Welfare, Children, and Families: A Three-City Study, Wave 1

Investigators: Andrew J. Cherlin, Ronald Angel, Linda Burton, P. Lindsay Chase-Lansdale, Robert Moffitt, and William Julius Wilson

The Welfare, Children and Families Study is a longitudinal study of children and their caregivers in low- income families that were living in low-income neighborhoods in three cities in 1999. The purpose of the study is to investigate the consequences of policy changes resulting from the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA)1. The survey was designed to provide information on the health and cognitive, behavioral, and emotional development of children and on their primary caregivers' labor force behavior, welfare experiences, family lives, use of social service, health, and well-being.

Youth Risk Behavior Surveys: 1992, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, and 2001

Investigators: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) is an epidemiologic surveillance system that was established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to monitor the prevalence of youth behaviors that most influence health. The results from the YRBS are used by CDC to (1) monitor how priority health-risk behaviors among high school students (grades 9-12) increase, decrease, or remain the same over time; (2) evaluate the impact of broad national, state, and local efforts to prevent priority health-risk behaviors; and (3) monitor progress in achieving three leading health indicators and 15 Healthy People 2010 national health objectives. Results are also used to help focus programs and policies for comprehensive school health education on the behaviors that contribute most to the leading causes of mortality and morbidity. CWP offers six years of YRBS data. The school-based YRBS focuses on priority health-risk behaviors established during youth that result in the most significant mortality, morbidity, disability, and social problems during both youth and adulthood. These include: behaviors that result in unintentional and intentional injuries; tobacco use; alcohol and other drug use; sexual behaviors that result in HIV infection, other sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs) and unintended pregnancies; dietary behaviors; and physical activity.