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CHAPTER 12
CHILD WELL-BEING
Child well-being was assessed by mothers' reports of childrens' behavioral, emotional, and physical health, risky behaviors, and school engagement, as compared with a national sample of children in the United States. The national sample data are taken from the 1997 National Survey of America's Families (NSAF) and represent single parents earning less than 50% below the national poverty level.
Substance-abusing mothers had more children then the non-affected sample (3.3 versus 2.8). Figure 12. A. presents the percentage of substance abusing and non-affected mothers who had at least one child in each of three age groups. In general, the children of the non-affected sample were younger, with 71% of the non-affected sample having at least one child under the age of five as compared to 40% of the substance-abusing mothers.
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Figure 12. B. presents various child outcomes for children ages 0 to 5. On average, children of substance abusing mothers performed similarly to both the non-affected sample and a national normative sample on cognitive stimulation, physical health, and amount of contact with father.
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Figure 12. C. presents various child outcomes for children ages 6 to 11. Children of both substance abusing and non-affected mothers experienced similar levels of behavioral and emotional problems, although both groups of children experienced significantly more problems then the normative sample. Poor health was significantly higher in the children of substance abusing mothers, with 10% of them reporting fair or poor health.
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Figure 12. D. presents child outcomes for children ages 12-17. In general, children of substance abusing mothers experienced more behavioral and emotional problems, had poorer health, and were more likely to engage in risky behaviors such as having/fathering a baby prior to age 18 and being arrested when compared to children of non-affected mothers. Children from a national sample appeared to be worse than the non-affected sample but better than the substance-abusing sample on these variables.
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Figure 12. E. shows that children of non-affected mothers were less likely to have contact with their fathers than both the children of substance abusers and the national sample, while children of substance abusing mothers experienced lower school engagement than either of the two comparison groups.
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Figure 12. F. presents levels of aggravation reported by mothers. Results show that substance-abusing mothers experienced higher levels of aggravation with their children than either the non-affected mothers or the national sample of mothers.
Overall, there were few significant differences between young children (ages 0-5) of substance abusing mothers and children of the non-affected sample. However, among older children (6-17), substance-abusing mothers reported more behavioral, emotional, and physical problems in their children and their children were more likely to engage in risky behaviors than children of non-affected mothers or children in the national sample. These differences were greatest for the adolescents (age 12-17).
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