|
**Children,
Youth & Families
Nearly
3 Out of 4 Young Children with Employed Mothers are Regularly in Child Care
According to an analysis from
the Urban Institute nearly 3 out of 4 children younger than 5 with employed
mothers are regularly in non-parental child care.
http://www.urban.org/Template.cfm?Section=Home&NavMenuID=3&Template=/TaggedContent/ViewPublication.cfm&PublicationID=8844
Children in Low-Income
Families Are Less Likely to Be in Center-Based Child Care
According to an analysis from
the Urban Institute higher-income children were more likely to be in
center-based child care arrangements in 2002, while low-income children were
more likely to be in relative care.
http://www.urban.org/Template.cfm?Section=Home&NavMenuID=3&Template=/TaggedContent/ViewPublication.cfm&PublicationID=8845
For
Foster Children, Unstable Placements have Higher Healthcare Costs
For children in foster care,
those with multiple placements are more likely to incur higher mental health
costs than children in more stable placements. Those children in less-stable
placements are also more likely to have higher medical costs in general. The
findings may help policy makers to better target scarce healthcare resources to
subgroups of children most in need of services, such as those in their first
year of placement.
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/micro_stories.pl?ACCT=159681&TICK=CHOP&STORY=/www/story/05-03-2004/0002165410&EDATE=May+3,+2004
Spanking a Risk Factor for Behavior Problems among White
Children
According to a study by
researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, white
children who are more frequently spanked before age two are at greater risk for
having behavior problems by the time they reach elementary school. However, the
same association does not appear to be true for African-American or Hispanic
children. The study is among the first to examine spanking frequency and its
impact on behavior with children under age two.
http://www.jhsph.edu/Press_Room/Press_Releases/PR_2004/Slade_spanking.html
Co-Occurring
Disorders Increase Risk of Suicide Attempt by Adolescents
Research has shown that
adolescents with substance use disorders are most likely to attempt suicide
when they also have a co-occurring mood disorder. National Institute on Drug
Abuse -funded scientists at the University of Pittsburgh have extended this
research and found that generally, both male and female substance abusers who
attempt suicide begin taking drugs at an early age and have more symptoms of
psychiatric and substance use disorders than adolescents who do not attempt
suicide.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-05/niod-cdi050304.php
Bleak
Summer Job Forecast for Nation's Teens
According to a new report
from from Northeastern University , the summer of
2004 promises to be a bleak one, with just 42 of every 100 teens able to find
employment during the summer months,. Given these predictions, the job market
in the summer of 2004 will be the worst it has been in nearly 60 years.
http://www.nupr.neu.edu/5-04/summerjobs.shtm
**Civil Society/Civic
Engagement
Readers'
Memories of Crime Stories Influenced by Racial Stereotypes
According to a recent Penn
State study concerning people's memory of news photographs, images that
accentuate African-American facial features would be common, and particularly
if the crime is violent rather than non-violent. If asked to imagine a criminal suspect,
certain mental pictures come to mind for most people.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-05/ps-rmo050504.php
Community
Development
Measuring
Local Institutions and Organizations: The Role of Community Institutional
Capacity in Social Capital
A study from the Urban
Institute tests the assumption that community-based organizations and other
neighborhood institutions help build community well-being, and, in testing the
assumption, seeks to develop a measure of these organizations that represents
the social-capital generating function of organizations. The study examines:
(1) whether the presence (the number or density) of organizations, institutions
and businesses is related to neighborhood well-being; (2) if the location
(distance) of community-based organizations has a role in neighborhood
well-being, and (3) whether the capacity of community organizations factors
into neighborhood well-being.
http://www.urban.org/Template.cfm?Section=Home&NavMenuID=3&Template=/TaggedContent/ViewPublication.cfm&PublicationID=8852
Housing
Segregation Persists in Many Parts of Nation
A new nationwide study by the
University of Florida finds that neighborhood integration is necessary to
reduce school segregation but Americans continue to remain separated in their
neighborhoods a half century after the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark Brown vs.
Board of Education decision.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-05/uof-hsp050604.php
Prison
Construction Boom Reaches 3 in 10 Counties
A new analysis from the Urban
Institute shows that with the explosion in the number of state and federal
prisoners during the past two decades has come a significant expansion in the
count and location of prison facilities.
Prison expansion is examined from national, state, and county-level
perspectives, and in terms of the extent to which prisons were located in
"metro" counties or "non-metro" counties.
http://www.urban.org/Template.cfm?NavMenuID=24&template=/TaggedContent/ViewPublication.cfm&PublicationID=8849
**Economic Security
The Evolution of Income
Security Research - 1968 - 2003
A
newsletter from the Research Forum at the National Center for Children in
Poverty analyzes the upsurge in income security research in the past 35
years. These studies have created an
impressive knowledge base and suggest a pattern of evolution in design,
methodology, “ownership,” and influence on policy and practice. Of particular
importance has been the increasing collaboration among researchers,
policymakers, and practitioners in planning and evaluating research and
suggesting policy changes.
PDF: http://www.researchforum.org/media/forum72.pdf
Low-Income Children in the United
States (2004)
The National Center for
Children in Poverty reports that 37% of America’s Children – more than 26
million –live in low-income families. After a decade of decline, the rate of
children living in low-income families is rising again. Their latest fact sheet
is updated from 2003 and includes trends and new statistics.
http://lift.nccp.org/pub_cpf04.html
**Education
Special School Program
Helps African American, Poor Children Close Literacy Achievement Gap
According to a new study from
Ohio State University, a specialized one-to-one teaching intervention helped
the lowest-achieving African-American and disadvantaged children in first grade
to close much of the literacy achievement gap with their peers. Intervening early with systematic, one-to-one
teaching can help children having the greatest difficulty learning to read.
http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/readreco.htm
Children of Single Mothers do Just as Well in School
According to a large,
multiethnic Cornell University study, single parenthood, in and of itself, is
not necessarily a risk factor for how well 12- and 13-year-olds do in school or
how well they behave,. What did matter
was the mothers' abilities and educational levels.
http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/May04/single.parents.ssl.html
**Health
Working without a Net: The Health Care Safety Net
Still Leaves Millions of Low-Income Workers Uninsured
According to Families USA,
for millions of low-income Americans, the health care safety net is a myth --
nearly 14 million low-income adults are uninsured and ineligible for public
health insurance programs. This Special Report provides national and
state-by-state data on the numbers of low-income parents and adults without
children who are falling through the holes in our nation's health care safety
net.
PDF: http://www.familiesusa.org/site/DocServer/Holes_2004_update.pdf?docID=3304
Americans Spend More on Health Care but are Not Healthier
Researchers from the Johns
Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that despite spending more for
health care, Americans do not receive the best medical care in the world.
Researchers used the first universal set of health standards to compare quality
of health care in five countries.
http://www.jhsph.edu/Press_Room/Press_Releases/PR_2004/Hussey_healthcare.html
HHS Awards $7.5 Million to
Help 15 Communities Extend Health Care Services to Low-Income and Uninsured
Americans
The Department of Health and
Human Services announced 15 new grants totaling $7.5 million that will help an
estimated 68,000 Americans, including many without health insurance, obtain
comprehensive health care services. The
grants continue HHS’s five-year plan to help
communities across the country create comprehensive health care centers.
Launched in 2002, the initiative will add 1,200 new and expanded health center
sites and increase the number of people served annually from about 10 million
to 16 million by 2006.
http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2004pres/20040430.html
Literacy Skills Critical
to Good Health; Half of All Senior Citizens at Lowest Level for Reading, Using
Health Materials
A new study from Educational
Testing Service (ETS) and Harvard School of Public Health identifies, for the
first time, the health-related literacy skills of U.S. adults and finds marked
differences among adults based on their education, age, wealth and country of
birth. The authors of the study argue
that literacy is one of the major factors linking health and education and
contributes to existing disparities in health status, access to care and the
quality of health care for many individuals. The study provides a benchmark for
tracking changes in health-related literacy following possible education
efforts and improvements in health care communication.
PDF: http://www.ets.org/research/pic/literacy&health.pdf
Pain
Medicines Hard to Find in Pharmacies Serving Minority Neighborhoods
According to a new survey
from the University of Michigan finding a pharmacy that carries certain
prescription-strength pain medicines might be a big challenge for people living
in predominantly non-white neighborhoods,. Only half of the pharmacies in
non-white areas had even a scant supply of the kinds of drugs used to treat
severe chronic pain. In mostly white areas, more than 90 percent of pharmacies
had the drugs in stock.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-05/uomh-rpm050404.php
Asthma
Symptoms Reduced among Children whose Schools Provided Asthma Medication
According to an article in
the May issue of The Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine , urban
children with asthma who attended schools that provided inhaled corticosteroids
(an asthma medication) had improved symptoms and fewer days absent from school
than children in a usual care group (inhaled corticosteroids not given through
school).
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-05/jaaj-asr042904.php
Business
Strategy Used to Increase Immunization Rates in Children
According to a new study led
by a physician at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, a strategy
stemming from the business world can be used to increase rates of influenza
immunizations in children in the hospital setting,. The study was funded by the Robert Wood
Johnson Foundation, Institute for Healthcare Improvement.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-05/aaft-bsu042804.php
Families
Working Together Improves Diabetes Management for Low Income Kids
In a pilot study, researchers
at the University of Michigan Health System found a family-based
self-management intervention aimed at low income adolescents with Type 1
diabetes led to better health and functioning in the short term. When kids with diabetes approach the teenage
years, their diabetes management tends to become more challenging. It's even
more difficult for economically disadvantaged kids.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-05/uomh-fwt042904.php
Prevalence
of HIV among Childbearing Women has Declined in New York
According to an article in
The Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, the prevalence of human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection among childbearing women has declined in
New York from 1988 through 2000,.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-05/jaaj-poh042904.php
**Welfare Reform
Nearly
2 Out of 5 Welfare Recipients Lack Knowledge of When Their Benefits End
According to an analysis from
the Urban Institute sixteen percent of welfare recipients said they were not
told they had a lifetime time limit. Another 21 percent knew their benefits
would end, but did not know when.
http://www.urban.org/Template.cfm?Section=Home&NavMenuID=3&Template=/TaggedContent/ViewPublication.cfm&PublicationID=8843
|
