Children & Families

So far, the '90s have been a difficult decade for many of America's families. And 1994 was particularly rough for children.

Of six problems affecting Americans younger than 18, four of them-- child abuse, teenage suicide, drug abuse, and the high school dropout rate--worsened during 1994, the most recent year for which data were available, according to the Index of Social Health, an annual assessment of where the nation stands on 16 social indicators.

The data were compared against each preceding year since the...