The America’s Promise Index
Kristin Anderson Moore, Ph.D.
Senior Scholar and Senior Research Scientist
Child Trends
International Society for Child Indicators Conference1
History of America’s Promise
America’s Promise was founded at the Presidents’
Summit for America’s Future in 1997, where
Presidents Bush, Carter, Clinton, and Ford, and
former first lady Nancy Reagan, challenged the
nation to make children and
youth a national priority.
2
Mission of America’s Promise
Commitment to ensure that every child in America has the
fundamental resources (promises) they need to succeed.
The Five Promises are:
• Caring adults
• Safe places
• A healthy start
• An effective education
• Opportunities to
help others
3
4
Every Child, Every Promise
•
America’s Promise commissioned the National Promises
Study to examine the presence of the Five Promises in the
lives of America’s children and youth
•
A comprehensive look at the state of America’s youth
•
Provides benchmark data to quantify the number of
children receiving the Five Promises, including
highlighting gaps in the delivery of the Five Promises
5
National Promises Study
Purpose: How many young people have the resources essential
for successful developmental trajectories through childhood
and adolescence?
Methodology:
• Three surveys developed and administered by Search
Institute, Child Trends, and Gallup (informed by the Alliance
Research Council)
–
–
–
2,000 12-17 year-olds
2,000 parents of 6-11 year-olds
2,000 parents of 12-17 year-olds
• Oversamples of African Americans and Hispanic Americans
• Best response rate Gallup has had in the past two years6
Promise: Caring Adults
• Caring relationships with parents
• Caring relationships with adults in extended family
• Caring relationships with adults at school
• Caring relationships with adults in the neighborhood
(formal and informal)
90% of children (ages 6-11 years) and 76% of youth
(ages 12-17 years) successfully experience Caring
Adults (have 3 of the 4 indicators)
7
Promise: Safe Places
• Safe family
• Safe school
• Safe neighborhood
• Parental monitoring
• Opportunity for involvement in high-quality structured
activities
• Frequency of participation in high-quality structured
activities
31% of children (ages 6-11 years) and 42% of youth
(ages 12-17 years) successfully experience Safe
8
Places (have 5 of the 6 indicators)
Promise: Healthy Start
• Regular checkups and health insurance
• Good nutrition
• Daily physical activity
• Adequate sleep
• Health education classes
• Positive adult role models
• Peer influence
• Emotional safety
49% of children (ages 6-11 years) and 36% of youth
(ages 12-17 years) successfully experience a
9
Healthy Start (have 6 of the 8 indicators)
Promise: Effective Education
• Positive school climate
• School culture emphasizes academic achievement
• Learning to use technology
• Reading for pleasure
• Friends value being a good student
• School perceived as relevant and motivating
• Parents actively involved
• Adult sources of guidance
• Opportunities to learn social skills
79% of children (ages 6-11 years) and 39% of youth
(ages 12-17 years) successfully experience an
Effective Education (have 7 of the 9 indicators) 10
Promise: Opportunities to Help
• Adult models of volunteering
• Peer models of volunteering
• Parent civic engagement
• Family conversation about current events
• Youth role in school and community
55% of children (ages 6-11 years) and 53% of youth
(ages 12-17 years) successfully experience
Opportunities to Help (have 4 of the 5 indicators)
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Promises experienced
0-1
Promises
2-3
Promises
4-5
Promises
6-11 years
13%
(3 million)
50%
(12 million)
37%
(9 million)
12-17 years
30%
(7 million)
45%
(11 million)
25%
(6 million)
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Developmental outcomes
Children and youth who experience 4-5 Promises fare
significantly better on 19 of 20 outcomes, including:
• Thriving
• Violence avoidance
• Educational achievement
• Volunteering
13
Thriving among 6-11 year-olds
Standardized mean
0.4
0.2
0
-0.2
-0.4
-0.6
0-1 Promises
2-3 Promises
Promises experienced
4-5 Promises
14
Violence avoidance among 12-17 year-olds
Standardized mean
0.4
0.2
0
-0.2
-0.4
0-1 Promises
2-3 Promises
Promises experienced
4-5 Promises
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Diverse groups of youth vary:
• Girls experience more Promises than boys
• White children and youth experience more Promises than
Hispanic or African American children and youth
• 12-14 year-olds experience more Promises than 15-17
year-olds
• Higher family income and maternal education also are
associated with more Promises
16
% experiencing 4-5 promises i
Promises experienced by gender
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Male
Female
17
Promises experienced by race/ethnicity
% experiencing 4-5 promises i
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Hispanic*
% experiencing 4-5 promises i
30
25
20
15
10
5
African
American*
Non-Hispanic
White
0
Hispanic
African American
Non-Hispanic
White
18
Promises experienced by age group
% experiencing 4-5 promises I
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
12-14 years
15-17 years
19
Promises experienced by maternal education
% experiencing 4-5 promises i
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
High school or
less*
% experiencing 4-5 promises i
35
30
25
20
15
10
Some college*
5
College graduate
or higher
0
High school or
less
Some college
College graduate
or higher
20
Promises experienced by family income
% experiencing 4-5 promises i
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
< $20,000*
% experiencing 4-5 promises i
40
$20,00029,999*
35
30
25
20
15
10
$30,00049,999*
5
$50,000- > $100,000
99,999
0
< $20,000
$20,00029,999
$30,00049,999
$50,000- > $100,000
99,999
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Additional analyses
Stepwise regression
• Promises are more important predictors than demographic
characteristics (i.e., contribute more to the variance of
developmental outcomes).
ANOVA
• Experiencing the Promises is associated with greater equality
across demographic groups in developmental outcomes.
• When children and youth experience 4-5 Promises:
– 60% of differences between demographic groups
disappear
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– 18% of differences are reduced
Educational achievement: Attenuation of
gender differences
0.6
*
Standardized mean
0.5
0.4
0.3
Male
0.2
****
Female
0.1
0
-0.1
-0.2
Whole sample
* p ≤ .05, **** p ≤ .0001
4-5 Promises
23
Volunteering: Elimination of racial/ethnic
group differences
0.4
Standardized mean
0.3
0.2
0.1
****
Hispanic
0
African American
Non-Hispanic White
-0.1
-0.2
-0.3
-0.4
Whole sample
**** p ≤ .0001
4-5 promises
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Thriving: Elimination of differences by
age group
0.4
Standardized mean
0.3
0.2
12-14 years
15-17 years
0.1
*
0
-0.1
Whole sample
* p ≤ .05
4-5 promises
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Thriving: Elimination of differences by
maternal education
0.4
Standardized mean
0.3
0.2
High school or less
0.1
Some college
****
College graduate or
higher
0
-0.1
-0.2
Whole sample
**** p ≤ .0001
4-5 promises
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Violence avoidance: Attenuation of differences by
family income
0.4
**
Standardized mean
0.3
****
0.2
< $20,000
$20,000-29,999
0.1
$30,000-49,999
0
$50,000-99,999
> $100,000
-0.1
-0.2
-0.3
Whole sample
** p ≤ .01, **** p ≤ .0001
4-5 promises
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Conclusions
• A minority of children and adolescents have the resources
necessary for optimal development as indicated by a sufficient
number of Promises.
• Experiencing more Promises is consistently associated with
better developmental outcomes.
• Disparities in developmental outcomes and Promises
experienced exist across groups that differ by gender, age, race,
and parental income and education.
• Disparities in developmental outcomes across demographic
groups are attenuated or eliminated when children and youth
experience 4-5 Promises.
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Resources
Child Trends
• www.childtrends.org
• Databank: www.childtrendsdatabank.org
Search Institute
• www.search-institute.org
America’s Promise
• www.americaspromise.org
• Every Child, Every Promise report and key findings:
www.americaspromise.org/APAPage.aspx?id=6584
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