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4.0 Head Start Families
4.1 Overview
Findings from the in-person interviews conducted with Head Start parents in the fall of 1997, the spring of 1998, and the spring of 1999 were used to describe the characteristics and accomplishments of their families and households. Chapter 4 presents the findings from these interviews. As noted earlier, the standard format for this Report is to refer to the respondents as parents. However, in the first part of this chapter, the respondents are discussed as primary caregivers, as data are presented on three subgroups of caregivers: mothers, fathers, and non-parental caregivers.
At the end of this chapter is a set of three supplemental exhibits. These exhibits were created to allow an alternative presentation of the relationship between some of the selected variables that are presented in Chapter 4 and the following: ethnicity, geographic region, and urbanicity. References to these exhibits will appear in appropriate sections of the chapter.
4.2 The Primary Caregivers
Respondents were identified prior to the parent interview as the primary caregivers1 of the targeted Head Start children. The majority (92.9%) of primary caregivers were parents, with 87.8% identified as mothers. Exhibit 4-1 contains data describing the demographic characteristics of the primary caregivers who completed the parent interviews. The first column in the exhibit focuses on all primary caregivers. The second column displays data describing mothers as primary caregivers, the third presents data describing fathers as primary caregivers, and the fourth column represents descriptions of non-parental caregivers.
| Demographic Characteristics | Weighted Percentages | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All (N = 3,120) |
Mothers (n = 2,670) |
Fathers (n = 151) |
Non- parental Caregivers (n = 212) |
|
| Age | ||||
| Less than 20 years old | 2.6 | 2.8 | 0.0 | 1.3 |
| 21-29 years old | 53.2 | 56.9 | 50.5 | 9.0 |
| 30-39 years old | 32.5 | 34.0 | 35.3 | 11.5 |
| 40 and older | 11.7 | 6.3 | 14.2 | 78.1 |
| Mean age | 30.4 | 29.0 | 31.4 | 47.3 |
| Median age | 28.4 | 27.8 | 29.4 | 47.9 |
| Nativity | ||||
| Born in country other than U.S. | 18.7 | 19.6 | 26.4 | 7.0 |
| Less than 5 years in U.S. | 2.2 | 2.2 | 4.8 | 0.0 |
| Marital Status | ||||
| Married | 42.1 | 42.1 | 62.5 | 43.6 |
| Single, never married | 33.7 | 36.4 | 12.8 | 13.2 |
| Divorced or widowed | 13.5 | 11.7 | 17.8 | 33.9 |
| Married, but separated | 9.6 | 9.8 | 6.9 | 9.2 |
| Education and Training | ||||
| Less than high school | 27.5 | 27.5 | 19.4 | 32.4 |
| High school diploma or GED | 37.6 | 37.3 | 45.7 | 36.3 |
| Some college/AA degree | 32.1 | 32.6 | 28.2 | 27.6 |
| College degree or higher | 2.3 | 2.5 | 6.7 | 3.7 |
| Vocational or trade school | 41.9 | 41.0 | 52.4 | 45.4 |
| Certificate or licenses | 37.7 | 36.2 | 46.6 | 47.5 |
| CDA | 1.2 | 1.0 | 0.9 | 4.5 |
| Working toward a degree | 24.3 | 25.4 | 20.6 | 13.9 |
| Trade license or certificate | 4.8 | 4.8 | 6.0 | 4.9 |
| GED or high school diploma | 6.6 | 7.4 | 1.4 | 2.0 |
| CDA | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.4 |
| Associate's degree | 4.2 | 4.5 | 5.6 | 1.2 |
| Bachelor's degree or higher | 4.4 | 4.5 | 5.5 | 4.0 |
| Employment Status | ||||
| Full-time | 34.0 | 32.2 | 65.4 | 35.7 |
| Part-time or seasonal | 18.3 | 19.2 | 14.1 | 9.8 |
| Not employed | 47.6 | 48.3 | 20.2 | 54.1 |
Age
Almost all of the primary caregivers were in their twenties (53.2%) or thirties (32.5%) in the fall of 1997. Only a few (2.6%) of the primary caregivers were less than 20 years old, and just slightly more than one tenth (11.7%) of caregivers were 40 years or older. The mean age (30.4 years) and median age (28.4 years) of all primary caregivers was similar to the ages of mothers as caregivers (M = 29.0 years; Mdn = 28.4 years). Fathers as caregivers were slightly older (M = 31.4 years; Mdn = 29.4 years), while the mean (47.3 years) and median (47.9 years) ages of the non-parental caregivers were higher than the mean and median ages of the caregivers who were mothers or fathers. The majority of the non-parental caregivers (78.1%) were in the 40 and older age range.
The three supplemental exhibits at the end of the chapter provide the opportunity to look at the distribution of age across ethnicity, urbanicity, and geographic region. As shown in Exhibit 4-15, the mean age of all primary caregivers varied only slightly across ethnic groups. The greatest proportions of primary caregivers who were less than 29 years old came from the Midwest (61.1%) and the South (59.1%), although almost one half of the caregivers in the Northeast (47.8%) or the West (49.7%) were also under 29 years of age (Exhibit 4-17). A slightly higher percentage of primary caregivers under the age of 29 lived in urban areas (59.9%), although more than one half of the primary caregivers who lived in rural areas (53.6%) were under 29 years of age, as well (Exhibit 4-16).
Nativity
Less than one fifth of all primary caregivers (18.7%) were born in a country other than the United States, with only 2.2% of all primary caregivers having reported that they had resided in the United States for less than five years. Fathers had the highest proportion of individuals (26.4%) who reported being born in a country other than the United States. Among non-parental caregivers, 7.0% reported being born outside of the United States, but all of them resided in the United States for more than five years.
In the supplemental exhibits, Exhibit 4-15 shows that the primary caregivers of Hispanic (53.4%) and Asian (86.9%) children had the highest proportion of caregivers born in a country other than the U.S., while only small numbers of the caregivers of African American (3.2%) or White children (2.4%) were born outside this country. Much higher proportions of primary caregivers from the West (35.9%) or the Northeast (28.5%) were born in a country other than the United States than were caregivers who lived in the Midwest (8.6%) or the South (11.2%) (Exhibit 4-17). Exhibit 4-16 shows that a higher proportion of caregivers from urban areas (23.9%) were born outside the United States than caregivers from rural areas (8.1%).
Marital Status
Less than one half of all primary caregivers (42.1%) were married. About one third (33.7%) reported being single, while almost one quarter (23.1%) were divorced, separated, or widowed. A higher percentage of fathers as caregivers (63.5%) reported being married than did mothers as caregivers (42.1%) or non-parental caregivers (43.6%).
As shown in Exhibit 4-15 of the supplemental exhibits, slightly more than three fifths of the caregivers of African American children (60.9%) were single and never married, while fewer caregivers of White (18.4%) or Hispanic children (24.4%) were single. Among the geographic regions (Exhibit 4-17), the Northeast (42.5%) had the largest proportion of single, never married caregivers. In the other regions, one third to one quarter of the caregivers were classified as single, never married. In urban areas, 36.8% of the caregivers were reported to be single, while the same classification applied to 27.4% of the rural caregivers.
Education and Training
Almost three fourths of all primary caregivers (72.0%) had at least a high school diploma or GED. Although one third of all caregivers (32.1%) reported they attended some college or received an Associates degree, only 2.3% had a college degree or higher. More than two fifths of all primary caregivers (41.9%) had attended a vocational or trade school, and 37.7% had received a certificate or license. Only 1.2% of all primary caregivers had Child Development Associate (CDA) training. Approximately one fourth (24.3%) of all primary caregivers reported that they were working toward a degree, certificate, or license in the fall of 1997, with 6.6% working toward a high school diploma or GED. Of those who reported they were working towards a degree, about one fourth (24.1%) indicated they had completed the degree by the time of the spring 1998 parent interview.
When comparing education and training across the different types of caregivers, a greater proportion of non-parental caregivers (32.4%) had less than a high school diploma or GED than mothers as caregivers (27.5%) or fathers as caregivers (19.4%). Slightly more than one half of the fathers as caregivers (52.4%) reported having attended vocational or trade school than did mothers as caregivers (41.0%) or non-parental caregivers (45.4%), and fewer non-parental caregivers (13.9%) reported that they were currently working toward a degree, certificate, or license than did mothers as caregivers (25.4%) or fathers as caregivers (20.6%).
The ethnicity supplemental exhibit (Exhibit 4-15) indicates that the largest proportion of the caregivers of Hispanic children (39.6%) reported having less than a high school education, while the largest proportion of caregivers of White children (43.5%) had a high school diploma or GED, with an additional one third (34.7%) having attended some college or received an Associate’s degree. Most caregivers of African American children had either a high school diploma (34.4%) or had attended some college (36.7%). Among primary caregivers who lived in the Northeast, 40.7% attended some college, slightly higher than the proportion of caregivers from families in the Midwest (32.8%), South (34.9%), or West (34.8%) (Exhibit 4-17).
Employment
Over one half of all primary caregivers (52.4%) were employed in the fall of 1997, 34.0% had full-time jobs and 18.3% were working part-time or had seasonal work. Fathers as caregivers (79.8%) were more likely to be employed than mothers as caregivers (51.5%) or non-parental caregivers (45.9%). Among those parents who responded to both the fall 1997 and spring 1998 questionnaire, 50.7% were employed in the fall of 1997 (32.6% full-time; 18.1% part-time) and both overall employment (55.7%) and full-time employment (38.8%) had increased by the spring of 1998.
The supplemental exhibits show that the primary caregivers of Hispanic children (52.6%) had a slightly higher rate of unemployment than caregivers of African American children (46.0%) or White children (45.1%) (Exhibit 4-15). Less than one half of the primary caregivers in the Northeast (43.6%) were employed, while a majority of the caregivers in the Midwest (56.5%), South (53.1%), and West (52.3%) were employed (Exhibit 4-17). Finally, slightly more than one half of the primary caregivers from both rural areas (55.2%) and urban settings (50.8%) were employed (Exhibit 4-16).
4.3 Mothers and Fathers Who Were Not the Interview Respondents
Additional questions were asked during the interview about parents who were not respondents, many of whom were also considered primary caregivers. Exhibit 4-2 displays information regarding both household and non-household mothers’ and fathers’ education and employment, as well as the financial support and rate of visitation provided by the non-household parents for their children.
| Characteristics | Weighted Percentages, Spring 1998 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fathers | Mothers | |||
| Household (n =1,085 ) |
Non- Household (n = 1,481) |
Household (n = 106) |
Non- Household (n = 178)a |
|
| Education | ||||
| Less than high school | 39.4 | 35.0 | 43.6 | 45.1 |
| High school diploma or GED | 36.9 | 34.6 | 23.6 | 23.0 |
| Some college | 18.8 | 13.0 | 28.6 | 12.1 |
| College degree or higher | 3.6 | 2.6 | 1.0 | 5.8 |
| Don't know | 1.3 | 14.9 | 3.1 | 14.1 |
| Employment or Other Status | ||||
| Employed | 87.1 | 52.6 | 56.8 | 36.1 |
| Unemployed/laid off | 5.8 | 8.4 | 17.5 | 20.0 |
| Looking for work | 2.5 | 1.3 | 3.5 | 0.2 |
| In school/training | 5.5 | 3.1 | 21.1 | 11.4 |
| In jail/prison | 0.3 | 6.1 | 0.0 | 6.5 |
| In military | 0.6 | 1.7 | 0.0 | 1.0 |
| Other | 4.5 | 2.7 | 2.4 | 4.6 |
| Provided financial support for child | ----- | 42.3 | ----- | 29.6 |
| Lived within one hour ride of child | ----- | 55.0 | ----- | 65.8 |
| Frequency of Visitation | ||||
| Daily | ----- | 11.9 | ----- | 8.2 |
| Several times a week | ----- | 14.0 | ----- | 26.8 |
| Several times a month | ----- | 16.6 | ----- | 21.4 |
| Several times a year | ----- | 10.2 | ----- | 13.3 |
| Rarely or never | ----- | 40.6 | ----- | 24.8 |
| Don't know | ----- | 0.8 | ----- | 0.5 |
| aDue to interviewer error, only 178 of 325 non-household mothers were asked the questions reported in this table.(back) |
Education
In general, education levels tended to be lower for both categories of mothers than for fathers (Exhibit 4-2). Higher proportions of the household mothers (43.6%) and the non-household mothers (45.1%) had less than a high school education than either household fathers (39.4%) or non-household fathers (35.0%). Even so, almost one third of the household mothers (29.6%) attended some college or received a college degree or higher, and higher proportions of both household (21.1%) and non-household (11.4%) mothers were attending school or training than household (5.5%) or non-household (3.1%) fathers. Non-household parents included lower percentages of both mothers (17.9%) and fathers (15.6%) who attended college than did the two groups of household parents (22.4% for mothers; 29.6% for fathers).
Employment or Other Status
While almost all of the household fathers (87.1%) were employed, just over one third of non-household mothers (36.1%) worked. Higher proportions of mothers, both household (17.5%) and non-household (20.0%), were unemployed or laid-off than were either household fathers (5.8%) or non-household fathers (8.4%). Approximately 6.1% of the non-household fathers and 6.5% of the non-household mothers were reported to be in jail or prison.
Financial Support and Visitation of the Head Start Children
Of the non-household parents, over one half of the fathers (55.0%) and almost two thirds of the mothers (65.8%) lived within a one-hour ride of their children. Forty percent of the non-household fathers and 24.8% of the non-household mothers rarely or never saw their children. Less than one half of the non-household fathers (42.3%) and less than one third of the non-household mothers (29.6%) were reported to have contributed to the financial support of their children. Mother-figures were noted to be available to more than one half of the Head Start children in households without a resident mother (56.5%), while father-figures were reported to be available to 63.0% of the children living in households without a resident father. Children without a father figure and who rarely or never saw their fathers made up 5.4% of the population, while virtually none (0.1%) of the children rarely or never saw their mothers and had no mother figure available.
4.4 The Households
The study families resided in households with a mean size of 4.6 persons. A mean of 4.4 persons per household were identified as family members related to the Head Start children. Mothers and fathers were present in 42.3% of the households. Mother-only households represented 33.3% of the families, while mothers living with stepfathers, male partners, or grandmothers were an additional 16.9% of the families. Two percent of the households were determined to have fathers but no mothers, and 4.4% of the children lived without either parent. Among the children, 21.8% had no brothers or sisters in the household, 22.5% were the oldest children in their families, 37.0% were the youngest children in their families, and 18.8% had both older and younger siblings. The mean number of siblings in a family was 1.4 (range = zero to 9).
There were two or more adults (age 18 or older) in 70.4% of the households. In most of the households (89.1%), there was at least one individual with a high school diploma or GED, while almost one half of the households (47.3%) had more than one individual with a diploma or GED. There was at least one employed household member in 77.6% of the households, and 32.1% of the households had more than one individual who was working at the time of the baseline interview.
Over time, many of the Head Start households experienced changes in their composition. In comparing reports of household members from fall 1997 to spring 1998, 40.8% of all families indicated that either someone entered or left their household. In 30.7% of the households, someone who was not in the household in the fall was there in the spring, while in 26.2% of the households, someone who was there in the fall had left the household by the time of the spring interview. As shown in Exhibit 4-3, most of the change was accounted for by fathers, brothers, sisters, and by male and female relatives (e.g. aunts, uncles, cousins).
A higher proportion of males entered or left households than females. While 8.0% of the households were found to have had a change involving key adult females (mother, grandmother, foster mother, stepmother, or a female partner), key adult males (father, grandfather, foster father, stepfather, or male partner) contributed to change in more than twice as many (18.7%) of these households. Chapter 6 of Section II as well as Section IV of this technical report contain additional information on household changes in Head Start families.
|
Monthly Household Income
Income is the key component of the Head Start eligibility criteria. In this study, household income was collected to assess the broad level of economic resources available to the family. However, because the household income data presented in this report reflect income contributed by all members of a household from all sources, it is potentially greater than the family income used to determine eligibility under the Head Start regulations (45 CFR 1305.2(e)) which refer to “the income of the parent(s) or guardian(s) of the child enrolling or participating in the program.” In addition, the Head Start definition of income includes restrictions on items such as capital gains, tax refunds, and lump-sum inheritances. A more detailed discussion of this issue is presented in the recruitment and enrollment substudy final report entitled Reaching Out to Families: Head Start Recruitment and Enrollment Practices (D’Elio, O’Brien, Magee, Keane, Hailey, & Connell, 2000). Exhibit 4-4 presents household income data reported by selected demographic characteristics.
In general, the findings regarding income were as expected. The mean monthly income for all families was $1,256 in the fall of 1997. For each increase in the level of parent education, there was a corresponding in household monthly income (r = .15; p < .0001) (Exhibit 4-4). Also, parents who were employed full time had higher mean household incomes ($1,515) than parents who were employed part-time ($1,216) or unemployed ($1,081). Married respondents reported the highest mean household incomes ($1,528), while single, never married respondents reported the lowest ($979). Within the main ethnic groups, the parents of White children reported the highest mean household monthly incomes ($1,455) and parents of African American children the lowest mean household monthly incomes ($1,099). Parents born in the U.S. reported slightly higher mean household incomes than did parents born in other countries ($1,264, $1,217, respectively). Almost two thirds of the Head Start families (64.9%) had projected annual incomes below the Federal Poverty Level (FPL). In the longitudinal sample2, the mean household monthly income in the fall 1997 was $1,258, which significantly increased to $1,326 in the spring 1998, t(2371) = 4.64; p < .0001.
Employment changed over time for a number of families for whom there were two years of data. From fall 1997 to spring 1998, more than one tenth of the parents (11.7%) went from being unemployed to having a full or part-time job. By the spring of 1999, almost one fifth of all parents (17.8%) were working after reporting no job in the fall of 1997. One tenth of the parents (9.5%) reported not having a job in spring 1999 after they had been working in fall 1997. Among the parents who were not working in fall 1997, 75.1% were not working in the following spring, and 16.9% were not working in the spring of 1999. These findings do not account, however, for parents who may have had a working spouse or partner.
| Fall 1997 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Mean Income | SE | Median Income | |
| All (N = 2,983) | 1,256 | 20.1 | 1,080 |
| Ethnicity | |||
| African American | 1,099 | 35.7 | 900 |
| White | 1,455 | 41.2 | 1,250 |
| Hispanic | 1,178 | 39.6 | 1,000 |
| Other | 1,322 | 46.6 | 1,200 |
| Marital status | |||
| Married | 1,528 | 32.3 | 1,350 |
| Single, never married | 979 | 28.0 | 800 |
| Divorced or widowed | 1,242 | 56.6 | 1,000 |
| Married, but separated | 1,042 | 67.2 | 900 |
| Nativity | |||
| Born in the U.S. | 1,264 | 23.2 | 1,064 |
| Born in country other than U.S. | 1,217 | 39.3 | 1,000 |
| Education | |||
| Less than high school | 1,062 | 28.5 | 900 |
| High school diploma or GED | 1,275 | 33.0 | 1,100 |
| Some college | 1,367 | 42.1 | 1,200 |
| College degree or higher | 1,525 | 121.9 | 1,448 |
| Employment Status | |||
| Full-time | 1,515 | 34.0 | 1,300 |
| Part-time | 1,216 | 53.4 | 1,000 |
| Not employed | 1,081 | 27.4 | 900 |
Exhibit 4-5 examines the relationship between monthly household income and the employment status of parents in both single-parent and two-parent families. The shaded area in each column represents the top three income categories reported by respondents under each category of parent employment status. As with the previous income table, the findings fit an expected pattern. That is, families with no working parent represented the highest proportion of families within the lowest income categories, and families with two working parents represented the largest proportion of families within the highest income categories. Families with one working parent, whether they were one- or two-parent families, reported somewhat similar income patterns, with their highest proportion of these families in the middle-income categories. The proportion of families within each parent employment status category who are in households where the incomes are at or below the FPL is also presented in Exhibit 4-5. The proportion of families under the FPL decreases as the number of employed parents in the household increases. The reader is again cautioned that this table is based on household income, which is likely to be higher than the family income used to determine Head Start eligibility.
| Household Income | Weighted Percentages, Fall 1997 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All Families (n = 2,983) |
Single-Parent Families | Two-Parent Families | ||||
| Non- Working (n = 688) |
Working (n = 868) |
Both Parents Working (n = 507) |
One Parent Working (n = 625) |
Neither Parent Working (n = 118) |
||
| $499 or less | 11.8 | 26.5 | 9.5 | 2.7 | 6.8 | 24.5 |
| $500-999 | 29.6 | 42.7 | 34.3 | 9.6 | 24.7 | 37.3 |
| $1,000-1,499 | 24.8 | 16.1 | 27.8 | 26.9 | 29.9 | 21.4 |
| $1,500-1,999 | 14.4 | 6.4 | 14.4 | 22.9 | 16.8 | 10.8 |
| $2,000 or more | 15.7 | 5.5 | 11.6 | 35.9 | 14.6 | 3.3 |
| Household income at or below the FPL | 64.9 | 85.2 | 61.3 | 43.9 | 64.4 | 92.4 |
Other Sources of Financial Support
As shown in Exhibit 4-6, the primary sources of reported non-employment economic support were the public assistance programs: Medicaid (58.1%), the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program (54.5%), Food Stamps (49.5%), and the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program (30.3%). Child support was the most often reported non-Federal source of family support (21.1%). While more than one half of the parents of children from each ethnic group reported reliance on at least one of these public programs (Exhibit 4-15), parents of African American children reported the highest rates of participation in public assistance programs. Exhibit 4-16 shows that a higher proportion of rural families (58.7%) than urban families (52.4%) used WIC. Across the geographic regions (Exhibit 4-17), the greatest proportion of families using TANF was found in the Northeast (41.0%), while approximately 50% of the families in each region reported that they received WIC.
|
Exhibit 4-7 presents participation rates in the four primary public assistance programs by parents’ employment status. The pattern that emerges from this table is an inverse relationship between employment and public assistance program participation. Non-working single parents generally reported the highest rates of participation in public assistance, while two-parent, both-working families reported the lowest participation rates. Among those families in which one parent worked, the two-parent families generally reported lower participation rates than did the single-parent families, except for the WIC program for which two-parent families reported a slightly higher rate of participation.
| Sources of Financial Support |
Weighted Percentages, Fall 1997 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All (n = 2,983) |
Single-Parent Families | Two-Parent Families | ||||
| Non-
Working (n = 688) |
Parent Working (n = 868) |
Both Parent Working (n = 507) |
One Parent Working (n = 625) |
Neither Parent Working (n = 118) |
||
| Medicaid | 58.1 | 81.6 | 54.9 | 35.3 | 50.4 | 80.7 |
| WIC | 54.5 | 62.7 | 47.7 | 41.5 | 61.9 | 71.8 |
| Food stamps | 49.5 | 83.1 | 47.2 | 20.0 | 39.8 | 70.7 |
| TANF | 30.3 | 67.8 | 24.3 | 6.5 | 15.3 | 45.1 |
Welfare Reform
During the spring 1998 data collection (the period for which the most complete data on welfare reform are available), more than 3 in 5 parents in the study sample (63.7%) reported that their families received benefits from one or more of the following public assistance programs: TANF, Food Stamps, or WIC (Exhibit 4-8). Approximately one third of the parents participating in these programs (34.6%) reported that they were required to get a job, attend job training, attend school/GED class, or do something else in order to continue receiving these program benefits.
Parents who reported their supplemental sources of support were linked to program requirements were asked how these requirements affected their lives. More than one half of these parents (56.3%) reported that the requirements had no effect on their families. One in five (20.5%) reported that the requirements made it more difficult for them to find child care. However, approximately one quarter of those subject to welfare requirements (28.4%) reported that Head Start had helped them resolve child care issues.
| Weighted Frequencies, Spring 1998 |
|
|---|---|
| Welfare Reform Requirements (n = 1,752)a | |
| Get a job | 25.5 |
| Job training | 18.7 |
| School or GED | 12.2 |
| Something else | 5.3 |
| Effects of Welfare Reform Requirements (n = 606) | |
| No effect | 56.3 |
| More difficult to find child care | 20.5 |
| Reduction in other benefits | 5.4 |
| More difficult to find child care subsidies | 4.1 |
| Transportation needs have increased | 4.0 |
| Reduced time for involvement in Head Start | 3.6 |
| Must provide more support to family or friends | 2.7 |
| Friends or relatives not available | 1.9 |
| Other | 14.2 |
| How Head Start Has Helped (n = 606) | |
| With child care | 28.4 |
| To understand welfare reform requirements | 9.6 |
| Find a job | 5.6 |
| Get education or training | 4.5 |
| Get transportation | 1.6 |
| How Head Start has Been a Problem (n = 606) | |
| Has done nothing | 36.8 |
| Sessions are not long enough | 1.8 |
| Does not understand welfare reform requirements | 0.4 |
| Required participation at inconvenient times | 0.4 |
| Required too much participation | 0.0 |
| Other | 4.0 |
| aThe 1,752 represent families who reported receiving assistance in the form of TANF, WIC, or food stamps. The 606 represent families who had to meet a training or work requirement related to welfare reform.(back) |
Housing
A large majority of parents (86.5%) reported that they lived in a house, apartment, or trailer of their own (Exhibit 4-9), while just over one fifth (22.2%) indicated that they lived in public or subsidized housing3. Parents of African American children represented the largest proportions of those families living in transitional housing and those in public or subsidized housing (82.0% and 49.1%, respectively). In addition, TANF recipients represented about half of those families living in public or subsidized housing (48.9%).
| Demographic Characteristic | Weighted Percentages, Fall 1997 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Housing Type | Public
or Subsidized Housing (n = 658) |
|||
| Own House, Apartment, or Trailer (n = 2,606) |
Share House, Apartment, or Trailer (n = 344) |
Transitional Housing or Shelter (n = 32) |
||
| All (N = 2,983) | 86.5 | 12.5 | 1.1 | 22.2 |
| Ethnicity | ||||
| African American | 27.2 | 30.5 | 82.0 | 49.1 |
| White | 32.0 | 21.3 | 3.0 | 20.3 |
| Hispanic | 27.6 | 36.1 | 1.8 | 21.2 |
| Other | 12.3 | 11.6 | 6.8 | 8.0 |
| Nativity | ||||
| Born in country other than U.S. | 18.4 | 27.1 | 0.0 | 10.5 |
| Education | ||||
| Less than high school | 26.9 | 32.1 | 19.7 | 29.4 |
| High school diploma or GED | 38.6 | 31.9 | 23.5 | 36.2 |
| Some college | 31.7 | 32.9 | 53.8 | 33.1 |
| College degree or higher | 2.7 | 3.2 | 3.0 | 1.4 |
| Employment Status | ||||
| Full-time | 34.8 | 32.6 | 33.7 | 29.7 |
| Part-time | 17.7 | 18.0 | 16.7 | 14.7 |
| Not employed | 47.1 | 49.3 | 38.0 | 55.1 |
| Welfare Recipient | 28.9 | 38.0 | 47.6 | 48.9 |
Medical Health Insurance
Exhibit 4-10 presents data on health insurance coverage by selected demographic characteristics. It was possible for a parent to indicate that their Head Start child was covered by private health insurance and that someone in the household (possibly the Head Start child) was receiving Medicaid. Therefore, these two columns are not mutually exclusive.
Among the children covered by private health insurance, the largest proportion (36.3%) was White, while African American children (34.8%) represented the largest proportion of children from families receiving Medicaid. Hispanics had the highest percentage of families with no health insurance (38.3%). Of those families with private health insurance, approximately one half of the parents reported that they were married (47.6%), as was the case for families reporting no health insurance coverage (53.9%). Single, never married parents formed the largest proportion of parents reporting receipt of Medicaid (42.2%). While families with at least one parent born outside of the United States accounted for 14.9% of families with private health insurance and 15.6% of the Medicaid families, they also represented 30.7% of the families without any health insurance coverage.
Families with at least one parent who had less than a high school education accounted for only about one sixth of those children covered with private health insurance (17.5%), while approximately one third of those families had Medicaid coverage or had no insurance coverage at all (30.9% and 32.2%, respectively). Parents who were employed full time accounted for approximately half of those families with private health insurance (48.5%), and represented only about one quarter of those on Medicaid (27.3%) and just over one third of those with no insurance (34.0%). Further, almost three out of four families with private health insurance (71.8%) also reported household incomes of $1,000 or more, while almost three out of five families without health insurance (58.1%) also were in this income category. Of the families receiving Medicaid, slightly more than two fifths reported monthly incomes of $1,000 or more (43.5%). Since private health insurance is most often provided through an employer, it makes sense that employment status appears to be a critical factor in a family’s access to health insurance.
| Demographic Characteristics | Weighted Percentages, Fall 1997 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Private Health Insurancea (n = 938) |
Medicaidb (n = 1,768) |
No Insurance Coverage (n = 567) |
|
| All (N = 2,983) | 32.6 | 58.1 | 19.0 |
| Ethnicity | |||
| African American | 27.7 | 34.8 | 17.9 |
| White | 36.3 | 26.5 | 29.2 |
| Hispanic | 23.7 | 25.9 | 38.3 |
| Other | 11.1 | 11.5 | 13.6 |
| Marital status | |||
| Married | 47.6 | 35.0 | 53.9 |
| Single, never married | 27.1 | 42.4 | 24.0 |
| Divorced or widowed | 15.2 | 14.1 | 11.0 |
| Married, but separated | 10.0 | 8.6 | 11.1 |
| Nativity | |||
| Born in country other than U.S. | 14.9 | 15.6 | 30.7 |
| Education | |||
| Less than high school | 17.5 | 30.9 | 32.2 |
| High school diploma or GED | 38.5 | 37.2 | 38.4 |
| Some college | 41.5 | 29.8 | 25.0 |
| College degree or higher | 2.5 | 2.2 | 4.4 |
| Employment status | |||
| Full-time | 48.5 | 27.3 | 34.0 |
| Part-time | 17.5 | 17.6 | 19.2 |
| Not employed | 33.2 | 54.4 | 46.7 |
| Household income | |||
| $499 or less | 6.4 | 15.1 | 13.0 |
| $500-999 | 19.6 | 38.8 | 21.1 |
| $1,000-1,499 | 24.5 | 23.8 | 25.5 |
| $1,500-1,999 | 20.4 | 10.1 | 17.1 |
| $2,000 or more | 26.9 | 9.6 | 15.5 |
| aPrivate
health insurance coverage was reported for the child.(back) bMedicaid coverage was reported for the families. Both Medicaid and private health insurance were reported for 290 families.(back) |
Health Status of Parents and Household Members
Overall, most parents reported that their health was good (33.7%), very good (27.7%), or excellent (22.8%). Very few parents indicated that they had a health problem that kept them from working (9.2%) or limited them in the kind or amount of work that they could do (6.9%). Almost one quarter of the parents (24.5%) indicated that someone in their household had an illness or condition that required regular, ongoing care. See Chapter 3, Section 3.3 for information about the health status of the Head Start children.
Health Care for the Head Start Children
Medical Homes. Most parents (88.2%) reported that their children had a regular health care provider for routine medical care. The supplemental exhibits at the end of the chapter show that among the ethnic groups, White children (94.6%) and African American children (89.7%) had the highest percentages of regular health care providers (Exhibit 4-15). The lowest reported rate was for Hispanic children (80.2%). Across the geographic regions (Exhibit 4-17), families in the Northeast had the highest percentages of children (96.1%) and parents (83.9%) with regular health care providers. Families from the South had the lowest reports of children (82.8%) and parents (68.9%) having regular health care providers. Urban (88.3%) and rural (88.0%) children had similar proportions of regular health care providers, as did the parents in these groups (75.6% urban; 76.0% rural) (Exhibit 4-16).
Sources of Routine Health Care. Two thirds of the parents (66.3%) reported that they usually took their children to private doctors or HMOs for routine medical care. The remaining parents indicated that their children received routine medical care through public health departments (10.6%), hospital outpatient clinics (10.1%), or community health centers (9.5%). A very small proportion of the parents indicated seeking routine care through the Indian Health Service or Migrant clinics (1.1%), or at hospital emergency rooms (0.8%).
Among the identified ethnic groups (Exhibit 4-15), White children were the most likely to receive care from private doctors or HMOs (81.1%), while lower percentages of African American (56.8%) and Hispanic (59.5%) children went to private doctors or HMOs for their routine care. The supplemental exhibits also show that routine care was provided by private doctors or HMOs for more than one half of the children in each geographic region (Exhibit 4-17). Families in the Midwest (81.6%) and the West (68.7%) had the highest reports regarding the use of private doctors or HMOs. Conversely, the Northeast (44.5%) and the South (38.5%) had the highest reported use of non-private doctors for routine care for children. About two thirds of the urban (64.5%) and the rural (69.8%) children received care from private doctors or HMOs (Exhibit 4-16).
Sources of Care for Illness and Injury. Over half of the parents (54.2%) also indicated that they took their children to private doctors or HMOs when their children were sick or injured, while 23.6% indicated that they took their children to hospital emergency rooms in these cases. Less than 10% of the parents reported that they took their children to any other categories of providers, such as hospital outpatient clinics (8.3%), public health departments (6.6%), or community health centers (5.6%). Sources of health care remained relatively unchanged in the spring of 1998. Exhibit 4-11 displays the sources of child health care for routine care as well as care for illness or injury.
|
When sick or injured, 70.6% of the White children went to private doctors or HMOs (Exhibit 4-15). In contrast, just over one half of the Hispanic children (53.0%) received such care from private doctors or HMOs, as did less than two fifths of the African American children (37.0%). African American children had the highest percentage of children who were taken to hospital emergency rooms for illness or injury (40.9%), more than two times the rate reported for White (14.7%) or Hispanic (17.1%) children.
Regardless of region, when children were sick or injured, the providers of choice were private doctors or HMOs (Exhibit 4-17). About three fifths of the families in the Midwest (57.6%) and two thirds of the families in the West (66.9%) used private doctors or HMOs in these situations, but these percentages dropped to below one half for families in the South (49.4%) and the Northeast (42.7%). Between one quarter and one third of the families indicated that they would visit a hospital emergency room, except in the West where only 8.0% reported that they used this option. Similarly, about one quarter of the families would visit non-private doctors, except in the Midwest where only 12.3% reported use of non-private doctors when their children were sick or injured.
Data presented in Exhibit 4-16 paints a similar picture for urban and rural families’ use of services for sick or injured children. Just over one half took their children to private doctors or HMOs (51.9% urban; 58.8% rural), while about one quarter used local hospital emergency rooms (24.9% urban; 20.8% rural). The remainder used non-private doctors.
Help from Head Start in Finding Health Care. Approximately 80.1% of the parents indicated that their children had health care providers prior to their enrollment in Head Start, and 9.1% found health care providers on their own. Head Start provided some assistance in finding health care to 4.4% of the parents; however, 5.8% of parents indicated that Head Start had not helped them, even though they had needed help. The finding that Head Start generally provided help for only a small percentage of families held up across classifications of children’s ethnicity, as about 90% of the parents of children within almost every ethnic group found health care providers without assistance from Head Start (Exhibit 4-15). A slightly lower percentage of parents of Asian children (73.0%) secured health care providers without help from Head Start. Program staff was reported to have helped less than five percent of parents across each ethnic group. Parents of African American children (11.8%) and Asian children (17.7%) were most likely to desire help from Head Start in finding appropriate heath care providers for their children.
As seen in Exhibit 4-17 of the supplemental exhibits, almost all the families in the Northeast (96.2%) found their children’s providers without the aid of Head Start, and the percentages of parents in the other regions who found providers without assistance from Head Start were all 84.0% or higher. Interestingly, between 3.5% and 10.5% of the parents in the Midwest, South, and West indicated that they wished Head Start would help them more in this area, a request that came from virtually none of the parents in the Northeast. The reports were similar for urban and rural families on this issue (Exhibit 4-16), with about 90% in each group finding providers on their own, and about 6% in each group stating they hoped Head Start would offer more assistance in finding health care providers for their children.
Effects of Insurance and Employment on Sources of Health Care. The sources of routine health care for children also appeared to be related to the type of health insurance covering the children (Exhibit 4-12). Among children with private health insurance, 76.6% reported using private doctors or HMOs for routine care, while children with Medicaid (63.5%) or no insurance coverage (54.3%) were less likely to use these sources. About one quarter of children with no health insurance (28.9%) or with Medicaid (23.7%) received their routine health care at community health centers or public health departments, sites used by only a few of the children with private health insurance (12.0%).
|
Slightly more than two thirds of parents who reported that they were employed
full-time (69.1%) or part-time (68.7%) also took their children to private
doctors or HMOs for routine care, slightly more than parents who were
not employed (62.5%) or received TANF benefits (61.5%). The opposite patterns
were observed for the use of community health centers/public health departments
or hospital outpatient clinics, which had lower proportions of employed
parents than of parents who were unemployed or receiving TANF benefits.
Health Care for the Head Start Parents
Over three fourths of the parents (75.7%) indicated that they had a regular health care provider for their own routine medical care. Sources of adult health care were similar to those reported for the children and predominantly included going to private doctors or HMOs (60.8%), public health departments (10.9%), hospital outpatient clinics (10.7%), or community health centers (9.9%).
The supplemental exhibits show that almost three fourths of the parents of White children (74.5%) had private doctors or HMOs where they received their routine medical care (Exhibit 4-15). Among parents of Hispanic (50.9%) and African American (54.6%) children, private doctors or HMOs were used by more than one half of these groups. Between one half and three quarters of the parents in each geographic region reported that they used private doctors or HMOs as their routine care providers. The highest percentage was among parents in the Midwest (78.1%). Exhibit 4-16 shows that more than three fifths of the parents in the rural group (63.6%) received services from private doctors or HMOs, while a slightly smaller percentage of the parents in the urban group (59.4%) also identified the same sources of care.
Most parents (76.9%) reported that they had health care providers prior to their children’s enrollment in Head Start, and 10.3% found health care providers on their own after enrolling. At least three fourths of the parents, across all ethnic groups, found their own health care providers without the aid of Head Start (Exhibit 4-15). Less than seven percent of parents in each group were assisted by Head Start, and except for parents of African American children (13.0%) and Asian children (11.0%), less than five percent indicated a desire for additional help from Head Start in identifying providers. Regardless of geographic region, more than 80% of the parents reported that they had found health care providers without the assistance of Head Start (Exhibit 4-17). More than 10% of the parents in the South (11.9%) indicated that they would like Head Start to help them find providers, while less than one percent of the parents in the Northeast (0.01%) suggested a need for similar assistance. Similarly, Exhibit 4-16 notes that about 85% of both urban (87.9%) and rural (85.9%) parents found health care providers without the assistance of Head Start, while slightly more than five percent (6.8% urban; 5.7% rural) indicated that they wanted more assistance from Head Start in locating providers.
Dental Care for Children
Most parents (84.6%) reported that their children had received dental care, and over half (56.6%) reported that their children went to private dentists for this care. Of the parents who indicated that their children had not been to a dentist prior to the fall 1997 interview (15.4%), the majority of them (97.6%) reported receiving dental care by the spring 1998 data collection period. These parents indicated taking their children to hospital dental clinics (40.1%), private dentists (33.1%), community health dental clinics (10.9%), or to some other providers (13.5%).
Exhibit 4-15 shows that, across all ethnic groups, between 80% and 90% of the children were reported to have visited a dentist by the time of the baseline interview. Between one half and two thirds of the White (67.3%) and the Hispanic (57.2%) children received services from private dentists, while only 43.4% of the African American children went to private dentists.
Looking at the four geographic regions (Exhibit 4-17), three quarters of the children were reported to have visited dentists, a figure that went well above 90% for children in the Midwest (93.5%) and the Northeast (95.8%). In most cases, children received dental services from private dentists, with percentages ranging from 44.4% in the South to 70.7% in the Midwest. For both urban and rural groups (Exhibit 4-16), more than four fifths of the families in each group indicated that their children had received dental care, typically from private dentists (54.3% urban; 61.4% rural). Those who received dental services were more likely to be the 4-year-old children (70.2%) than the 3-year-old children (29.8%).
Use of Child Care
Prior to their children’s enrollment in Head Start, about one half of the parents (49.9%) reported that they used regular child care (10 hours a week or more). Children, on average, started this care when they were about 14 months old (M = 13.8 months, SD = 12.0; Mdn = 12.0 months), and the number of arrangements ranged from 1 to 12, with a mean of 1.6 arrangements (SD = 1.0). Once their children were enrolled in Head Start, 28.9% of the parents reported using child care before or after their children’s time in the Head Start classroom. The number of arrangements used again ranged from 1 to 5, with a mean of 1.2 arrangements (SD = .45) for each child in care.
The type of child care arrangements used prior to and during children’s enrollment in Head Start are reported in Exhibit 4-13. The most frequent type of child care arrangement in both cases was care in a relative’s home. Once children were enrolled in Head Start, the proportion of parents indicating care by a relative in their children’s home increased slightly, while decreases in proportions were noted in child care provided in a relative’s home, family day care home, and child care center. About one tenth of the parents (10.4%) indicated that the local Head Start program provided care for their children before or after their children’s time in the Head Start classrooms.
|
Parents who reported using child care in addition to their Head Start enrollment indicated using their primary arrangement an average of 19.9 (SD = 12.0) hours a week. While less than two fifths (37.4%) reported that the child care provider was licensed, certified, or regulated, 92.8% of the unregulated care was provided by family, friends, or neighbors. More than one half (54.0%) of the parents indicated that they paid for their child care themselves. Approximately one quarter indicated that the care was free (25.5%) or paid for by a government agency (26.5%), while 7.5% indicated that payment came from some other source, such as their employer, the YMCA, or Head Start. A small percentage of parents (3.0%) indicated that they traded child care with others. Payment for care was provided through multiple sources for 18.4% of the parents.
Parents described their children’s experience in the primary child care arrangement used before or after the Head Start day positively. The majority indicated that their children “always” or “often” felt safe and secure in this care (95.4%), got lots of individual attention in this care (86.3%), and that their children’s caregivers were open to new information and learning (91.3%).
Language
Many parents (65.3%) reported English was the primary language spoken in their homes. Those indicating use of a language other than English predominately reported speaking Spanish (85.8%),4 while the remaining parents indicated another language, typically an Asian or Eastern-European language.
Exhibit 4-14 displays demographic characteristics by the primary language spoken in the home. As expected, larger proportions of parents reported speaking a language other than English in the home who were born in a country other than the U.S., but the majority of these parents indicated that they lived in the U.S. for five or more years.5 Marital status, education level, and employment status varied across the groups of English and non-English speaking parents. Those reporting to speak Spanish or an Asian or Eastern-European language comprised higher proportions of parents who reported being married and unemployed. Education levels tended to be slightly lower for Spanish speaking parents. Parents’ age, income level, and family size were similar across the three language groups.
Parents who indicated that a language other than English was spoken in their homes were asked if they needed someone from Head Start to speak to them or their family in their native language. Approximately one fifth of the parents (20.5%) said they did, and of these, 94.7% reported that someone from Head Start was available to speak to them or their family in their native language. Parents who indicated not having someone available to speak to them in their native language primarily included those who reported that they spoke an Asian or Eastern-European language. Parents then were asked if their children ever needed or wanted a member of the Head Start teaching staff to speak in their native languages. Again, approximately one fifth of the parents (19.6%) indicated that their children needed or wanted a member of the Head Start teaching staff to speak with them in their native language, and of these parents, 90.0% reported that Head Start had someone in the classroom available to speak to their children in their native languages. Parents who reported that their children did not have someone available in the classroom to speak in their native language included those who spoke Asian languages, Eastern-European languages, or Spanish.
| Demographic Characteristics | Weighted Percentages | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| English (n = 2,065) |
Spanish (n = 788)a |
Other (n = 130) |
|
| Age | |||
| Less than 20 years old | 3.1 | 1.6 | 0.6 |
| 21-29 years old | 55.7 | 48.8 | 43.5 |
| 30-39 years old | 29.7 | 37.1 | 39.7 |
| 40 and older | 11.2 | 12.1 | 16.2 |
| Mean age | 30.1 | 30.7 | 31.9 |
| Median age | 27.9 | 29.3 | 31.0 |
| Marital Status | |||
| Married | 35.9 | 56.7 | 56.9 |
| Single, never married | 39.1 | 23.4 | 23.9 |
| Divorced or widowed | 16.5 | 7.4 | 12.4 |
| Married, but separated | 8.5 | 12.5 | 6.9 |
| Nativity of Parent | |||
| Born in country other than U.S. | 2.3 | 50.4 | 56.5 |
| Less than 5 years in U.S. | 0.0 | 9.6 | 32.3 |
| Education | |||
| Less than high school | 23.2 | 36.6 | 28.1 |
| High school diploma or GED | 39.8 | 34.6 | 25.9 |
| Some college | 29.1 | 19.8 | 25.5 |
| College degree or higher | 7.9 | 9.0 | 20.6 |
| Employment Status | |||
| Full-time | 36.9 | 29.6 | 32.2 |
| Part-time | 18.3 | 16.8 | 16.6 |
| Not employed | 44.5 | 52.7 | 51.2 |
| Income | |||
| Less than $500 | 12.4 | 11.7 | 4.6 |
| $500-999 | 28.6 | 32.2 | 26.0 |
| $1,000-1,499 | 24.6 | 24.4 | 32.5 |
| $1,500-$1,999 | 16.0 | 10.9 | 16.4 |
| More than $2,000 | 16.3 | 14.4 | 15.8 |
| Mean number of adults in household | 1.9 | 2.2 | 2.2 |
| Mean number of children in household | 2.6 | 2.5 | 2.8 |
| aIncludes 130 families from Puerto Rico(back) |
4.5 Summary
Chapter 4 provides the baseline description of the parents of the Head Start children and the households in which they live. The need for the type of information presented in this chapter was one of the primary reasons for undertaking this study. The following is a summary of these findings.
Primary Caregivers
-
Slightly over one half of the parents were in their twenties or thirties at the time of the fall 1997 parent interview. Only a few of the parents were less than 20 years old, and just slightly more than one tenth of caregivers were 40 years or older.
Almost one fifth of all parents were born in a country other than the United States. A small percentage of caregivers, only 2.2%, reported that they had resided in the United States for less than five years. -
Less than one half of all parents were married. About one third reported being single, while almost one quarter were divorced, separated, or widowed.
-
Almost three fourths of all parents had at least a high school diploma or GED. Although one third of all caregivers reported they had attended some college or received an Associate’s degree, only 2.3% had a college degree or higher. By fall 1997, more than two fifths of all parents had attended a vocational or trade school, and almost two fifths had received a certificate or license.
-
Approximately one fourth of all parents reported that they were working toward a degree, certificate, or license in the fall of 1997, with 6.6% working toward a high school diploma or GED. Of those who reported they were working towards a degree, about one fourth indicated they had completed the degree by the time of the spring 1998 parent interview.
-
Over one half of all parents were employed in the fall of 1997, about one third had full-time jobs, and one fifth were working part-time or had seasonal work. In the longitudinal sample, 50.7% were employed in the fall of 1997 (32.6% full-time; 18.1% part-time) and by the spring of 1998, both overall employment (55.7%) and full-time employment (38.8%) had increased.
Households
-
Both mothers and fathers were present in two fifths of the households. Mother-only households represented one third of the families (non-parent adults may have been present).
-
There were two or more adults (age 18 or older) in almost three fourths of the households. In almost 90% of the households, there was at least one individual with a high school diploma or GED.
-
From fall 1997 to spring 1998, two fifths of all families indicated that either someone entered or left their household.
-
The mean income for all households was $1,256 in the fall of 1997. In the longitudinal sample, the mean household monthly income in the fall 1997 was $1,258 and increased to $1,326 in the spring 1998. In many cases, household income is likely to be higher than the family income used to determine Head Start eligibility.
-
Approximately one third of the parents participating in these welfare reform programs reported that they were required to get a job, attend job training, attend school/GED class, or do something else in order to continue receiving these public benefits.
-
The majority of parents reported English was the primary language spoken in their homes. Those indicating a language other than English was primarily spoken in the home predominantly reported speaking Spanish, while the remaining parents indicated another language.
-
Almost all of the parents reported that they and their children had a regular health care provider for routine medical care and that care was most often provided at a doctor’s office or private clinic. Most parents reported having a health care provider for themselves and their children prior to the children’s enrollment at Head Start.
-
Almost all of the parents reported that their children had received dental care and over one half received that care at a private dentist’s office. Of the one fifth of children who had not been to a dentist prior to the fall 1997 interview, the majority had received dental care by the following spring.
-
About one half of the children were in child care prior to their enrollment in Head Start and began in this care soon after their first birthday. After enrollment in the program, slightly less than one third were enrolled in child care before or after the Head Start day. The most frequent type of child care arrangement used was care in a relative’s home.
| Characteristics | Weighted Percentages | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
All (N = 3,120) |
African American (n = 1,137) |
White (n = 859) |
Hispanic (n = 760) |
Asian (n =32 ) |
Native American (n =57) |
Other (n = 250) |
|
| Urbanicity | |||||||
| Urban | 67.0 | 79.5 | 39.0 | 85.6 | 92.7 | 41.9 | 64.0 |
| Rural | 33.1 | 20.5 | 61.0 | 14.4 | 7.3 | 58.2 | 36.0 |
| Region | |||||||
| Midwest | 23.1 | 23.7 | 38.0 | 7.5 | 12.3 | 26.7 | 19.9 |
| Northeast | 15.5 | 16.9 | 14.1 | 15.1 | 26.9 | 6.1 | 16.9 |
| South | 39.5 | 52.6 | 31.3 | 38.0 | 23.6 | 28.8 | 33.6 |
| West | 22.0 | 6.8 | 16.6 | 39.4 | 37.3 | 38.4 | 29.6 |
| Gender of Child | |||||||
| Male | 50.4 | 47.2 | 54.1 | 49.4 | 67.0 | 48.6 | 49.7 |
| Female | 49.6 | 52.8 | 45.9 | 50.6 | 33.1 | 51.4 | 50.3 |
| Age of Child | |||||||
| 3 years old | 31.7 | 38.1 | 30.0 | 25.9 | 32.7 | 38.3 | 31.9 |
| 4 years old | 68.3 | 61.9 | 70.0 | 74.2 | 67.3 | 61.7 | 68.1 |
| Child Birthweight | |||||||
| Normal | 85.8 | 83.1 | 87.5 | 86.2 | 61.7 | 93.5 | 88.6 |
| Low | 7.6 | 9.5 | 7.2 | 7.4 | 6.8 | 1.8 | 5.9 |
| Very low | 1.8 | 2.3 | 0.9 | 2.5 | 1.3 | 0.0 | 1.7 |
| Child Disability | 19.3 | 19.9 | 24.2 | 16.1 | 9.8 | 14.4 | 14.9 |
| Age of Parent | |||||||
| Less than 20 years old | 2.5 | 4.9 | 1.1 | 2.4 | 0.0 | 0.9 | 1.0 |
| 21-29 years old | 53.1 | 52.5 | 54.7 | 51.1 | 30.8 | 63.7 | 57.5 |
| 30-39 years old | 32.4 | 28.9 | 34.1 | 36.4 | 41.2 | 26.5 | 24.5 |
| 40 and older | 11.7 | 13.6 | 10.0 | 9.7 | 28.0 | 8.9 | 16.6 |
| Mean age | 30.4 | 30.5 | 30.5 | 29.9 | 33.8 | 30.7 | 31.2 |
| Median age | 28.0 | 28.0 | 28.0 | 29.0 | 33.0 | 29.0 | 28.0 |
| Nativity of Parent | |||||||
| Born in country other than U.S | 18.7 | 3.2 | 2.4 | 53.4 | 86.9 | 2.2 | 13.3 |
| Marital Status | |||||||
| Married | 43.1 | 20.8 | 50.3 | 56.3 | 59.6 | 46.7 | 46.2 |
| Single, never married | 33.7 | 60.9 | 18.4 | 24.4 | 11.9 | 18.4 | 32.7 |
| Divorced or widowed | 13.5 | 10.7 | 23.5 | 6.8 | 16.9 | 14.5 | 9.0 |
| Married, but separated | 9.6 | 7.5 | 7.7 | 12.5 | 11.7 | 20.4 | 12.1 |
| Education and Training | |||||||
| Less than high school | 27.2 | 26.4 | 18.7 | 39.6 | 33.2 | 34.6 | 17.0 |
| High school diploma or GED | 37.5 | 34.4 | 43.5 | 33.1 | 18.8 | 38.0 | 44.7 |
| Some college/AA degree | 32.5 | 36.7 | 34.7 | 24.4 | 45.4 | 26.7 | 35.9 |
| College degree or higher | 2.8 | 2.5 | 3.0 | 2.9 | 2.6 | 0.7 | 2.5 |
| Vocational or trade school | 41.7 | 46.0 | 42.4 | 34.8 | 56.1 | 39.0 | 47.4 |
| Employment Status | |||||||
| Full-time | 34.5 | 37.4 | 34.3 | 29.9 | 40.0 | 45.4 | 36.3 |
| Part-time or seasonal | 17.8 | 15.9 | 20.6 | 17.2 | 14.4 | 17.7 | 17.6 |
| Not employed | 47.3 | 46.0 | 45.1 | 52.6 | 45.6 | 36.9 | 43.2 |
| Household Income | |||||||
| $499 or less | 11.8 | 19.1 | 6.4 | 10.9 | 1.3 | 10.0 | 11.4 |
| $500-999 | 29.6 | 33.9 | 25.3 | 34.1 | 17.8 | 28.5 | 18.8 |
| $1,000-1,499 | 24.8 | 20.4 | 27.7 | 23.6 | 38.6 | 18.0 | 32.9 |
| $1,500-1,999 | 14.4 | 13.5 | 18.0 | 10.5 | 18.1 | 20.0 | 14.9 |
| $2,000 or more | 15.7 | 10.5 | 21.4 | 14.5 | 13.3 | 20.8 | 18.1 |
| Housing Status | |||||||
| Private housing | 86.5 | 83.4 | 91.1 | 84.1 | 83.3 | 96.3 | 86.1 |
| Shared housing | 12.5 | 13.5 | 8.8 | 15.9 | 16.7 | 3.7 | 13.0 |
| Transitional housing | 1.1 | 3.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.7 |
| Public housing | 22.2 | 38.8 | 14.9 | 16.6 | 11.8 | 11.5 | 15.8 |
| Sources of Support | |||||||
| WIC | 54.5 | 56.0 | 52.8 | 58.0 | 42.7 | 50.6 | 48.3 |
| TANF | 30.3 | 46.7 | 23.0 | 22.8 | 28.6 | 7.7 | 29.7 |
| Insurance Coverage | |||||||
| Private insurance | 32.6 | 32.0 | 39.0 | 27.3 | 41.5 | 34.3 | 27.3 |
| Medicaid | 58.1 | 71.8 | 50.7 | 53.1 | 38.5 | 53.4 | 58.0 |
| Regular Health Provider | |||||||
| Child | 88.2 | 89.7 | 94.6 | 80.2 | 84.2 | 80.9 | 88.6 |
| Parent | 75.7 | 78.5 | 80.8 | 66.7 | 68.6 | 73.3 | 75.6 |
| Routine Care Provider (Child) | |||||||
| Private doctor or HMO | 66.3 | 56.8 | 81.1 | 59.5 | 64.1 | 57.7 | 68.9 |
| Non-private doctor | 32.6 | 42.7 | 17.4 | 38.9 | 33.9 | 42.3 | 30.3 |
| Head Start Role in Finding Provider (Child) | |||||||
| Had provider prior to Head Start | 80.1 | 70.7 | 82.7 | 86.1 | 69.2 | 79.2 | 83.6 |
| Found provider on their own | 9.1 | 13.7 | 9.5 | 5.7 | 4.2 | 11.5 | 5.6 |
| Head Start helped find provider | 3.1 | 2.3 | 2.6 | 4.4 | 1.6 | 3.4 | 2.7 |
| Wish Head Start would help more | 5.8 | 11.8 | 2.7 | 3.0 | 17.7 | 5.9 | 3.3 |
| Provider When Ill or Injured (Child) | |||||||
| Private doctor or HMO | 54.2 | 37.0 | 70.6 | 53.0 | 43.8 | 42.7 | 60.6 |
| Hospital ER | 23.6 | 40.9 | 14.7 | 17.1 | 40.8 | 18.6 | 16.2 |
| Other non-private doctor | 21.8 | 22.0 | 13.9 | 29.5 | 15.4 | 38.7 | 22.7 |
| Child Received Dental Care | 84.2 | 79.9 | 86.9 | 84.5 | 82.1 | 90.1 | 87.5 |
| Routine Dental Care Provider | |||||||
| Private | 56.6 | 43.4 | 67.3 | 57.2 | 63.3 | 57.9 | 60.7 |
| Non private | 27.6 | 36.6 | 19.6 | 27.3 | 18.8 | 32.3 | 26.7 |
| Routine Care Provider (Parent) | |||||||
| Private doctor or HMO | 60.8 | 54.6 | 74.5 | 50.9 | 65.8 | 52.0 | 65.0 |
| Non-private doctor | 35.4 | 43.4 | 21.3 | 44.5 | 32.3 | 39.4 | 29.2 |
| Head Start Role in Finding Provider (Parent) | |||||||
| Had provider prior to Head Start | 76.9 | 67.3 | 79.4 | 83.2 | 73.5 | 79.3 | 79.1 |
| Found provider on their own | 10.3 | 13.1 | 10.9 | 7.7 | 0.0 | 13.1 | 10.0 |
| Head Start helped find provider | 2.3 | 3.5 | 1.1 | 2.5 | 6.8 | 0.0 | 0.9 |
| Wish Head Start would help more | 6.4 | 13.0 | 3.5 | 4.0 | 11.0 | 0.0 | 3.2 |
| Weighted Percentages | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| All (N =3,120) |
Urban (n = 2,122) |
Rural (n = 998) |
|
| Ethnicity | |||
| African American | 28.8 | 34.2 | 17.9 |
| White | 30.7 | 17.9 | 56.6 |
| Hispanic | 27.6 | 35.4 | 12.0 |
| Asian | 1.3 | 1.8 | 0.3 |
| Native American | 1.9 | 1.2 | 3.4 |
| Other | 8.7 | 8.3 | 9.4 |
| Region | |||
| Midwest | 23.1 | 21.9 | 25.6 |
| Northeast | 15.5 | 19.5 | 7.4 |
| South | 39.5 | 34.9 | 48.6 |
| West | 22.0 | 23.7 | 18.5 |
| Gender of Child | |||
| Boy | 50.4 | 50.6 | 50.0 |
| Girl | 49.6 | 49.4 | 50.0 |
| Age of Child | |||
| 3 years old | 31.7 | 31.5 | 32.0 |
| 4 years old | 68.3 | 68.5 | 68.0 |
| Child Birthweight | |||
| Normal | 85.8 | 85.7 | 86.0 |
| Low | 7.6 | 7.0 | 9.0 |
| Very low | 1.8 | 2.3 | 0.9 |
| One or More Disabilities | 19.3 | 17.6 | 22.6 |
| Age of Parent | |||
| Less than 20 years old | 2.5 | 2.8 | 2.1 |
| 21-29 years old | 53.1 | 50.8 | 57.8 |
| 30-39 years old | 32.4 | 33.6 | 30.1 |
| 40 and older | 11.7 | 12.6 | 9.8 |
| Mean age | 30.4 | 30.7 | 29.9 |
| Median age | 28.0 | 29.0 | 28.0 |
| Nativity of Parent | |||
| Born in country other than U.S. | 18.7 | 23.9 | 8.1 |
| Marital Status | |||
| Married | 43.1 | 41.5 | 46.5 |
| Single, never married | 33.7 | 36.8 | 27.4 |
| Divorced or widowed | 13.5 | 11.9 | 16.8 |
| Married, but separated | 9.6 | 9.8 | 9.3 |
| Education and Training | |||
| Less than high school | 27.2 | 28.2 | 25.2 |
| High school diploma or GED | 37.5 | 36.2 | 40.2 |
| Some college/AA degree | 32.5 | 32.5 | 32.4 |
| College degree or higher | 2.8 | 3.1 | 2.2 |
| Vocational or trade school | 41.7 | 43.4 | 38.3 |
| Employment Status | |||
| Full-time | 34.5 | 32.8 | 37.9 |
| Part-time or seasonal | 17.8 | 18.0 | 17.3 |
| Not employed | 47.3 | 48.5 | 44.8 |
| Household Income | |||
| $499 or less | 11.8 | 13.1 | 9.4 |
| $500-999 | 29.6 | 31.0 | 26.9 |
| $1,000-1,499 | 24.8 | 24.0 | 26.5 |
| $1,500-1,999 | 14.4 | 13.0 | 17.3 |
| $2,000 or more | 15.7 | 14.2 | 18.7 |
| Housing Status | |||
| Private housing | 86.5 | 85.2 | 89.0 |
| Shared housing | 12.5 | 13.2 | 10.9 |
| Transitional housing | 1.1 | 1.6 | 0.1 |
| Public housing | 22.2 | 26.1 | 14.5 |
| Sources of Support | |||
| WIC | 54.5 | 52.4 | 58.7 |
| TANF | 30.3 | 34.3 | 22.1 |
| Insurance Coverage | |||
| Private insurance | 32.6 | 32.9 | 31.8 |
| Medicaid | 58.1 | 60.2 | 54.0 |
| Regular Health Provider | |||
| Child | 88.2 | 88.3 | 88.00 |
| Parent | 75.7 | 75.6 | 76.0 |
| Routine Care Provider (Child) | |||
| Private doctor or HMO | 66.3 | 64.5 | 69.8 |
| Non-private doctor | 32.6 | 35.0 | 27.7 |
| Head Start Role in Finding Provider (Child) | |||
| Had provider prior to Head Start | 80.1 | 78.4 | 83.4 |
| Found provider on their own | 9.1 | 11.7 | 4.0 |
| Head Start helped find provider | 3.1 | 2.5 | 4.2 |
| Wish Head Start would help more | 5.8 | 5.9 | 5.5 |
| Provider When Ill or Injured (Child) | |||
| Private doctor or HMO | 54.2 | 51.9 | 58.8 |
| Hospital ER | 23.6 | 24.9 | 20.8 |
| Other non-private doctor | 21.8 | 23.0 | 19.4 |
| Child Received Dental Care | 84.2 | 86.1 | 80.6 |
| Routine Dental Care Provider | |||
| Private | 56.6 | 54.3 | 61.4 |
| Non private | 27.6 | 31.8 | 19.2 |
| Routine Care Provider (Parent) | |||
| Private doctor or HMO | 60.8 | 59.4 | 63.6 |
| Non-private doctor | 35.4 | 38.0 | 30.0 |
| Head Start Role in Finding Provider (Parent) | |||
| Had provider prior to Head Start | 76.9 | 75.4 | 80.0 |
| Found provider on their own | 10.3 | 12.5 | 5.9 |
| Head Start helped find provider | 2.3 | 2.6 | 1.8 |
| Wish Head Start would help more | 6.4 | 6.8 | 5.7 |
| Characteristics | Weighted Percentages | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All (N = 3,120) |
Midwest (n = 778) |
Northeast (n = 432) |
South (n= 1,316) |
West (n = 594) |
|
| Ethnicity | |||||
| African American | 28.8 | 29.6 | 31.5 | 38.4 | 8.9 |
| White | 30.7 | 50.4 | 28.0 | 24.3 | 23.2 |
| Hispanic | 27.6 | 9.0 | 26.9 | 26.6 | 49.5 |
| Asian | 1.3 | 0.7 | 2.2 | 0.8 | 2.2 |
| Native American | 1.9 | 2.2 | 0.8 | 1.4 | 3.3 |
| Other | 8.7 | 7.5 | 9.4 | 7.4 | 11.7 |
| Urbanicity | |||||
| Urban | 67.0 | 63.4 | 84.3 | 59.3 | 72.2 |
| Rural | 33.1 | 36.6 | 15.7 | 40.7 | 27.8 |
| Gender of Child | |||||
| Boy | 50.4 | 51.3 | 44.9 | 51.6 | 51.3 |
| Girl | 49.6 | 48.8 | 55.1 | 48.4 | 48.7 |
| Age of Child | |||||
| 3 years old | 31.7 | 37.1 | 35.2 | 35.7 | 16.3 |
| 4 years old | 68.3 | 62.9 | 64.8 | 64.3 | 83.7 |
| Child Birthweight | |||||
| Normal | 85.8 | 86.9 | 81.6 | 86.7 | 86.0 |
| Low | 7.6 | 6.7 | 11.0 | 8.4 | 4.8 |
| Very low | 1.8 | 0.9 | 2.5 | 1.6 | 2.8 |
| Child Disability | 19.3 | 18.3 | 20.7 | 19.8 | 18.4 |
| Age of Parent | |||||
| Less than 20 years old | 2.5 | 1.4 | 1.2 | 4.1 | 2.0 |
| 21-29 years old | 53.1 | 59.7 | 46.6 | 55.0 | 47.7 |
| 30-39 years old | 32.4 | 28.2 | 42.3 | 29.3 | 35.3 |
| 40 and older | 11.7 | 10.7 | 9.3 | 11.4 | 15.0 |
| Mean age | 30.4 | 29.9 | 31.1 | 29.9 | 31.5 |
| Median age | 28.0 | 28.0 | 30.0 | 28.0 | 30.0 |
| Nativity of Parent | |||||
| Born in country other than U.S. | 18.7 | 8.6 | 28.5 | 11.2 | 35.9 |
| Marital Status | |||||
| Married | 43.1 | 43.0 | 38.3 | 42.1 | 48.4 |
| Single, never married | 33.7 | 34.1 | 42.5 | 34.4 | 26.0 |
| Divorced or widowed | 13.5 | 16.7 | 8.2 | 12.9 | 15.1 |
| Married, but separated | 9.6 | 6.2 | 11.1 | 10.6 | 10.5 |
| Education and Training | |||||
| Less than high school | 27.2 | 25.6 | 21.3 | 30.4 | 27.4 |
| High school diploma or GED | 37.5 | 41.5 | 38.0 | 34.7 | 37.8 |
| Some college/AA degree | 32.5 | 31.0 | 38.3 | 31.5 | 31.7 |
| College degree or higher | 2.8 | 1.8 | 2.4 | 3.4 | 3.1 |
| Vocational or trade school | 41.7 | 43.2 | 48.9 | 38.9 | 39.9 |
| Employment Status | |||||
| Full-time | 34.5 | 36.8 | 25.1 | 38.2 | 32.2 |
| Part-time or seasonal | 17.8 | 19.7 | 18.5 | 14.9 | 20.1 |
| Not employed | 47.3 | 43.6 | 54.9 | 46.7 | 46.7 |
| Household Income | |||||
| $499 or less | 11.8 | 8.3 | 10.1 | 19.6 | 3.3 |
| $500-999 | 29.6 | 24.6 | 35.3 | 31.1 | 28.3 |
| $1,000-1,499 | 24.8 | 22.7 | 23.9 | 22.7 | 31.3 |
| $1,500-1,999 | 14.4 | 19.8 | 12.1 | 13.4 | 12.4 |
| $2,000 or more | 15.7 | 23.0 | 14.4 | 11.4 | 16.6 |
| Housing Status | |||||
| Private housing | 86.5 | 90.8 | 87.5 | 87.6 | 79.4 |
| Shared housing | 12.5 | 9.1 | 9.4 | 11.0 | 20.6 |
| Transitional housing | 1.1 | 0.1 | 3.1 | 1.5 | 0.0 |
| Public housing | 22.2 | 21.7 | 25.7 | 25.4 | 14.9 |
| Sources of Support | |||||
| WIC | 54.5 | 49.6 | 55.6 | 56.5 | 55.4 |
| TANF | 30.3 | 31.5 | 41.0 | 24.8 | 30.8 |
| Insurance Coverage | |||||
| Private insurance | 32.6 | 42.1 | 32.2 | 29.2 | 28.9 |
| Medicaid | 58.1 | 51.9 | 63.3 | 60.2 | 57.2 |
| Regular Health Provider | |||||
| Child | 88.2 | 93.5 | 96.1 | 82.8 | 86.5 |
| Parent | 75.7 | 78.6 | 83.9 | 71.2 | 75.0 |
| Routine Care Provider (Child) | |||||
| Private doctor or HMO | 66.3 | 81.6 | 55.6 | 60.1 | 68.7 |
| Non-private doctor | 32.6 | 18.3 | 44.5 | 38.5 | 28.6 |
| Head Start Role in Finding Provider (Child) | |||||
| Had provider prior to Head Start | 80.1 | 76.8 | 79.1 | 78.0 | 87.5 |
| Found provider on their own | 9.1 | 12.6 | 17.1 | 6.0 | 5.3 |
| Head Start helped find provider | 3.1 | 1.9 | 2.6 | 4.0 | 3.1 |
| Wish Head Start would help more | 5.8 | 4.0 | 0.0 | 10.5 | 3.5 |
| Provider when Ill or Injured (Child) | |||||
| Private doctor or HMO | 54.2 | 57.6 | 42.7 | 49.4 | 66.9 |
| Hospital ER | 23.6 | 30.1 | 31.1 | 25.7 | 8.0 |
| Other non-private doctor | 21.8 | 12.3 | 26.2 | 24.5 | 23.7 |
| Child Received Dental Care | 84.2 | 92.4 | 96.2 | 77.3 | 79.4 |
| Routine Dental Care Provider | |||||
| Private | 56.6 | 70.7 | 59.3 | 44.4 | 61.4 |
| Non private | 27.6 | 21.7 | 36.9 | 32.9 | 18.0 |
| Routine Care Provider (Parent) | |||||
| Private doctor or HMO | 60.8 | 78.1 | 53.1 | 53.5 | 61.1 |
| Non-private doctor | 35.4 | 18.9 | 45.6 | 42.5 | 32.8 |
| Head Start Role in Finding Provider (Parent) | |||||
| Had provider prior to Head Start | 76.9 | 72.7 | 77.0 | 74.7 | 84.9 |
| Found provider on their own | 10.3 | 11.1 | 18.8 | 8.3 | 7.1 |
| Head Start helped find provider | 2.3 | 4.7 | 0.9 | 1.6 | 2.0 |
| Wish Head Start would help more | 6.4 | 4.3 | 0.1 | 11.9 | 3.6 |
1A primary caregiver was defined as the person most responsible for the care of the child.(back)
2Those families who completed both a fall 1997 and spring 1998 questionnaire.(back)
3Note: These categories are not mutually exclusive.(back)
4This percentage included 130 families who lived in Puerto Rico.(back)
5Among parents in Puerto Rico, 92.3% reported being born in the U.S, including Puerto Rico.(back)
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