The State of Children in America: Teen Birth Rates Decline, Poverty and Drug Use on the Rise
Mixed news comes from a new government report regarding the health and well-being of America’s youth. The Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, a group of 22 agencies that gathers data on children and families, has just released its annual report, America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being,2011. The report bears the good news that both teen birth rates and preterm birth rates are dropping, as are death rates from injury, and that fewer teens are engaging in binge drinking.
But, the report also contains the disturbing news that more eighth-graders are using drugs, and the number of children who are living in poverty is on the rise, with many living in homes in which at least one parent has not had full time work for a full year.
In a news conference, Edward Sondik, director of the National Center for Health Statistics at the U.S.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated, “This annual report is an important tool for monitoring the well-being of our nation’s children.” He then added, “Wellness has many dimensions, and each is critical to a child’s well-being.”
This year’s report is the fifteenth in an annual series, which compiles the most recent major federal statistics available on America’s youth, and uses 41 indicators to measure well-being. Among the indicators included are those pertinent to both family and social environment,economic status, health and healthcare, and physical environment, as well as those pertaining to safety, behavior, and education.
Key findings of the report included the encouraging news that teen birth rates declined for the second consecutive year, from 21.7 per 1,000girls in 2008 to 20.1 per 1,000 girls in 2009, while premature births dropped from 12.3 percent in 2008 to 12.2 percent in 2009. The report also indicated that teen injuries decreased from 44 per 100,000 in 2008to 39 per 100,000 in 2009, and binge drinking among high school senior declined two percent from 25 percent in2009 to 23 percent in 2010.
Other good news included information that infant deaths decreased slightly from 6.6 per 1,000 in 2008 to 6.4 per 1,000 in2009, and fewer children are living in areas with air pollution, with the rates dropping from 69 percent in 2008, to 59 percent in 2009. In addition, eighth-grade math scores rose two points from 2007 to 2009, while math scores for high school senior increased by three points between 2005 and 2009.
Negative news contained in the report includes the finding that more eighth-graders are using illegal drugs, with the rates rising from 8 percent in 2009 to 10 percent in 2010, and the number of children living with a parent having full-time employment declined from 75 percent in 2008 to 72 percent in 2009.
The data also shows that the rate of children living in poverty rose 2 percent from 19 percent in 2008 to 21 percent in 2009, and that more children are in crowded and physically inadequate housing, or housing with costs in excess of 30 percent of household income, as reflected by an increase from 43 percent in 2007 to 45 percent in2009.
Although the percentage of children with asthma remained stable during the period from 2008 to 2009, a steady increase was noted from 2001 to 2009 with rates rising from 8.8 percent to 9.6percent.
Childhood obesity among all children has been on the rise since the late1970’s from about 6 percent of those aged 6 to 17, to 19 percent by 2007-08,with some disparities among racial groups.
Adoption Statistics
For the first time, in this year’s report a section was included with data on adoption. According to the report, although the well-being of children has been determined to be much better served by adoption as opposed to living in orphanages, group homes, long-term foster care, or emergency shelters, children who are adopted beyond their first several months of life suffer disruptions in parenting that can have long-term effects on their well-being as well as their development.
Among the 2.5 percent of children in the United States who are adopted, 21.5 percent are a different race from their adoptive parent, although percentages vary by state, from 8.4percent in West Virginia to 42.5 percent in Alaska. There is a higher rate of health problems among adopted children in comparison to all children.
The rate for adopted children is 29 percent, while the rate for all children is only 12 percent. Another interesting finding is that 68 percent of preschool-age adopted children are more likely to be read to on a daily basis in comparison to 48 percent of non-adopted children, providing adopted children with better preparation for success in school.
Regarding the importance of the report, Dr. Sondik said that it serves as a status update on how well children are doing on various fronts, while providing statistics for use by elected officials, policy makers, educators, healthcare providers, and the public for improving the state of children in America.
http://www.healthnews.com/en/articles/2DwQcQ0nf5UuAL8sZGWP8S/The-State-of-Children-in-AmericaTeen-Birth-Rates-Decline-Poverty-and-Drug-Use-on-the-Rise/
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