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Author: Sjaastad, John E.
Resulting in 2 citations.
1. Korenman, Sanders D.
Miller, Jane E.
Sjaastad, John E.
Long-Term Poverty and Child Development in the United States: Results from the NLSY
Children and Youth Services Review 17,1/2 (1995): 127-155.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/019074099500006X
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Age at First Birth; Alcohol Use; Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT); Behavior Problems Index (BPI); Birthweight; Child Development; Child Health; Children, Home Environment; Cigarette Use (see Smoking); Digit Span (also see Memory for Digit Span - WISC); Family Structure; Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME); Marital Status; Memory for Digit Span (WISC) - also see Digit Span; Mothers, Behavior; Mothers, Education; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT); Poverty; Pre/post Natal Behavior; Verbal Memory (McCarthy Scale)

Korenman, Miller, and Sjaastad found that the differences in the abilities of the poor and nonpoor children were not due to differences in the education of the children's mothers, the structure of the children's families (e.g., number of siblings), or whether a child's mother smoked or drank during pregnancy; nor were they explained by the health of the child in infancy or the age of the children's mothers when they first gave birth. The amount of emotional support and cognitive stimulation in a child's home, however, had a major impact on his or her development. The home environment accounted for one-third to one-half of the developmental disadvantage of chronically poor children (children from families whose income-to-needs ratio was below 1.0 over a thirteen-year period). Data used are from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, which tested children on such things as short-term memory, vocabulary, mathematics, reading comprehension, and word recognition. Sample sizes ranged from 1939 children to 3826 children, depending on the test. The children were tested during their pre-teenage years; most tests were given to children when they were younger than ten years.
Bibliography Citation
Korenman, Sanders D., Jane E. Miller and John E. Sjaastad. "Long-Term Poverty and Child Development in the United States: Results from the NLSY." Children and Youth Services Review 17,1/2 (1995): 127-155.
2. Miller, Jane E.
Sjaastad, John E.
Long-Term Poverty and Child Development in the United States: Results from the NLSY
Presented: Miami, FL, Population Association of America Meetings, May 1994
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Population Association of America
Keyword(s): Alcohol Use; Child Development; Cigarette Use (see Smoking); Cognitive Development; Family Structure; Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME); Mothers, Education; Nutritional Status/Nutrition/Consumption Behaviors; Parents, Single; Poverty; Pregnancy and Pregnancy Outcomes

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

We describe deficits in cognitive and socioemotional development in early childhood that arc associated with long-term poverty among children from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979-1991. Children who are poor over many years are substantially developmentally disadvantaged compared to those who are not. Developmental deficit associated with long-term poverty are roughly twice as large as those associated with poverty in the year of assessment. These deficits are not accounted for by characteristics associated with poverty such as low maternal education, single parent family structure, young age of the mother at first birth, large family size, smoking or alcohol during pregnancy, minority racial identification, or by deficits in nutritional status or poor health at birth. The HOME (Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment) assessment score and maternal AFQT score and account for a large part of the cognitive deficit, although sizable deficits remain after controlling for both factors.
Bibliography Citation
Miller, Jane E. and John E. Sjaastad. "Long-Term Poverty and Child Development in the United States: Results from the NLSY." Presented: Miami, FL, Population Association of America Meetings, May 1994.