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Resumen y texto completo en inglés El estrés es un determinante no cognitivo del rendimiento escolar que, a menudo, se pasa por alto en la sociología de la inmigración y la educación. Se presenta una investigación que analiza los niveles de estrés de los adolescentes de origen latinoamericano en Madrid y en qué medida esta circunstancia influye en su integración. Los resultados confirman que esos adolescentes son más propensos a sufrir estrés no específico en comparación con los de origen autóctono. La brecha entre los individuos de estos dos orígenes es de casi el 6% ESP

Despite the multitude of obstacles that low-income parents face, many of them succeed in helping their children flourish. They raise children who possess the social-emotional competence needed to develop and keep friendships; establish good relationships with parents, teachers, and other adults; and experience a range of achievements that contribute to their selfconfidence, self-esteem, and self-efficacy. What can we learn about these resilient parents that can be shared with other parents who could benefit from such information, as well as with those who are committed to supporting parents’ efforts to nurture their children? What types of policies and programs have been shown to promote parents’ resiliency and, in turn, their children’s? This policy report provides some of the answers to these questions.

Energy insecurity (EI) reflects an inability to adequately meet basic household heating, cooling, and energy needs. EI is a pervasive and often-overlooked problem for low-income families with children. Conceptually, EI is a multi-dimensional construct that describes the interplay between structural conditions of housing and the costs of household energy. This brief describes the extent of economic EI, — disproportionate share of household income allocated to utility expenses among families with children, by family income, demographic characteristics, and geographical area, using the 2011 American Community Survey.

For policymakers, adolescence presents an invaluable opportunity to ensure that all young people can access the high-quality services and supports they need to improve their odds of becoming successful, healthy, productive adults. At an historic moment when the provisions and breadth of health care reform are under vigorous debate, it is important to take stock of how well the states are currently meeting the health and development needs of all adolescents, and particularly disadvantaged youth. This report presents information from NCCP's Improving the Odds for Adolescents project about state policy choices that affect the health and well-being of adolescents.

Rent burden is defined as spending more than 30 percent of household income on rent. In 2009, more than half of renter-occupied households with children (54 percent) experienced rent burden. Between 2002 and 2009, the proportion of households with children affected by rent burden increased significantly. Although rates of rent burden had remained relatively stable for several years between 2002 and 2006, they began to increase from 2006 to 2009. With the majority of renter-occupied households with children spending a large proportion of their incomes on housing, this issue has important implications for children's well-being. For low-income families (family income under 200 percent of federal poverty threshold), who are more likely than more affluent families to rent than own housing and have fewer resources available to devote to rent, the experience of rent burden is particularly acute. Nearly 80 percent of lowincome households with children spend more than 30 percent of their income on rent. Other types of housing problems that low-income families face include crowded housing or inadequate housing due to physical conditions of buildings such as lack of complete plumbing for exclusive use, unvented heaters as the primary heating equipment, water leakage, open cracks or holes, or rodents. However, compared with rent burden, a relatively small proportion of households with children experience these issues. That is, about five to six percent of all households with children and about 11 to 14 percent of very low-income families (families with income less than 50 percent of the median income for the geographical area in which they lived) experience at least one of these problems. Thus, the current housing problem that affects the majority of households with children is rent burden.

The aims of this study are to examine racial gaps in cognitive and socio-emotional development among boys in early childhood and to identify factors that contribute to early resilience among African-American boys. Our main research questions include: What racial gaps emerge across cognitive and socio-emotional development in early childhood among African-American infant, toddler, preschooler, and kindergarten boys and white-American boys? Do these gaps remain after controlling for family socio-economic status (SES) and other child, family, and home environment characteristics? What factors contribute to early resilience and buffer against these risks among African-American boys? A wealth of literature documents racial gaps and poor outcomes of school-age African-American children across a range of domains, including educational achievement measured by indicators such as test scores and rates of school exclusion. African-American children and youth are two-to-three times more likely to be suspended from schools. In particular, African-American boys perform poorly compared with white boys or African-American girls in different educational outcomes. Data from 2003 to 2009 indicate that by fourth grade, African-American boys in public schools score about 30 points lower in reading than white boys, and this gap remains at eighth grade. Research also shows a similar trend in mathematic achievement. At fourth grade, African-American boys score about 30 points lower than white boys and the gap increases to close to 40 points by eighth grade. African-American boys also lag behind their female counterparts. While girls in general perform better in K-12 and in higher education than boys, gender differences among African-American groups are larger than among other groups. African-American women account for 62 percent of all African-American undergraduates and two-thirds of those who earn an associate‘s degree. An increasing number of research studies emphasize the importance of early childhood in determining one‘s adult socio-economic outcomes. Early childhood development can have a long-term impact on later school achievement. Yet, less information is available on the early emergence of gaps across a range of cognitive and socio-emotional outcomes. For optimal personal and collective development of children and adolescents, five developmental domain factors are considered important: identity, emotion, social, cognition, and physical health. While early childhood is a critical stage, research rarely compares the racial gap across different outcomes during early childhood stages from nine months to kindergarten. Specifically, at nine and 24 months African-American boys score lower on cognitive assessments, manifest poorer health outcomes, and exhibit less secure attachments. The factors that contribute to these early gaps or that are protective against poor outcomes are less clearly understood. Thus, it is important to identify when and how racial disparities among African-American and white boys emerge in early childhood and to examine factors that can contribute to early resilience.

Fourteen million American children live in families with incomes below the federal poverty level, which is $22,050 a year for a family of four. The number of children living in poverty increased by 21 percent between 2000 and 2008. There are 2.5 million more children living in poverty today than in 2000. Not only are these numbers troubling, the official poverty measure tells only part of the story. Research consistently shows that, on average, families need an income of about twice the federal poverty level to make ends meet. Children living in families with incomes below this level — for 2009, $44,100 for a family of four — are referred to as low income. Forty-one percent of the nation's children — more than 29 million in 2008 — live in low-income families. Nonetheless, eligibility for many public benefits is based on the official poverty measure. This fact sheet — the first in a series focusing on economic and material hardship — details some of the characteristics of American children who are considered poor by the official standard.

According to the Census Bureau, the number of United States residents aged 5 years and older who speak a language other than English at home has more than doubled since 1980; and fewer than half of this group is fully proficient in English. These trends require specific policy action to support optimal child well-being.

The purpose of this report is to highlight a growing segment of the population who are arriving at young adulthood disconnected from the main pathways leading to economic independence. Arriving at young adulthood in a state of disconnection can have consequences for both young adults and the larger society. Young adults who have low educational attainment or who are out of school or unemployed for extended periods of time may be more likely to engage in delinquent behavior, turn to illegal activities as a source of income, and be incarcerated. The consequences of disconnection may also result in long-term penalties, such as underemployment and lower earnings over the life course. Young adults disconnected for three or more years are about 14 times more likely to be poor and earn about two and one half times less in earnings and are about two to three times less likely to be employed full-time than young adults who had never been disconnected. Disconnectedness experienced during young adulthood may also have serious health consequences. Research shows that different components of disconnectedness, such as having less than high school education or being unemployed is associated with suboptimal health and mental health outcomes. Furthermore, disconnected young adults are more likely to rely on some form of public assistance. Thus, the costs of disconnection to government can include increased transfer payments and social support expenses as well as a decrease in tax revenues from their lack of participation in the labor market. In short, this population deserves our attention given the long-term consequences being disconnected can pose for a successful transition to adulthood.

This issue brief explores what we currently know about the prevalence of young children (ages birth to 5) in the child welfare system, how the occurrence of maltreatment or neglect affects their development, and the services currently offered versus needed for these young children.

The number of homeless families with children has increased in recent years due to the lack of the affordable housing, and compounded by the current economic recession. What are the consequences?

The promise of the American Dream is that in our society, anyone can succeed with hard work and persistence. Even in the current economic downturn, the majority of Americans (72 percent) believe that it is possible to start out poor, work hard, and become wealthy. But does this promise hold true for America's children? How common is it for people who spend part of their childhood living in poverty to experience poverty as adults? How does this vary by how much time children spend living in poverty? And does it vary by race? Economic mobility, the ability to move up or down the economic ladder during one's lifetime and across generations, is central to the ideal of the American Dream. But recent research finds that there are limitations to mobility in the United States. For example, one study of families across generations finds that one's economic position is strongly influenced by that of one's parents: 42 percent of children born to parents in the bottom fifth of the economic distribution remain in the bottom as adults and another 23 percent rise only to the second fifth, while 39 percent of children born to parents at the top of the income distribution remain at the top, with another 23 percent moving to the second fifth. This paper focuses on the lower end of the earnings spectrum and highlights findings from a working paper commissioned by the National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP). In particular, we report how common it is for children to experience poverty throughout the course of childhood — defined as the years from birth to age 15 — and how that relates to the likelihood that they will be poor in young and middle adulthood.

The needs of children and youth who experience mental health difficulties, as well as the needs of their families, cannot be addressed adequately without solid policy foundations at both state and federal levels. Unclaimed Children Revisited: The Status of Children's Mental Health Policy in the United States aims to document and assess how well child mental health policies across the 50 states and three territories respond to the needs of children and youth with mental health problems, those at risk, and their families. Comprising a national study and four sub-studies, this report presents a range of data collected from service users, providers, family members, youth advocates, and state and county system leaders across the child serving spectrum. The report then uses these data to identify state- and federal-level policy implications and recommendations with the goal of promoting improved mental health service delivery through policy reform.

This report reviews current policies and practices to support children, youth, and families exposed to trauma and highlights reasons for optimism and concern. Trauma-informed policy needs to balance current knowledge about effective practices with supportive financing, cross-system collaboration and training, accountability, and infrastructure development.