Survey Highlights Key Issues in Health, Well Being of California’s Children
This week our Foundation released data from the 2010 California Parent Survey, a new study that provides a wealth of current data on how California parents say their children are faring across a broad spectrum of physical and emotional health issues. While many of the overall results are positive, the findings highlight serious issues that affect significant percentages of the state’s children and demand our attention. For example:
- Family Income: About 2.6 million California children live in households where the parents report that their income is not adequate to meet basic needs such as food, clothing and shelter.
- Child Care: Approximately 16 percent of children do not have access to affordable child care options, according to their parents.
- Parental Depression: 26 percent of children live with parents who say they needed help with depression since becoming a parent. Research shows that children with depressed parents are at a higher risk of substance abuse, depression and aggression.
- Special Health Care Needs: About one-third of children with special health care needs are in very poor, poor, or fair overall emotional health, compared to 7 percent of other children, according to the survey.
- Neighborhood Safety: 20 percent of children with household incomes below $25,000 have parents who consider them unsafe in their neighborhood or surroundings.
The California Parent Survey queried 1,685 parents across income and racial/ethnic groups about their child’s physical, emotional and behavioral health, school-related issues, family activities, and societal influences. The study was conducted by Berkeley Policy Associates and the Henne Group in spring 2010, in English, Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese or Vietnamese, depending on the respondents’ preference. The study includes a representative sample of children in California.
Full survey results can be viewed at www.kidsdata.org/parentsurvey
Posted by kidsdata.org
This entry was posted on Friday, December 17th, 2010 at 9:36 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.