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Measuring Social Disparities via the CWI: Race-Ethnicity, Income, and Immigrant Status

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The Well-Being of America's Children

Abstract

The FCD Child Well-Being Index (CWI) provides a national composite measure for monitoring change in the quality of life of America’s children by indicating the average amount of change that children experience between a baseline year and a subsequent year (Land et al. 2001; Land 2005a, b). The method also has been implemented for Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics to assess trends for specific groups (Land et al. 2001). This chapter uses a modified approach to assess disparities across groups beginning with a baseline year and subsequent trends that reflect the extent to which these disparities narrow or expand through time (Hernandez and Macartney 2008). Results are presented comparing Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics for 1985–2004, comparing five income groups across the more recent years of 1985–2008, and comparing children in immigrant and native-born families at a point in time for 2007–2010. Future research will update results for race-ethnic and income groups and also assess disparity trends for immigrant status groups.

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Hernandez, D.J., Macartney, S., Cervantes, W. (2012). Measuring Social Disparities via the CWI: Race-Ethnicity, Income, and Immigrant Status. In: Land, K. (eds) The Well-Being of America's Children. Children’s Well-Being: Indicators and Research, vol 6. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4092-1_4

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