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The population used in the survey is from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY): parents in this survey are generally younger aged 20 to 27 than the majority of parents who purchase child care services...Data from the 1985 NLSY showed that child care expenses were 30 to 50 percent of the family incomes of those earning under $5,000 per year...Because the NLSY collects detailed data on the youth experiences of males and females, it permits comparisons of patterns of family formation and parenting in conjunction with education and labor market experiences.

The purpose of this working paper is to examine the comparability across three major racial/ethnic groups (European American, African American, and Mexican American) of the factor structure and predictive validity of three versions of the HOME-Short Form (infant/toddler, early childhood, and middle childhood versions) used in the 1988 wave of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth-Child Supplement. Factor analyses were carried out examining the factor structure in the full sample and for each racial/ethnic subgroup separately. In the early childhood and middle childhood versions of the HOME-Short Form, there is great similarity in the factor structures found for the three racial/ethnic groups and for the sample as a whole. This is not the case, however, for the infant/toddler version. Prediction to child outcomes in longitudinal analyses was comparable when scales were created based on full-sample factor analyses and on factor analyses for separate racial/ethnic groups. That is, use of race/ethnicity-specific scales did not improve prediction. It is noteworthy, however, that the particular subscales that served as significant predictors of the child behavioral and cognitive outcomes differed for the three racial/ethnic groups.

In general, the findings indicate that while the same underlying constructs appear to exist in parenting behavior and the home environment across racial/ethnic groups (except in very early development), these constructs do not relate to later developmental outcomes in the same way across groups. Rather, different aspects of parenting and the home environment serve as the strongest predictors of development for each group.

Adults are typically the focus of welfare policies and programs, even though children comprise a majority of public assistance recipients. In 1995, about two-thirds of those receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children each month were children.1 Moreover, key provisions in the most recent welfare legislation, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA), have implications for children.

Based on research findings from welfare-to-work program evaluations and from basic research on child development, we conclude that welfare reform can affect children in diverse ways. These effects will vary depending on state and local policies, family characteristics and risk status, patterns of maternal employment, and children's experiences in the home and in nonmaternal care settings.