There is ample evidence that children born to poorer families do not succeed at the same rate as children born to the middle class. On average, low-income children lag behind on almost every cognitive, behavioral, emotional, and health measure. These gaps start early--some of the newest research suggests that cognitive gaps are detectable in…

Housing is an important aspect of living standards and quality of life for older persons, but the housing-related problems they may face encompass rather different circumstances, relating to the condition of the dwelling, how well equipped it is, whether housing costs represent a serious burden, and whether the neighbourhood environment is…

United States Department of Agriculture defines food insecure as answering affirmatively to three or more food insecurity questions describing a household's ability to acquire enough food. Households indicating low levels of food insecurity (one or two affirmative responses) are considered food secure. This paper compares the characteristics of…

This study is part of a collaborative project examining the quality of life in Confucian societies in Asia. Our major findings suggest that, when our sixteen specific life domains are grouped into three life spheres, namely, material, post-material, and public, the Japanese people tend to be most satisfied with the post-material sphere of life and…

In this paper, we describe the household wealth distribution in the United States and United Kingdom over the past two decades, and compare both wealth inequality and the form in which wealth is held. Unconditionally, there are large differences in financial wealth between the two countries at the top fifth of the wealth distribution. Even after…

This report examines the financial needs of Arkansas families, and establishes, using conservative economic assumptions, an annual Family Income Standard (FIS) for the state and each of its counties. The FIS is a new tool to be used by citizens, state and local policy makers, civic organizations, non-profits, and parents as they look to improve…

Data taken from the Regional Technical Cooperative Project S-79 ("Rural Development and the Quality of Life in the Rural South") were used to assess the effects of objective conditions and subjective experiences on community satisfaction among a sample of 1,783 open-country household heads or spouses of household heads living in low…

This study used data from a cross sectional sample of families with children in New York City to describe the characteristics and well-being of working poor families and to compare them to nonworking poor and nonpoor families. Data were obtained through 20- to 30-minute telephone surveys conducted in 1997 as part of the New York Social Indicators…

Child poverty, as a critical indicator of the QOL, is intricately related to the social structure of the community. This hypothesis is explored for the 159 counties of Georgia for the year 2000. The influence of demographic, economic, family and health factors upon child poverty are explored through models of total, black and white child poverty.…

Data derived from 1,423 adults who were permanent residents in 9 northwest Wisconsin counties in 1974 were used to test the hypothesis that peripheral metropolitan ring areas (within 30 miles of cities over 50,000) have more pleasing natural environments and more desirable social settings than urban areas and offer better access to jobs and…

This article uses the life course perspective to combine micro- and macro-levels of analysis of caregiving burdens experienced by Chinese baby-boom cohort and then explores their elder care prospects. Based on survey interviews during 1997 and 1998 with 110 caregivers providing care to dependent parents or parents-in-law, this study finds that…