America’s children and their families are showing greater resilience and support in the face of a rise in poverty that has now wiped out the historic financial gains of the 1990s, according to the Foundation for Child Development’s annual child well-being index.
The New York City-based group announced last month that overall child well-being is up more than 5 percent both from 2001 and the index’s beginning a generation ago, in 1975. The index is a composite of 28 indicators of children’s environmental and economic environments and behaviors.
Kenneth C. Land, the index’s lead researcher, found improvements were driven primarily by the children themselves: They were less likely than in past years to become involved in violent crime, do drugs, or become parents as teenagers. Community engagement and educational attainment were on the upswing.
