America's Children: Mixed Prospects.

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48

Adoption; Children; Day Care; Demography; Divorce; Early Childhood Education; Educational Experience; Employed Women; Ethnic Groups; Family Characteristics; Family Income; Family (Sociological Unit); Futures (of Society); Infant Mortality; Mothers; Parent Child Relationship; Poverty; Racial Differences; Social Change; Tables (Data); Unwed Mothers; Well Being; Working Poor

0032-468X

Data in this population bulletin indicate that in comparison with children of previous generations, today's youngsters are apt to have fewer siblings, and more likely to come from a broken home, have a working mother, and pass time as a latchkey kid. More children are in child care than in the past, and there has been a significant move toward center-based care. Preschoolers, particularly those from relatively well-off families, are increasingly enrolled in prekindergarten. Declining family size and recent American prosperity have created material well-being for most of today's children. But the development of an underclass has also increased the number of children trapped in poverty. Stagnant wages of the working poor and the growing number of mother-only households have exacerbated income inequality among children. The decline in educational achievement scores of the 1970s has ended, and average school performance has improved in the 1980s. An increased number of students, especially blacks, completed high school in the 1980s. The physical health of the average American child has improved dramatically since 1960. But the picture is marred by the problematic future of the children of the underclass and the uncertain psychological impact of America's transformed family life. (RH)

1991

ED324112