National Survey of Children: Waves 1, 2 and 3, 1976-1987

Investigators: Nicholas Zill, James L. Peterson, Kristin A. Moore, and Frank F. Furstenberg, Jr.

A three-wave longitudinal study was carried out by the Foundation for Child Development in 1976 (Wave 1) and by Child Trends, Inc. in 1981 and 1987 (Waves 2 and 3) in which the child was the focus of a personal interview with parents and children themselves. The purpose of Wave 1 was to assess the physical, social, and psychological well-being of different groups of American children; develop a profile of the way children live and the care they receive; permit analysis of the relationships between the condition of children's lives and measures of child development and well-being; and replicate items from previous national studies of child and parents to permit analysis of trends over time. Wave 2 focused on the effects of marital conflict and disruption on children. The third wave of data examined the social, psychological, and economic well-being of sample members as they became young adults. Further, for the first two waves, a teacher from the child's school answered questions on the child's academic performance and atmosphere.

National Survey of Children: Waves 1, 2, and 3, 1976-1987

Investigators: Nicholas Zill, James L. Peterson, Kristin A. Moore, and Frank F. Furstenberg, Jr.

In 1976, the Foundation for Child Development sponsored the first nationally representative survey of children to be conducted in which the child was the focus of study and was personally interviewed. The purpose of the survey was to assess the physical, social, and psychological well-being of different groups of American children; develop a profile of the way children live and the care they receive; permit analysis of the relationships between the condition of children's lives and measures of child development and wellbeing; and replicate items from previous national studies of child and parents to permit analysis of trends over time. The focus of the 1981 survey was the effects of marital conflict and disruption on children. The goals of this wave of the survey included developing a profile of the behavioral and mental health of children at various stages in the marital disruption process and examining the influence of child, parent, and family factors that are thought to influence the risk of childhood problems associated with marital disruption. Most of the background and outcome measures employed in Wave 1 were repeated in Wave 2. In addition, new data were gathered on patterns of parent-child interaction and on outcome areas more relevant for teenage children, including dating and sexual activity, drinking, smoking, drug use, and delinquency. For families that had experienced a marital disruption, the follow-up interviews contained a number of questions concerning the relationship between the child and the parent living outside the home. In addition, if the custodial parent's former spouse was not the child's father, questions were asked about the child's relationship with the former spouse. The purpose of collecting a third wave of data was to examine the social, psychological, and economic well-being of sample members as they became young adults. In particular, their sexual and fertility behavior were a focus of interest. Accordingly, numerous questions were included in the questionnaire regarding sexual activity, contraception, pregnancy, and childrearing. Further, the third wave queried the respondents on such areas as the receipt of child support and welfare; pregnancy decision-making; family receipt of welfare as the youth was growing up; the establishment of paternity; and attitudes regarding marriage, child support, and welfare. Wave 3 also included questions on health, employment, and children born to teenage mothers. Finally, data on the family's zip code in 1976 (Wave 1), 1981 (Wave 2), and 1987 (Wave 3) were added to the computer file to create the possibility of doing contextual analyses of the data.

National Youth Victimization Prevention Survey, 1992-1994

Investigators: David Finkelhor

There were two primary goals of the National Youth Victimization Prevention Survey. The first was to derive estimates of various forms of victimization among youths. The second was to obtain childrenís assessments of the victimization prevention programs which many schools have begun offering over the past decade. Data were collected by telephone survey from 2000 randomly sampled children between the ages of 10 and 16 and their caretakers. Children were interviewed at two time points, the initial survey time and a 15 month follow-up. In addition to collecting basic demographic information, the survey asked children to recall details of victimizations personally experienced, respond to a test of knowledge about sexual victimization, recall the content of prevention programs to which they were exposed, render judgments regarding the usefulness of these programs, report on behavioral, social and psychological troubles (including offense behavior and substance abuse), and express opinions on a range of topics including the level of crime in their schools and in their neighborhoods, and the survey itself. The data consists of two files, one for each wave of data collection. The wave one file includes 2000 observations and 727 variables. The file contains all of the information obtained from the parent and child interviews administered in wave one as well as the case weights, derived variables and constructed variables. The wave two file includes 1457 observations and 897 variables. The file contains all of the information obtained from the parent and child interviews administered in wave two as well as the case weights, estimate weights, and derived and constructed variables.

Neonatal Costs of Maternal Cocaine Use: Harlem Hospital, 1985-1986

Investigators: Ciaran S. Phibbs, David A. Bateman and Rachel M.Schwartz

Investigators compared all cocaine-exposed infants born in a large, publicly funded inner-city hospital (n=355) with a random sample of non-exposed infants born in the same hospital (n=199) to examine the added neonatal cost and length of hospital stay associated with fetal cocaine exposure. Between September 1, 1985 and August 31, 1986, all newborn infants were screened by urine test for illicit substances, and medical records were reviewed for maternal histories of substance abuse. The cocaine-exposed group consisted of all single live births who were identified by either maternal history or infant urine assay. The control group was comprised of single live births for whom no drug use history was indicated by either maternal history or infant urine test. Investigators assessed a total of 129 variables. Outcome measures included the cost and length of stay for each infant until medically cleared for hospital discharge, as well as the cost and length of stay for each infant until actual discharge from the hospital. The present study examines the added newborn cost and length of hospital stay associated with prenatal exposure to cocaine. Newborn costs for cocaine-exposed infants were compared to those of a random sample of unexposed infants delivered in the same hospital during the same time period. National estimates of diagnosis related group (DRG) per diem costs of care for newborns were used to generate estimates of the costs of hospital care. Costs and lengths of stay were subdivided into those that were medically necessary and those generated by "boarder babies" (infants who are medically cleared for discharge but who remain in the hospital while awaiting social evaluation or placement in the foster care system). Data were gathered on related variables such as prenatal care, maternal smoking and alcohol use, race, gravidity, maternal age, gender of the infant, crack exposure and exposure to multiple illicit substances.

Next Generation of Upper-Limb Prostheses, 1994

Investigators: William H. Donovan, Diane J. Atkins, Denise C.Y. Heard

The Next Generation of Upper-Limb Prostheses, 1994, is based on a study entitled The Next Generation of Myoelectric Prostheses, 1994, which established the TIRR National Upper Limb Amputee Data Base (copyright 1994, TIRR). The project was conducted by The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research (TIRR) from September, 1992 through November, 1994. This epidemiological study established a national data base on adults and children with upper limb loss and evaluated user perceptions of upper-limb prosthetic devices regarding: 1) costs, maintenance, and sensory feedback, 2) activities which can and cannot be done with available prosthetic technology, and 3) areas identified as most important for improvement in prosthetic devices. The TIRR National Upper-Limb Amputee Data Base is perhaps the most extensive survey ever conducted of upper limb amputees in North America concerning their prosthetic requirements. The archived study consists of one aggregate data file for four surveys (a screener survey and three longer surveys specific to prosthetic type). The one page screener survey includes data from 2,477 adults with upper-limb prosthetic devices or parents of children with upper-limb prosthetic devices.

Pennsylvania Study of Family Planning Discontinuation: Visit File, 1983-85

Investigators: Roberta Herceg-Baron

The second in a series of family planning studies (see DAAPPP Set Nos. 73, 75, and 76), the units of observation of this study are the family planning clinic visits of individual women on a visit by visit basis. The visit file includes data on counseling procedures, contraception practices, medical assistance coverage, referral sources, and childbearing histories of patients. Conducted from October 1983 through June 1985, patient visit abstracts (PVAs) from Automated Health Records of Philadelphia formed the bases of the study. The clinics involved are from two provider networks: the Maternal Family Health (MFH) representing a collection of counties in northeastern and northcentral Pennsylvania, and the Family Planning Council (FPC), representing southeastern Pennsylvania. Young women were oversampled; the stratified samples were subsampled to produce a representative (self-weighting) sample of 5% overall. For MFH, 22,909 visits by 4,990 women were included; for the FPC, 45,423 visits by 13,362 women were obtained. Note for users of DAAPPP Data Sets #01-B1DAAPPP data sets 01 through B1 are comprised of a User's Guide, SPSS syntax files (*.SPS or *.SPX) and raw data files only. Most of these datasets contain SPSS syntax files that use Job Control Language (JCL) from 1980s versions of SPSS-X. Because the syntax is old, the syntax files require editing to conform to the current syntax standards used by SPSS/Windows or SPSS/Unix. If you require technical assistance in using or editing these syntax files, please contact Sociometrics' Data Support Group at 800.846.3475 or socio@socio.com.

Physical and Social Development in Children Exposed Prenatally to Download/PCP and Cocaine

Investigators: Judy Howard, Leila Beckwith, Michael Espinosa and Carol Rodning

The purpose of this study was fourfold: to compare PCP-exposed infants to a comparison group of non-drug-exposed infants as to attention regulation, social interaction, motor patterns, and cognitive development; to test the effectiveness of an intervention program in ameliorating early neurobehavioral problems by comparing the development of PCP-exposed infants whose caregivers received intervention to PCP-exposed infants without intervention; to compare the development of PCP-exposed infants reared in foster homes to PCP exposed infants reared by biological parents; and to assess the influence of multiple significant biologic and environmental factors on development. Additionally, caretaker-child interactions and attachment issues were also studied. The study is a prospective, longitudinal investigation of 46 full-term infants who had positive urine toxicology screens for phencyclidine (PCP) and other drugs at birth and 39 non-drug-exposed control infants. Infants were followed from birth to 15 months of age. This study examined fetal growth impairment, as shown by subnormal head size and/or intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) (i.e., birth weight below the tenth percentile), and later behavioral development in the groups of drug-exposed and non-drug-exposed infants. In order to access the range of possible causes of poorer developmental outcome, the investigators examined 89 variables such as maternal parity, maternal nicotine and alcohol use, caregiver education, and child placement outside of the biological home.

Play and Learning Strategies (PALS) I & II: A Responsive Parenting Program for Parents of Infants and Toddlers

Investigators: Susan H. Landry, PhD & Karen E. Smith, PhD

The Play and Learning Strategies (PALS) program is a home visiting intervention for parents of infants and toddlers that target aspects of a responsive parenting style shown to enhance children's cognitive and social development. The goal of the PALS program is to teach parents responsive parenting skills to support their child's social-emotional, cognitive, and language development. The parent learns specific behaviors that help her tune into her child, respond in a sensitive and contingent manner, provide appropriate cognitive and language stimulation, and manage behavior and discipline in a positive, developmentally appropriate manner. The PALS program consists of two separate curricula: the PALS I Infant curriculum and the PALS II Toddler curriculum. Family coaches deliver the intervention by visiting families on a weekly basis over the course of three months. Each session includes a discussion of the parent's practice during the preceding week; introduction of the new topic; viewing of educational videos demonstrating the skill; guided, videotaped practice using the skill with her own child; review of the videotaped practice; and planning for practice during the upcoming week. Click here to view more detailed information on this program.

Profile of Child Care Settings: Center-Based Programs, 1990

Investigators: Ellen Eliason Kisker and Valarie Piper

The Profile of Child Care Settings Study was conducted for the U.S. Department of Education with the primary objective of determining the levels and characteristics of early education and care that are available in the United States. Telephone interviews were conducted with nationally representative samples of regulated home-based family day care providers and center-based early education and care programs between October, 1989 and February, 1990 using computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) methods. This survey of center-based early education and care programs collected extensive data on a number of topics including general characteristics, admission policies and vacancies, types of children served, subsidies, staff, curriculum and activities, meals, health and safety, and operating experiences.

Profile of Child Care Settings: Home-Based Programs, 1990

Investigators: Ellen Eliason Kisker and Valarie Piper

The Profile of Child Care Settings Study was conducted for the U.S. Department of Education with the primary objective of determining the levels and characteristics of early education and care that are available in the United States. Telephone interviews were conducted with nationally representative samples of regulated home-based family day care providers and center-based early education and care programs between October, 1989 and February, 1990 using computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) methods. The survey of home-based family care programs collected extensive data on a number of topics including care provided, children's activities, costs and income, help with child care, health and safety, and caregiver characteristics.