the absence of a child's birth mother. Family living arrangements have changed dramatically in the United States in a generation. Children in the middle of the century were, on the whole, born to married parents, with whom they lived until adulthood. In the United States today, over half of all children will live apart from at least one parent before reaching age 18 (Bumpass and Sweet, 1989), and a majority of these children will live with a step parent or foster parent. Until recently, most academics were not very concerned about changes in children's family structures. During the 1970s, single parenthood was viewed as a time of transition (Ross and Sawhill, 1975) between divorce and remarriage, and step families were considered to be good substitutes for original twoparent families. Since the 1980s, however, several developments have challenged this optimistic view. First, declines in remarriage have lead to extended periods of high poverty for single mothers and their children, undermining the notion that single parenthood is a time of transition. Second, a growing body of research has shown that children raised by only one of their parents are less successful than children raised by both their parents, when measured across a broad array of outcomes. Although some of these disadvantages are due to characteristics of the parents that predate divorce, there is mounting evidence that parent-absence itself plays at least some causal role in reducing children's life chances. (McLanahan and Sandefur, 1994; Haveman and Wolfe, 1994). A primary mechanism behind the

Improving the Life Chances of Children in Poverty: Assumptions and What We Have Learned

©1998 Society for Research in Child Development. All rights reserved. In spite of more than three decades of antipoverty programs, the number of children living in poverty has increased in recent years (Carnegie Task Force, 1994; National Center for Children in Poverty, 1996). Reasons for this include an increase in the number of single-parent families, a declining labor market for low-skilled workers, and reduced welfare benefits to poor families (Duncan, 1991). For children and families, the correlates of living in poverty are many. Mothers in poverty may suffer a variety of psychological consequences, including low self-esteem, depression, lack of hope for the future, lack of sense of personal empowerment, low aspirations, and social isolation. They may have health problems such as untreated chronic illness, anemia stemming from poor nutrition, and are increased risk of substance abuse. The combination of unfinished education, absence of parental role models, and social supports often leaves them with inadequate life management skills; they may have difficulty making decisions, be unable to manage limited budgets, and have little understanding of what it takes to be a good parent. Facing difficulties, both practical and motivational, in completing their education or acquiring job skills, they may remain dependent on welfare and unable to achieve even limited economic self-sufficiency (McLoyd, Jayaratne, Ceballo, & Borquez, 1994). Poverty places severe strains on family relationships, including conflict with a spouse, spousal abuse, and marital dissolution. Frequently, if the child’s father lacks job prospects, marriage is deferred or not entered into. The family faces constrained resources in terms of income, housing, food, and transportation, as well as inadequate or totally absent social supports. Dangerous neighborhoods place additional stress on the family, and poor schools fail to offer needed support (Huston, McLoyd, & Garcia Coll, 1994). The economic, social, physical, or psychological stresses associated with poverty affect parent-child relationships. Parents who them-

What money can't buy: Family income and children's life chances

What money can't buy: Family income and children's life chances

What Money Can't Buy: Family Income and Children's Life Chances.

What Money Can't Buy: Family Income and Children's Life Chances.

Nonresident Parents' Characteristics and Child Support

PAMELA J. SMOCK University of Michigan WENDY D. MANNING Bowling Green State University* Family patterns have changed dramatically. Now nearly a majority of children in the United States are likely to spend at least part of their childhood living apart from their biological father. Social science research has indicated that father involvement-particularly economic flows to children-is crucial to children's well-being. Furthermore, policymakers are focused on child support reform as the foundation for improving outcomes for children. Yet most research on the determinants of child support relies solely on mothers' characteristics. We draw on new, matched, ex-couple data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to examine the importance of having information about both parents. Our findings indicate that the characteristics of nonresident parents are central to understanding levels of child support and underscore the need for data collection that includes obtaining information from both resident and nonresident parents. Key Words: child support, divorce, nonresident parents, single parents. Changes in family formation behavior over the past three decades have altered the context in which children are raised. Trends show increases in cohabitation, nonmarital fertility, and marital disruption (Bumpass, 1990; Sweet & Bumpass, 1987). The upshot of these trends is that in 1990 at least 25 million children, about 40% of all children in the U.S., did not live with their biological father (Norton & Miller, 1992) and about half of all children are expected to live in a single-parent household before adulthood (Bumpass & Sweet, 1989a) A large body of literature focuses on the effects of family structure on children's wellbeing. These studies generally show that living without both biological parents has a negative effect on children's life chances (e.g., McLanahan & Sandefur, 1994). Children living with only one parent receive less schooling, are more likely to have nonmarital births, and are more likely to grow up to be poor themselves. A good deal of this relationship stems directly from lack of income. Due to the low potential earnings of many single mothers and little or no child support, nearly a majority of these children live in poverty (Garfinkel & McLanahan, 1986; Holden & Smock, 1991). Thus, a national focus on child support reform as one way to improve the well-being of children has emerged, and many recent studies have been devoted to understanding the determinants of child support payments (e.g., Beller & Graham, 1993; Garfinkel & Robins, 1994; Hill, 1992b; King, 1994; Seltzer, 1991). Yet what is generally missing is information from and about the nonresident parent. Due to data limitations, most studies attempt to explain the receipt of child support by relying on the characteristics of the resident parent. Our research evaluates the implications of having data on only the resident parent in child support analyses and, more broadly, the implications of ignoring nonresident parents in national data collection efforts. Drawing on new, matched ex-partner data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), we examine two main issues. First, using descriptive statistics as well as an extension of our multivariate models, we examine whether significant differences exist in levels of child support received and paid, as reported by the resident parent and nonresident parent, respectively. Second, using bivariate tobit models, we assess the relative merits of predicting child support payments using solely the characteristics of the resident parent, compared with using the nonresident parent's or both parents' characteristics. We also examine the extent to which it is necessary to have both parents' reports of the dependent variable-child support-by assessing whether omitted variable bias is present in the data. BACKGROUND AND CURRENT INVESTIGATION Because most children in single-parent families are poor, it is not surprising that policymakers and social scientists are focusing on child support as a potential way to ensure the well-being of future generations. …

What Money Can't Buy: Family Income and Children's Life Chances

What Money Can't Buy: Family Income and Children's Life Chances

What money can't buy: family income and children's life chances

Introduction America's Response to Poverty From Moral Guidance to Income Support The Cycle Repeats Changes in Government Expenditures on Poor Children How Rich and Poor Children Differ Measures of Children's Well-Being How Large Are the Differences? Why Parental Income Might Be Important Conventional Estimates of the Effect of Income What Other Studies Show Re-estimating the Conventional Model Changes in Parental Income The True Effect of Income The Source of Income Income before and after an Outcome Income and Material Well-Being How Families Spend Additional Money Income and Material Hardship Living Conditions and Children 's Outcomes Income, Psychological Well-Being, and Parenting Practices Income and Parental Stress Income and Parenting Practices More Evidence on the True Effect of Income Trends in Parents' Income and Children's Outcomes State Welfare Benefits and Children's Outcomes What Social Experiments Show Helping Poor Children Raising Parental Income How Much Is Enough? Changing Parents' Noneconomic Characteristics Where the Trouble Begins Appendix: Description of the Samples and Variables Appendix: Conventional Estimates of the Effect of Income Appendix: The True Effect of Income Appendix: Index Construction Appendix: More Evidence on the True Effect of Income Notes References Index

Comment on “the age of extremes: Concentrated affluence and poverty in the twenty-first century”

Douglas Massey's presidential address challenges demographers, sociologists, economists, and other social scientists to focus their research and policy analysis on emergence of unprecedented spatial intensification of both privilege and William Julius Wilson's (1987) The Truly Disadvantaged was catalyst for extensive analysis of emergence of urban underclass; Massey's paper should do same for emergence of the age of extremes. He states that principal motivation for my pessimistic candor and perhaps overly brutal frankness is to galvanize colleagues, students, politicians, and reporters into action. Massey thoughtfully connects several strands in his widely cited research: immigration, racial and ethnic segregation, and causes and consequences. of concentrated poverty. He then demonstrates that an understudied component, spatial concentration of affluence, ties these topics to recent research on increased inequality of earnings and incomes. Research on problems of inner city and on inequality have evolved independently, for most part, and studies of rising economic inequality cited by Massey neglect spatial concentration of affluence. Numerous studies have analyzed longitudinal data and have documented negative effects of growing up in a poor family or a poor neighborhood (holding family background constant) on children's life chances (for a review, see Corcoran 1995; for a case study, see Rosenbaum 1995). Few studies, however, have estimated models which test whether there are effects for children growing up in affluent families and in affluent neighborhoods. If these effects turn out to be as important as Massey surmises, they should not be ignored. ' Massey's analysis of simultaneous increase in poverty and affluence and geographic concentration of both

Children and Poverty in Ireland

SUMMARY: The life chances of children and young people can only be understood in the context of their material circumstances. Through a review of what is known about children and poverty in Ireland today, North and South, this article highlights the causes and impact of poverty and makes the case for more resources to be committed to children and their carers in the interests of both social justice and economic prudence.

Social Sources of Change in Children's Home Environments: The Effects of Parental Occupational Experiences and Family Conditions

This study investigates change in children's home environments as a function of change in parental occupational and family conditions. It uses data from 1986 and I988 mother-child supplements to National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) on 1,403 mothers with children aged 3 through 6 in 1986 to estimate mulivariate regression equations predicting changes in home environments as a function of intervening occupational and family changes. All analyses control for parents' background and education, maternal ethnicity, child gender, and child health. The birth of additional children, marital termination, and mother remaining unmarried have generally negative effects on children's home environments. The effect of mothers' beginning employment varies depending on occupational complexity of her employment: Beginning a job that is low in complexity is associated with worsening home environments. The generally negative effect of remaining unmarried also varies depending on mothers' employment status and quality of employment, being more positive for mothers employed at higher wages and more negative for mothers who remain without employment. Children's immediate family environments are a potent source of both cognitive stimulation and affective experience, and have important consequences both for children's later cognitive skills and academic achievement (Bradley, 1985; Bradley & Caldwell, 1987; Bradley, Caldwell, & Rock, 1988; Ketterlinus, Henderson, & Lamb, 1991; Parcel & Menaghan, 1990) and for their emotional well-being and behavior problems (Rogers, Parcel, & Menaghan, 1991). Indeed, quality of parent-child relations and quality of home environment that parents provide are important means by which parents' social experiences and position affect their children's life chances (Dubow & Luster, 1990; Ketterlinus et al., 1991; Menaghan & Parcel, 1990; Rogers et al., 1991). It is important to consider how parents' ability to provide optimal home environments may shift over time as a function of parents' changing occupational and family circumstances. Bronfenbrenner (1986) noted that studies of human development have focused on how family environments affect children, with relatively less attention to consideration of extrafamilial influences on parents' capacity to foster their children's development. Studies in psychological and educational literatures have emphasized effects of maternal attributes on home environments, particularly mothers' educational attainment, IQ, and ethnicity, as well as family composition, particularly father presence and family size (Bradley, 1985; Bradley, Caldwell, & Rock, 1988). This emphasis implies that quality of home environments will be relatively over time, with relatively disadvantaged families persisting in providing suboptimal home environments and vice versa. But evidence for this assumption of stability is meager: Bradley and Caldwell (1987) characterized quality of home environments as only moderately stable through first few years, and also reported that stability varied for differing groups of children and was lower for non-Whites and for boys. We identify several sources of potential change in quality of home environments, especially for very young parents and children. For many families, children's early years are punctuated by multiple changes both in their parents' work lives and in their family composition; Namboodiri (1987) referred to early adulthood as the floundering phase of life course. Young parents are apt to make multiple changes in employers and job demands during their early work lives, often interspersed by periods of unemployment or underemployment (see also Rindfuss, Swicegood, & Rosenfeld, 1987). The likelihood of such changes is likely to be especially great for young parents with fewer resources and less favorable attributes. …

Governance Structure, Resource Allocation, and Equity Policy

Educational inequality remains a major challenge to policymakers as our nation prepares to enter the 21st century. As social institutions, public schools are shaped by the deleterious effects of poverty, family disorganization, and racial and cultural isolation. Inequality in the life chances of children growing up in different socioeconomic environments is clearly evident in the schools they attend (Educational Testing Service, 1991; Kozol, 1991; Orfield & Reardon, 1992). Children from middle-class families are likely to attend suburban schools with an advanced curriculum supported by a stable tax base. In the inner city, minority children who come from low-income backgrounds are likely to concentrate in schools that lack basic supplies because of insufficient funds. Physical facilities are noticeably inferior in inner-city schools. Consequently, significant inequity exists in student access to knowledge and to instruction (Darling-Hammond, in press). Many minority youths are assigned to general education tracks with low academic expectations, whereas students from middle-class families are enrolled in collegepreparatory programs (Oakes, 1992). Too often, educational opportunities are socially structured.

Linking Class and Gender Inequality: the family and schooling

Some feminists have argued that a woman's class position should be determined by her own employment and work history, whereas Goldthorpe has argued that the family is the basic unit in class analysis, with the husband's occupation determining the class position of all family members, including the wife's. Goldthorpe denies that this position is an example of gender bias, claiming that class and gender inequality are separate issues. This paper argues that gender and class inequality are strongly interconnected, by virtue of the importance of the work in child‐rearing carried out by the wife‐mother and its effects on the child's scholastic achievements and life chances. It shows that within‐family processes are more important than class position in affecting children's scholastic achievements. It further argues that children's family environments are affected by the biographies of both parents. The institutional separation of the family, schooling and the work‐place means that there will be great variabili...

Growing Up in Poor Neighborhoods: How Much Does It Matter?

This article is a review of research on how much the life chances of children are affected by the socioeconomic and racial mix of their schools and neighborhoods. The social mix of a high school has little effect on students' chances of attending college or on white students' academic achievement. Evidence about the effect of the socioeconomic mix of schools or neighborhoods on achievement of elementary school students, on graduation rates of high school students, on teenage crime, and on early labor market experience is weak. Growing up in poor neighborhoods seems to increase black teenage pregnancy rates.

Parents' divorce and children's life chances

This paper reports available British data from cross-sectional and longitudinal studies examining the long term impact of parental divorce on children's life chances. The authors suggest that an effect can be traced, lowering the educational attainment of both sexes and the socio-economic status of males in their mid-twenties following parental divorce or separation before the age of fourteen years. This effect is reduced but not removed by remarriage of the custodial parent.

Children of Single Parent Families: How They Fare as Young Adults

Using data from a survey of 19 to 34 year olds in a Midwestern metropolitan county, this paper investigates differences in how persons raised in single parent families and traditional two parent families are faring in early adulthood. Results indicate that compared to their counterparts from traditional two parent families, young adults raised by single parents (primarily single mothers) tend to have lower educational, occupational and economic attainment. Differences between the two groups are also observed in family formation and marital stability. The economic disadvantage of the single parent background is clearly responsible for some of these differences, but significant differences in economic attainment, marital stability, and the timing of parenthood still remain after controlling for this factor. Possible implications of these findings for improving the life chances of children from single parent families are discussed.