Parents of 6- to 11-year-olds were
asked if their children had spent any
time caring for themselves without
the supervision of an adult or older
child, for even a small amount of
time, in the past week. Overall,
16 percent of children were reported
to have been home alone for some
amount of time. Children in rural
areas, particularly small rural areas,
are more likely to be home alone
than their urban counterparts. Being
home alone in the last week occurred
among 18.7 percent of children in
small rural areas, compared to 16.1
percent in large rural areas and 15.6
percent in urban areas.
Survey of Children’s Health
In general, boys are more likely
than girls to stay home alone, and
both sexes are more likely to stay
alone in rural areas than urban areas.
Among boys, staying home alone in
the past week occurred among 16.9
percent living in urban areas, 17.8
percent living in large rural areas,
and 18.7 percent in small rural areas.
Staying home alone occurred among
girls at a rate of 14.3, 14.4, and 18.3
percent, respectively.
The pattern of higher rates of
staying home alone in small rural
areas is not as strong with regard to
family income. For instance, children
with family incomes below the Federal
poverty level (FPL) are least likely
to stay home alone in urban areas
(14.0 percent), but are about equally
as likely to stay home alone in large
rural and small rural areas (17.0 and
16.9 percent, respectively). Children
with family incomes of 400 percent
of FPL and above are equally as likely
to stay home alone in urban and small
rural areas (18.7 and 18.6 percent,
respectively) and most likely to
stay home alone in large rural areas
(19.5 percent).
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