Editorial Board:
Editor:
George H. Conklin,
 North Carolina
 Central University

Board:
Bob Davis,
 North Carolina
 Agricultural and
 Technical State
 University

Richard Dixon,
 UNC-Wilmington

Ken Land,
 Duke University

Miles Simpson,
 North Carolina
 Central University

Ron Wimberley,
 N.C. State University

Robert Wortham,
 North Carolina
 Central University

Editorial Assistant

John W.M. Russell,
 Technical
 Consultant

® 

Volume 6, Number 2
Fall 2008

How Are the Kids Doing? 
How Do We Know? 
Recent Trends and International Comparisons 
in Child andYouth Well-Being* 

by 
Kenneth C. Land 
Duke University 

The Basic Social Indicators Questions

      What is a basic social indicator?  These questions can be addressed by comparisons to past historical values; to other contemporaneous units (e.g., comparisons among subpopulations, states, regions, countries), or to goals or other externally established standards. The Child and Youth Well-Being Index  (described below), uses all three points of comparison. 

    The Child and Youth Well-Being Index (CWI) consists of several interrelated measures of trends over time in the quality of life, or well-being, of America's children and young people.  It is indices of annual time series of 28 social indicators of well-being over time.  We show that, after dipping in the 1980s, the index of welfare of children rises through the 1990s. 

    Below is Slide 20 from the PowerPoint presentation which shows the general conclusion.

    The article is presented as a PowerPoint presentation which can be linked to below.  The slides are programmed so only one talking point is shown at a time, not the entire page.  Push enter to move to the next point.  This is very useful in the classroom or in giving a public lecture.

*Presidential Address, North Carolina Sociological Association Annual Meeting, Durham, NC, February 29, 2008. Other members of the Foundation for Child Development Child and Youth Well-Being research project team are Vicki L. Lamb (NCCU and Duke U), Sarah O. Meadows (Princeton U), and Hui Zheng (Duke U) . 

     The bibliography for this article is referenced in the slides.

 Return to Sociation Today Fall 2008