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Developing a Monitoring System for Indicators in Middle Childhood: Identifying Measures

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Abstract

This paper builds on an initial paper (Moore and Theokas, Child Indicators Research, 2008 DOI 10.1007/s12187-008-9011-9) that conceptualizes elements of well-being relevant for the middle childhood period, identifies potential constructs and develops criteria for indicators. Here, we follow up by identifying a set of 20 indicator constructs, half positive and half negative. Of these 20, half measure child well-being and half measure contexts that affect child development. For each construct, we discuss evidence of importance and provide, where possible, examples of measures from US surveys.

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Notes

  1. In the USA, middle childhood is commonly defined as ages 6–11. These ages encompass the years that US children generally attend elementary school. In addition, this 6-year age span meshes well with other six-year age groupings – 0–5 for early childhood and 12–17 for adolescence. Of course, each of these periods can be sub-divided, and other age categories are sometimes used as well.

  2. In addition, information on the indicator’s malleability and usefulness in looking at trends is available from the authors in the full version of this paper. Malleability refers to the extent to which change is possible. This is relevant because there is greater value in monitoring indicators that are likely to change over time. Evidence of malleability was found for all 20 indicators discussed here.

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Acknowledgements

This project was completed under Subcontract Agreement Number 388sc, for Grant Number U45 MC00023 to UCSF from the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, US Department of Health and Human Services.

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  1. Child Trends, Washington, DC, USA

    Kristin Anderson Moore, Sharon Vandivere, Astrid Atienza & Tatia Thiot

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Correspondence to Kristin Anderson Moore.

Appendix

Appendix

1.1 Data sources

The America’s Promise Survey (AP) is the Every Child, Every Promise poll developed for The National Promises Study conducted in partnership with Search Institute, Child Trends, and the Gallup Organization. More than 6,000 US-nationwide interviews where collected from three nationally represented telephone surveys: (1) more than 2,000 12- to 17-year-olds; (2) the parents of these 12- to 17-year-olds; and (3) the parents of more than 2,000 children ages 6- to 11-years-old. http://www.americaspromise.org/APA.aspx.

The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998–99 (ECLS-K) is a nationally representative, longitudinal survey of kindergartners, teachers, and schools administrators across the USA. www.ed.gov.

The National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) is a comprehensive health survey conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics that targets households in the USA and allows for data on children and their parents. NHIS data are collected annually from approximately 43,000 households with information from about 106,000 individuals. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis.htm.

The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1979 (NLSY97) has a nationally representative sample of 12,686 young men and women in the USA who were 14–22 years old at their first interview in 1979. These individuals were interviewed annually through 1994 and are currently interviewed biennially. www.dol.gov.

The National Survey of America’s Families (NSAF) is a nationally representative, cross-sectional survey of approximately 40,000 households in the United States conducted in 1997, 1999, and 2002 by the Urban Institute and Child Trends. www.urban.org.

The National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) is a nationally representative, cross-sectional survey conducted by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics. A total of 102,353 interviews were completed from January 2003 to July 2004 with approximately 2,000 interviews in each of the 50 USA and the District of Columbia. www.nschdata.org/

The Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), begun in 1968, is a longitudinal study conducted at the Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan. A representative sample of US individuals (men, women, and children) and the family units in which they reside is surveys on aspects of economic and demographic behavior, as well as some sociological and psychological measures. The initial sample size was 4,800 families in 1968 and has grown since then. http://psidonline.isr.umich.edu/.

The Program on International Student Assessment (PISA) is an internationally standardized assessment administered to 15-year-olds in schools in participating countries around the world. The tests are typically administered to between 4,500 and 10,000 students in each country. www.pisa.oecd.org/.

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Moore, K.A., Vandivere, S., Atienza, A. et al. Developing a Monitoring System for Indicators in Middle Childhood: Identifying Measures. Child Ind Res 1, 129–155 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-008-9010-x

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