Measuring trends in child well-being: an evidence-based approach

This paper first reviews the goals of the founding documents of the social indicators and quality-of-life movements of the 1960s and 1970s. It next describes the current state of knowledge with respect to the founding goals of this field. The focus then turns to the topic of measuring changes in child and youth well-being in the United States over the past few decades. In particular, the evidence-based approach used in the construction of the recently developed composite Child and Youth Well-Being Index (CWI) is described. Some findings from the CWI regarding changes in child and youth well-being in the period 1975–2004 are reported. Trends in the CWI then are compared with data on trends in subjective well-being of high school seniors – similarities of trends in these two series provide validating support for the interpretation of the CWI as an index of changes in the quality-of-life of children and youth. Using data on some additional indicator series, most of which were initiated in the 1990s, an Expanded CWI is then described. The qualitative pattern of change in the expanded CWI is shown to be similar to that of the basic CWI, except that the expanded CWI shows a more pronounced decline in the early-1990s and a slower rate of improvement into the early-2000s. The paper concludes with some possible directions for future work. Revision of a paper presented at the Measuring Child Well-Being: The Pros and Cons of Composite Indices Session, American Statistical Association Annual Meeting, Minneapolis, MN, August 7–11, 2005. We thank Kristin Moore for useful comments. The research on the Child and Youth Well-Being Index reported herein was supported by a grant from the Foundation for Child Development.     

A National Survey on Depression,Internalized Homophobia,College Religiosity,and Climate of Acceptance on College Campuses for Sexual Minority Adults

ABSTRACT

Sexual minority persons have an increased risk for negative mental health outcomes in adulthood. This seems to largely be due to experiences of stigma in social settings. This study sought to understand the relationship between attending a religiously conservative college, internalized homophobia (a measure of sexual stigma), and depressive symptoms for sexual minority adults. Sexual minority adult participants (n = 384) from across the U.S. were recruited and completed a Web-based, anonymous survey. A mediation model predicting depression through college religious conservatism, college acceptance of sexual minority identities, and internalized homophobia was tested using path analysis. Results revealed an indirect effect of increased religious conservatism of a college predicted higher depression through lower college acceptance and higher internalized homophobia. Implications for the mental health of sexual minority adults and future research are examined.     

Contents of Volume 70

Volume contents

Contents of Volume 70     

An expanded typology of conflict at work: Task,relationship and non-task organizational conflict as social stressors

This study investigated the roles of three types of conflict at work – task, relationship and non-task organizational – in predicting employee strain. These conflict types refer to disputes over issues that are, respectively, work-task specific, driven by emotionally charged interpersonal animosity or rooted in more broad organizationally relevant issues. Findings from a sample of 260 working adults from various organizations in the United States supported the notion that the three types of conflict function as social stressors and are related to a variety of psychological, behavioural and physical strains. They extend previous research based primarily on relationship conflict. Non-task organizational conflict emerged as a key predictor across strain criteria, thus highlighting the importance of including a more complete conceptualization of the conflict construct in social stress research. The results for task conflict are at variance with findings that it can be beneficial, and suggest that its negative relationship with well-being may be due to its co-occurrence with the other forms of conflict. These findings provide support for an expanded typology of conflict.     

Masculinity: Shutting Out the Nasty Bits

Books reviewed in this article: John MacInnes, The End of Masculinity Lee H. Bowker (ed.), Masculinities and Violence caroline Sweetman (ed.), Men and Masculinity     

The Role of Maternal Behavior in the Relation between Shyness and Social Reticence in Early Childhood and Social Withdrawal in Middle Childhood

The moderating effect of maternal behavior in the relations between social reticence and shyness in preschool and subsequent social withdrawal was investigated. Eighty children (47 females) were judged for degree of social reticence during play with unfamiliar peers at the age of four and mothers completed the Colorado child temperament inventory (CCTI). At the age of seven, the children were coded for degree of social withdrawal during peer play and mothers and children were observed during structured and unstructured activities. Two significant interaction effects indicated that maternal report of shyness was a positive predictor of age‐seven social withdrawal when mothers lacked positivity; whereas observed social reticence was associated with higher degrees of social withdrawal when mothers were highly negative. Maternal positivity and negativity differentially influenced the development of social withdrawal in childhood, such that maternal negativity is associated with poor social functioning in children who have an established history of social withdrawal; whereas maternal positivity is associated with better social outcome for preschoolers who are viewed as temperamentally shy.     

Confidence intervals for secondary parameters following a sequential test

In sequential studies, formal interim analyses are usually restricted to a consideration of a single null hypothesis concerning a single parameter of interest. Valid frequentist methods of hypothesis testing and of point and interval estimation for the primary parameter have already been devised for use at the end of such a study. However, the completed data set may warrant a more detailed analysis, involving the estimation of parameters corresponding to effects that were not used to determine when to stop, and yet correlated with those that were. This paper describes methods for setting confidence intervals for secondary parameters in a way which provides the correct coverage probability in repeated frequentist realizations of the sequential design used. The method assumes that information accumulates on the primary and secondary parameters at proportional rates. This requirement will be valid in many potential applications, but only in limited situations in survival analysis.     

Physical and mental health changes in aging foster parents: Do child behavioural problems hasten declines?

This study examined foster parent physical and mental health over time. It was hypothesized that increased severity and frequency of child behavioural problems, whether externalizing or internalizing, would be associated with poorer health over time, especially for foster parents ≥60 years of age. Data from the baseline and Wave 2 interview of the 2010 National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well‐Being were used. The final analytic sample included kin and nonkin foster parents who had custody of a foster child for both waves of data collection (n = 962). Ordinary Least Squares regression models with lagged dependent variables showed that foster parents ≥60 had deteriorating physical health over time, but caregiver age alone had no association with worsening mental health. However, parents ≥60 caring for children with externalizing behavioural problems had significantly improved physical health. Mental health of parents ≥60 significantly diminished if child externalizing or internalizing problems worsened. Findings indicate that for aging foster parents, externalizing child behaviours may stimulate physical activity and improved physical health, yet any type of child behavioural problem can deteriorate mental health functioning.     

‘The world they’ve been born into’: Black male teachers on Blackness,masculinities and leadership

ABSTRACT

In this article, life history methodology and principles of counterstorytelling are used to examine moments when one Black male preservice social studies teacher and three Black male social studies teachers challenge Black masculinist visions of leadership, and moments when they seem complicit in perpetuating these visions. Findings indicate that these educators’ understandings of Blackness, maleness, and the pursuit of Black masculine recognition are fluid, developing and sometimes contradictory. We argue that while necessary across disciplines, interrogations of Black masculinity are uniquely imperative in social studies teacher education due to how assumptions about Blackness and maleness have shaped struggles for Black civic recognition.     

Altruistic and Private Values For Saving Lives With an Oyster Consumption Safety Program

We use data from an Internet-based survey and estimate the benefits of an oyster consumption safety policy with the contingent valuation method. In addition to providing a context-specific estimate of willingness-to-pay for oyster safety, we consider an important issue in the contingent valuation mortality risk reduction literature. A number of studies find that willingness-to-pay for mortality risk reduction is not sensitive to the scope of the risk change. We present the scope test as a difference in the number of lives saved by the program, instead of small changes in risk, and find that referendum votes are responsive to scope. A third feature of this article is that we identify those at-risk respondents who would most benefit from the policy and decompose willingness-to-pay into use values and altruistic nonuse values. We find that willingness-to-pay per life saved ranges from $3.95 million to $7.69 million for the private good of lives saved when the respondent is at risk (i.e., use values). Willingness-to-pay per life saved including both use and altruistic nonuse values ranges from $6.89 million to $12.87 million.