Skip to main content

Using Early Childhood Wellbeing Indicators to Influence Local Policy and Services

  • Chapter
From Child Welfare to Child Well-Being

Part of the book series: Children’s Well-Being: Indicators and Research ((CHIR,volume 1))

Abstract

Indicators are measures of the condition or status of populations or institutions that can be compared over time or between places and groups. In recent years, there has been growing interest in developing indicators at the local level that can reflect on the well being of children and their families in communities. Rather than being seen as the content of government reports, local indicators are typically used as tools for action and important drivers of local policy and programs. Given that much civic action and involvement are local, there is the need to bring the idea of child well being indicators down to the community level that can support civic engagement and child advocacy. Moreover, child policy manifests itself in large part locally through programs, services and institutions. Local indicators can help to shape this policy implementation toward greater effectiveness and equity.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Allard, S. W., Rosen, D., & Tolman, R. M. (2003). Access to mental health and substance abuse services among women receiving welfare in Detroit. Urban Affairs Review, 38 (6), 787.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Altshuler, A., Morrill, W., & Mitchell, F. (1999). Governance and opportunity in metropolitan America. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • American Academy of Pediatrics. (2007). Joint principles of the patient-centered medical home. Available at http://www.medicalhomeinfo.org/. Accessed April 25, 2009.

  • Anselin, Luc. (1988). Spatial econometrics: Methods and models. Boston: Kluwer Academic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bradshaw, J., Noble, M., Bloor, K., Huby, M., McLennan, D., Rhodes, D., et al. (2009). A child well-being index at small area level in England. Child Indicators Research, 2 (2), 201–219.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bruner, C. (2007). School readiness resource guide and tool kit. Washington, DC: The Urban Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burdette, A. M., & Hill, T. D. (2008). An examination of processes linking perceived neighborhood disorder and obesity. Social Science & Medicine, 67 (1), 38–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burdette, H. L., & Whitaker, R. C. (2004). Neighborhood playgrounds, fast food restaurants, and crime: Relationships to overweight in low-income preschool children. Preventive Medicine, 38 (1), 57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Colabianchi, N., Kinsella, A. E., Coulton, C. J., & Moore, S. M. (2009). Utilization and physical activity levels at renovated and unrenovated school playgrounds. Preventive Medicine, 48 (2), 140–143.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coulton, C. J. (2008, January). Catalog of administrative data sources for neighborhood indicators. Washington, DC: The Urban Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coulton, C. J., & Korbin, J. E. (1995). Community level factors and child maltreatment rates. Child Development, 66 (5), 1262–1276.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coulton, C. J., & Korbin, J. E. (2007). Indicators of child well-being through a neighborhood lens. Social Indicators Research, 84 (3), 349–361.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dreier, P., Mollenkopf, J. S., & T. Swanstrom (2001). Place matters: Metropolitics for the twenty-first century. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duncan, G. J., Magnuson, K. A., & Ludwig, J. (2004). The endogeneity problem in developmental studies. Research in Human Development, 1 (1), 59–80.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Edwards, M., Triantafyllidou, S., & Best, D. (2009). Elevated blood lead in young children due to lead-contaminated drinking water: Washington, DC, 2001–2004. Environmental Science & Technology, 43 (5), 6118–6123.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ellen, I. G., & Turner, M. A. (1997). Does neighborhood matter: Assessing recent evidence. Housing Policy Debate, 8 (4), 833–866.

    Google Scholar 

  • Elliott, D. S., Wilson, W. J., Huizinga, D., Sampson, R. J., Elliott, A., & Rankin, B. (1996). The effects of neighborhood disadvantage on adolescent development. Journal of Research in Crime & Delinquency, 33 (4), 389–426.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Entwisle, B. (2007). Putting people into place. Demography, 44 (4), 687–703.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fein, A. J., Plotnikoff, R. C., Wild, T. C., & Spence, J. C. (2004). Perceived environment and physical activity in youth. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 11 (3), 135–142.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, R. L., Lalich, N., & Coulton, C. (2008a). Taking it to scale: Evaluating the scope and reach of a community-wide initiative on early childhood. Evaluation and Program Planning, 31, 199–208.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, R. L., Nelson, L., Mikelbank, K., & Coulton, C. (2008b). Space to learn and grow: Assessing early childhood and education in a large urban county. Child and Youth Care Forum, 37,(2), 75–86.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Freisthler, B., Gruenewald, P. J., Remer, L. G., Lery, B., & Needell, B. (2007). Exploring the spatial dynamics of alcohol outlets and child protective services referrals, substantiations, and foster care entries. Child Maltreatment, 12 (2), 114–124.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Friedrichs, J., Galster, G., & Musterd, S. (2003). Neighbourhood effects on social opportunities: The European and American research and policy context, Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goerge, R., Van Voorhis, J., & Lee, B. J. (1994). Illinois longitudinal and relational child and family research database. Social Science Computer Review, 12, 351–365.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hallam, R. A., Rous, B., Grove, J., & LoBianco, T. (2009). Level and intensity of early intervention services for infants and toddlers with disabilities. Journal of Early Intervention, 31,(2), 179–196.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hertzman, C., McLean, S. A., Kohen, D. E., Dunn, J., & Evans, T. (2002). Early development in Vancouver: Report of the community asset mapping project. Ottawa: Canadian Institute for Health Information.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heywood, I., Cornelius, S., & Carver, S. (1998). Introduction to geographical information systems. New York: Addison Wesley Longman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Houston, D. (2005). Employability, skills mismatch and spatial mismatch in metropolitan labour markets. Urban Studies, 42,(2), 221–243.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Howell, E. M., Pettit, K. L. S., Ormond, B. A., & Kingsley, G. T. (2003). Using the national neighborhood indicators partnership to improve public health. Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, 9 (3), 235–242.

    Google Scholar 

  • Howell-Moroney, M. (2005). The geography of opportunity and unemployment: An integrated model of residential segregation and spatial mismatch. Journal of Urban Affairs, 27 (4), 353–377.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Joassart-Marcelli, P., & Giordano, A. (2006). Does local access to employment services reduce unemployment? A GIS analysis of one-stop career centers. Policy Sciences, 39,(4), 335–359.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kling, J. R., Liebman, J. B., & Katz, L. F. (2007). Experimental analysis of neighborhood effects. Econometrica, 75 (1), 83–119.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koroukian, S., Polousky, E., Fischer, R, & Coulton, C. (2005). Medicaid enrollment and utilization in Cuyahoga County: Evaluating the early childhood initiative amid other health systems changes. Cuyahoga County early childhood initiative evaluation: Phase II final report. Cleveland, OH: Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, Case Western Reserve University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Larson, N. I., Story, M. T., & Nelson, M. C. (2009). Neighborhood environments: Disparities in access to healthy foods in the U.S. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 36 (1), 74–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leventhal, T., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (2000). The neighborhoods they live in: The effects of neighborhood residence on child and adolescent. Psychological Bulletin, 126 (2), 309.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mueller, E. J., & Tighe, J. R. (2007). Making the case for affordable housing: Connecting housing with health and education outcomes. textit{Journal of Planning Literature, 21(4), 371–385.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Odoms-Young, A., Zenk, S., & Mason, M. (2009). Measuring food availability and access in African-American communities: Implications for intervention and policy. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 36 (4), S145–S150.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Renner, R. (2009). Mapping out lead’s legacy. Environmental Science & Technology, 43 (6), 1655–1658.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rundle, A., Neckerman, K. M., Freeman, L., Lovasi, G. S., Purciel, M., Quinn, J., et al. (2009). Neighborhood food environment and walkability predict obesity in New York City. Environmental Health Perspectives, 117 (3), 442–447.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sabol, W. J., Coulton, C. J., & Korbin, J. E. (2004). Building community capacity for violence prevention. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 19 (3), 322–340.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sampson, R. J., Morenoff, J. D., & Gannon-Rowley, T. (2002). Assessing neighborhood effects: Social processes and new directions in research. Annual Review of Sociology, 28 (1), 443–478.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sampson, R. J., & Sharkey, P. (2008). Neighborhood selection and the social reproduction of concentrated racial inequality. Demography, 45,s(1), 1–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sawicki, D. S., & Flynn, P. (1996). Neighborhood indicators: A review of the literature and an assessment of conceptual and methodological issues. Journal of the American Planning Association, 62 (2), 165–183.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shinn, M., & Toohey, S. M. (2003). Community contexts of human welfare. Annual Review of Psychology, 54 (1), 427.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Theall, K. P., Scribner, R., Cohen, D., Bluthenthal, R. N., Schonlau, M., & Farley, T. A. (2009). Social capital and the neighborhood alcohol environment. Health & Place, 15 (1), 323–332.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, W. J. (1987). The truly disadvantaged: The inner city, the underclass, and public policy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, W. J. (1996). When work disappears. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Claudia J. Coulton .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Coulton, C.J., Fischer, R.L. (2010). Using Early Childhood Wellbeing Indicators to Influence Local Policy and Services. In: Kamerman, S.B., Phipps, S., Ben-Arieh, A. (eds) From Child Welfare to Child Well-Being. Children’s Well-Being: Indicators and Research, vol 1. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3377-2_7

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics