The Well-Being of America's Children

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiv

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2. Introduction

   • Kenneth C. Land

   Pages 1-12

3. Conceptual and Methodological Foundations of the Child and Youth Well-Being Index

   • Kenneth C. Land, Vicki L. Lamb, Sarah Meadows

   Pages 13-27

4. The CWI and Its Components: Empirical Studies and Findings

   • Kenneth C. Land, Vicki L. Lamb, Sarah Meadows, Hui Zheng, Qiang Fu

   Pages 29-75

5. Measuring Social Disparities via the CWI: Race-Ethnicity, Income, and Immigrant Status

   • Donald J. Hernandez, Suzanne Macartney, Wendy Cervantes

   Pages 77-120

6. Perceived Quality of Life Research on Children and Youth: Implications for a System of National Indicators

   • E. Scott Huebner, Susan P. Antaramian, Ashley Lewis Heffner

   Pages 121-141

7. Issues in Composite Index Construction

   • Michael R. Hagerty, Kenneth C. Land

   Pages 143-159

8. Scalability of the CWI: State-Level Indicators and Composite Indices

   • Vicki L. Lamb, William P. O’Hare

   Pages 161-187

9. Scalability of the CWI: Substate Regional Indicators and Composite Indices

   • Qiang Fu, Vicki L. Lamb, Kenneth C. Land

   Pages 189-224

10. Intergenerational and Cross-National Comparisons of Child and Youth Well-Being

    • Kenneth C. Land, Vicki L. Lamb, Hui Zheng

    Pages 225-238

11. Policy Connections and Practical Implications of the CWI

    • Megan A. Curran, Shadi Houshyar, Bruce Lesley

    Pages 239-259

12. Conclusions and Future Directions

    • Kenneth C. Land

    Pages 261-263

13. Back Matter

    Pages 265-269

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In 1998, the Foundation for Child Development (FCD) provided Kenneth Land a grant to explore the feasibility of producing the first national composite index of the status of American children that would chart changes in their well-being over time. Important questions needed to be answered: was it possible to trace trends in child and youth well-being over several decades?  Could such an index provide a way of determining whether the United States was making progress in improving its children’s lives? The Index of Child and Youth Well-Being (CWI) was born from these questions.   Viewing the CWI trends from 1975 to present, there is evidence that the well-being of American children lags behind other Western nations. As conditions change, it is clear that the index is an evolving and rich enterprise. This volume attests to that evolution, and what the CWI promises for understanding the progress – or lack of progress – in enhancing the life prospects of all American children.  ​

• Child and Youth Well-Being Index (CWI)
• child indicators
• concept of social indicators
• institutes for child indicators
• measuring child well-being
• well-being of america's children
• maternal and child health

From the reviews:

“Chapters are devoted to describing the construction, testing, and use of the instruments; reporting the decades-long results; and discussing how the results could, or should, be used to remedy some of the state and local discrepancies in the well-being of children. … The book will be of particular value to policy makers but will also be of interest to those who wish to have a better understanding of the overall well-being of children and youths in this country.” (David Elkind, PsycCRITIQUES, Vol. 58 (5), January, 2013)

• Dept. Sociology, Duke University, Durham, USA

  Kenneth C. Land

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