DOCUMENT RESUME PS 024 864 ED 402 086 Family Matters: Indicators of Well-Being for Iowa TITLE Children. Iowa Kids Count Initiative, Des Moines. INSTITUTION Annie E. Casey Foundation, Baltimore, MD. SPONS AGENCY 94 PUB DATE NOTE 27P. Iowa Kids Count Initiative, Child and Family Policy AVAILABLE FROM Center, 1021 Fleming Building, 218 6th Avenue, Des Moines, IA 50309; phone: 515-280-9027. Descriptive (141) Reports Statistical Data (110) PUB TYPE MFO1 /PC:02 Plus Postage. EDRS PRICE *Adolescents; Births to Single Women; Birth Weight; DESCRIPTORS Child Abuse; Child Advocacy; Delinquency; Demography; Dropout Rate; Early Parenthood; High School Graduates; Homicide; Infant Mortality; **Infants; Mortality Rate; One Parent Family; Polity Formation; Sociocultural Patterns; Violence; *Well Being; *Young Children Child Advocacy Program; Child Care Needs; Death IDENTIFIERS Records; *Indicators; *Iowa ABSTRACT This 1994 Iowa Kids Count book presents data collected as part of a national program to track trends in child well-being. The purpose of the publication is to provide trend information needed by policy makers and the public to establish results-based policies to improve child well-being. The first part of the book describes the changing status of the Iowa family and the implications of these changes for the well-being of children and for social policy. The second part reveals mixed results in child (1) "Infant Mortality"; (2) "Low well-being trends in the areas of: (4) "Teen Violent Deaths"; (5) (3) "Child Deaths"; Birthweight"; "Births to 16- and 17-Year-Olds"; (6) "Teen Unmarried Births"; (7) (8) "High School Graduation"; and (9) Rural, Small "Child Abuse"; Urban and Metropolitan County Comparisons." The report stresses the need for social policy that is responsive to changing social structure. (AMC) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. r-7 ( Indicators of Well-Being For Iowa Children PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY fN), teNNotcA C,ro,1/40-Co ,t-cck TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) A Publication of Iowa Kids Count 1021 Fleming Building 218 8th Avenue Des Moines, Iowa 50809 IOWA KIDS COUNT BEST COPY MAKABLE 2 Family Mae s Motors of We 11-Being lowa Children 1994 Iowa Kids Count is affiliated with National Kids Count and funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation kids count 3 NoNws KIDS COUNT The Iowa Kids Count Initiative is funded by a grant from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, which also supports a national Kids Count data book tracking trends in child well-being across the fifty states. Iowa was one of the first eight state projects funded, and 1995 marks the fifth year of the Iowa Kids Count Initiative. The Iowa Kids Count Initiative is administered by the Child and Family Policy Center with a steering committee composed of representa- tives from the Iowa State University Extension Service, the Iowa State Library, the Commission on Children, Youth and Families, and the Iowa Department of Human Services. 4 Table of Contents Foreword 1 Part One: Trends in Family Well-Being in Iowa 2 The Next Quarter Century 10 Part Two: Child Well-Being Trends Reveal Mixed Results 14 Infant Mortality 14 Low Birthweight 15 Child Deaths. Teen Violent Deaths. 16 Births to 16- and 17-Year-Olds 16 Teen Unmarried Births 17 Child Abuse 18 High School Graduation 18 Rural, Small Urban and Metropolitan County Comparisons 19 Acknowledgements and For Further Information 20 Foreviord that families do matter to how When the Annie E. Casey well children succeed. Finally, it Foundation selected the discusses the implications of the phrase Kids Count to identify their national and state efforts to track changing status of Iowa families to the particular issues trends in child well-being, they did social policy and matters that public policies so for a reason. must address if they are to support families in supporting their children. As a phrase, Kids Count has several important connotations. First, the Families are the building blocks of data books developed through Kids our society and the most important Count represent a count of children determinants of a child's future. and their well-being and status in society. Second, as children grow Family Matters represents Iowa Kids Count's continuing effort to provide and develop, they themselves learn trend information needed by policy to count and to make distinctions. makers and the public to establish Third, children are critical to soci- results-based policies to improve ety's well-being; they matter, or count, in our lives. Kids Count child well-being. embodies all these connotations. The Iowa Kids Count Initiative is in the fifth year of a seven-year grant This year's Iowa Kids Count Data from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Book is entitled Family Matters for a totalling $555,000. The Initiative is reason as well. As a phrase, Family grateful to the Annie E. Casey Matters has several important con- notations. The first part of this data Foundation for this support and for its vision and commitment to book describes the changing status it is about fam- improving the lives of disadvantaged of the Iowa family ily matters and concerns. It children. describes the implications of these changes to the well-being of children 6 Part One: Wends in Family Well-Being in Iowa The Next Quarter Century The Carnegie Foundation calls it in Iowa over the past fourteen years. "the quiet crisis." As has been the case for the past four years, the Iowa Kids Count The "crisis" is that an increasing data book tracks important trends proportion of the country's, and in child well-being across dimen- Iowa's, children are at risk at risk sions of health, social, and educa- of low birthweight, child abuse and tional development. neglect, school unreadiness, delin- quency, substance abuse, school Although focusing upon child well- failure, adolescent childbearing, and being, however, in large measure unemployability. At the same time these trends are a consequence of technology offers exciting new the changes in family economic and opportunities for more fortunate social well-being over the last quar- youth, those less fortunate face ter century. The goal of Iowa Kids bleak futures. Count is to make both these trends more a part of serious public dis- The "quiet" is that many of the signs course and action, and less "quiet." that things are not going well for that children are at risk children Increasingly, both conservatives and do not reach the public policy liberals are-recognizing that children arena as immediate and pressing are at increasing risk because fami- needs. They can, and have been, lies are more fragile and under more stress. Whether one speaks of "fam- ignored. ily values" or of "valuing families," What has been the cause of this people recognize that society and quiet crisis? How did we get into family life have changed in ways that pose threats to the security and the position of placing our youngest generation; and, therefore, society development of too many children. as a whole, at risk? A public opinion survey of Iowans This Part of Family Matters offers a conducted by Kids Count in 1992 long-term perspective in answering showed that concern over the ability these questions. It describes eco- of families to raise their children is nomic and social changes that have widespread. Over three-quarters occurred over the last quarter cen- (76%) of adults polled felt that it was tury in Iowa and the country that more difficult to raise children today have placed increased pressures on than the time they were raised. most families and their children. Less than one-tenth (8%) felt it was easier. Only one-fifth (21%) felt the The next part of Family Matters quality of children's lives in Iowa describes trends in child well-being was improving; nearly twice as 7 2 time. Third, the twenty-five year many (36%) felt it was falling period suggests the time span need- behind. The Iowa figures are con- ed for addressing trends in child sistent with national public opinion well-being. The risk many children polls showing that Americans face today as a result of family believe family life is more stressful trends over the last twenty-five and children are at increasing risk years will not be addressed as a result. overnight. The trend information provided below outlines the powerful econom- Postwar Prosperity and Family ic changes that have had an impact It is not upon all families in society. Stability 1945-1970 a matter of blaming certain families or of blaming social change. It is It is important to place the last a matter of recognizing that many of quarter century in the context of the the conditions placing children at quarter century that preceded it. In risk are a reflection of changes in the period from the end of World the economy of society as a whole. the United States War II to 1970 and Iowa enjoyed unprecedented The majority of the trend data is growth and stability. As other presented for the last quarter centu- advanced economies were recovering ry, roughly from 1970 to the pre- from the devastation of World War II, sent. There are several reasons for the United States became the sup- emphasis upon this twenty-five year plier of modern goods for that period. First, trends in family well- rebuilding effort. being started to change at about this time. From World War II until In Iowa and the United States, 1970, Iowa and the country experi- workers' real incomes grew dramati- enced unparalleled prosperity, cally, and technology provided a growth, and stability. Yet the end of wealth of new consumer goods and the nineteen sixties saw the begin- services. An increasing portion of ning of a change in the structure of American families aspired to home the economy and the families within ownership and modern conve- it. Second, this is the era during niences, and achieved which the "baby boom" them on one full-time generation was raised. The trend information salary. This period This generation, now in produced a stability in provided outlines the its thirties and forties, family life not known represents a dominant It was previously. powerful economic force in American soci- during this period that ety, one with strong changes that have had the stereotype of a recollections of this an impact upon all families in society. family with a full-time, wage-earning Table One father and a homemaking mother Earnings of White Males, Age 25-34 developed as a definition of "normal" 1960-1990 family structure. While only a brief By Educational Attainment period in our country's history, this $30,000 stereotype has remained as the basis for much social policy. $20,000 $10,000 Declining Wages and Stagnant $0 Family Incomes 1970-Present Did not complete High school More than high school graduate high school If the quarter century following their earnings declined by more World War II was a period of rising than one-third (37%). For those expectations and opportunities, the with a high school diploma only, quarter century since has been one earnings declined by one-fifth (21%). of declining real wages and a result- Men with more than a high school ing need for families to be industri- education experienced a decline of ous and ingenious to maintain their one-tenth (10%), but were the only standard of living. group still better off than they were in 1960. In their book, Toward A More Perfect Union, Gordon Berlin and Andrew What has rescued many families Sum contend that two-parent from lower overall family incomes American families have done four has been a large increase in the things during this period to main- number of mothers joining the tain or improve their standard of workforce. This has been particu- living: larly true for college-educated, pro- They have delayed childbearing. fessional couples, whose overall They have had fewer children. income has risen over this period. They have worked more. They have gone into debt. Even with this increase in workforce participation, however, the result Earnings (when adjusted for infla- has been that the median family tion) declined for males in the period income for families with children from 1970 to 1990. As Table One has remained stagnant over the last shows, earnings for white men aged quarter century, adjusted for infla- 25-34 increased from 1960 to 1970, tion. but declined during each of the next two decades. While this occurred At the lower end of the income scale, among men of all educational back- however, the number of families liv- grounds, it was most pronounced ing below the poverty level has for those who did not complete high risen. Much of this is the result of school. Between 1970 and 1990, 4 Table Two Median Income for Families with Children Constant Dollars 1993 an increasing number of single- IN Single Mother MI Married Couples All Families parent families. O LC) O N O CO On the upper-income end, the num- U, et O O O Q ber of families earning more than En. $100,000, in 1992 wages, has risen dramatically, from 2.0% of all fami- lies with children in 1967 to 6.2% in 1992. These changes in family income have been referred to as a "narrowing of the middle class" or a widening spread between the "haves" and the "have-nots" in society. Iowa Trends in Family Income and 1979 1989 1993 1969 Family Structure case primarily for two-parent fami- lies in white collar employment. The Trends in family income and family "average" Iowa family with children structure in Iowa over the last quar- has seen its earnings opportunities ter century are similar, but not iden- diminish over the last quarter cen- tical, to those occurring in the coun- tury. try as a whole. They represent sig- nificant shifts in the social and eco- Because the proportion of single- nomic fabric of life, with major parent families has increased, their implications for childrearing. impact on the median income for families with children has become As Table Two shows, between 1969 greater over this period. Table and 1993, the median family income Three shows this change in family for families with children in Iowa actually declined (nationally, it Table Three remained stagnant during that peri- Family Structure in Iowa od). The median family income for Number of Families With Children two-parent families remained the Single Mother El Married Couple Single Father same over this period, at about $40,000 in 1993 dollars. Income for 350,000 single-parent families headed by a 250,000 woman declined, however, resulting in a declining income for all families with children over this period. 6. 0,000 Again, while many families have I 40,000 seen their economic outlook improve I II co over this period, this has been the 20,000 111 1990 1980 1970 5 1 0