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The families of the child research council
T H E F A M I L I E S OF T H E CHILD R E S E A R C H COUNCIL A STUDY OF FAMILIES WHOSE CHILDREN ARE SIMILAR TO THOSE IN URBAN PEDIATRIC PRACTICE DOROTHEA GREENE DUN.LOP DENVER, COLO.
pediatrician may have wondered, duriIlg his years of practice, T HE just what kind of a sampling of the general population his patients and their families represented as to education, occupation, income, size of family, and similar items. Very few physicians have been able, however, to make a systematic study of the families in their practice in order to obtain reliable information in the socio-economic sphere over a period of years because of the time consumed in doing so and the turnover in patients from time to time. The need for such information is apparent when one notes the increasing emphasis being placed on the understanding of the "whole child" rather than merely a specific illness. The Child Research Council, an independent research institute headed by a pediatrician and affiliated with the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver, is equipped to make such a study. This Council follows children in families which are similar in most respects to those found in the pediatrician's practice. Our series is composed of children coming f r o m a diversity of families scattered up and down the social and economic scale. Although there are no extremes such as poverty-stricken parents or retired millionaires, yet we do find carpenters and engineers, clerks and lawyers, or leisurely housewives contrasted with career women among those present. The babies accepted for study are within normal healthy limits at the start of life, but in the group of growing children are to be found the same general run of children's diseases which the pediatrician encounters. The Child Research Council is d e v o t e d to the study of children as they develop from birth into maturity. Its purpose is to set up more adequate standards for the appraisal of growth, development and heMth of the individual child. The physical, social, and mental makeup of each child has been taken into consideration in an effort to obtain an adequate picture of the child as a whole. An excellent example of the picture we are attempting to por t r a y is given at staff conferences. At this time our pediatrician, psychologist, anthropometrist, social worker, and workers in the various medical sciences gather together to offer their contributions, which go to make up a vivid, accurate account of the child as a living functioning organism. The soeio]ogic aspect of our study of the child represents an attempt to learn something about his social and environmental life. This type of research affords us an opportunity to see what kind of a home Jack From the Child Research Council and the l:Tniversity of Colorado School of Medicine. lll
112
TI-IE J O U R N A L
O F ~PED~ATRICS
has, what his characteristics are in the way of jealousy, food likes and dislikes, w h a t his teacher thinks of him, whether his family is larger or smaller than average, and whether he lives in a neighborhood where infant mortality is high. These factors in Jack's environment illustrate the sort of useful data being collected by the social worker, during her observations of the home, school, and community, and in her statistical study of the group as compared with the Denver population and with that of the United States. The home of the child is studied by means of yearly visits. A question blank is used during the interview and the information obtained is then written up in diary form and placed in the child's record. During the first visit to the home the parent is asked questions about the environmental history, such as the education, occupation, and re]igion of the child's grandparents, the relationship between the child's mother and her family and many other pertinent facts. On all succeeding visits questions pertain to the present environment of the child. They include such subjects as a description of the house and its furnishings, recreational interests of parents and child, such as movies, radio programs, reading interests, etc., the maid and her relationship to the child, disciplinary measures practiced, the amount of allowance given the child and how he uses it, the sex education given the child, what kind of an adjustment he has made in school, religious training; and other topics of possible interest in relation to the understanding of the child. Occasionally, at staff conferences, other sidelights regarding the home and family are presented when the worker gives her own impressions in addition to the parent's statements. The Minnesota Home Status Index, TM a scale for measuring urban environment, is another source of information regarding the home. This scale was developed by Dr. Alice Leahy, Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Minnesota, and is used to compare our group of families with those of the general population. The items included in the scale are: Children's Facilities, which covers questions regarding play equipment, lessons, camp and the like; Economic Status, which concerns itself with whether the family has an automobile, goes on a vacation yearly, has an electric refrigerator, and other modern conveniences; Cultural Status, which takes up the magazines read by parents, the professional clubs they belong to, whether they play musical instruments or have other special skills or cultural interests ; Sociality Status, which includes sports, fraternities, social clubs, etc.; Occupational Status, which reveals what occupational group the father is in; and Educational Status, which is concerned with the amount of education the parents have received. The occupational index used in this scale is Gooden0ugh and Anderson's classification of occupations 2 based on the U. S. Census Bureau figures, the Taussig classification of noncompeting occupational groups, and the Barr Scale of occupations which classifies them according to the demands made on mental ability,lb
DUNLOI~:
FAiY[ILIES OF C H I L D
I%E~EARC]-I C O U N C I L
]]3
The occupational groups are: professional, semiprofessional, skilled, semiskilled, slightly skilled, and day labor. A list of occupations is given with each classification. The school is visited once a year at which time information is obtained from the teacher in regard to the child's adjustment, socially and academically. Such questions as these are asked: In what subjects does the child do his best work? Does he cause a disturbance in the classroom f r e q u e ~ t l y ? Does he daydream during class? Does he put forth effort in his work? This material is joited down on a question blank, to be incorporated, later, in the child's diary record.
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Fig. 1 . - - M a p of D e n v e r s h o w i n g w h e r e o u r f a m i l i e s a r e l o c a t e d in r e l a t i o n .to h i g h a n d low mortality, high a n d low delinquency, a n d high relief area.
The community has been studied by means of a zoning map, ~a on which our families' residences have been plotted (Fig. 1). The map has been marked off into highest and lowest delinquency areas, 4a highest and lowest infant mortality, ~ highest relief areas, 6 and desirable and undesirable building zones. Thus we are able to see whether Jack lives in a " g o o d " neighborhood defined as one in which there are few delinquents, with few people on relief and a building zone regulation allowing only single dwellings and no hotels. The data obtained from this study of the child and his family in the Child Research Council group are being compared with available data Concerning the Denver population and that of the country at large.
114
TilE
OF PEDIATRICS
JOURNAL
TABLE I YEAI%LY INCONKES OF CHILD I~ESEARCH COUNCIL FAMILIES AS CO1VIPA!%ED WITI~I THE INCOMES OF THE DENVER POPULATION
CHILD
~XCOME ($)
RE SEARCI-I
COUNCIL ( % )
Over 50~000 20,000 to 50,000 10,000 to 20,000 5,000 to 10,000 2,500 to 5,000 1,000 to 2,500 U n d e r 1,000
L
5 19 47 28 1
DEI~VVER*
(%) Less than I 1 3 10 35 45 5
GENERAL POPI/LATreNt (%)
Less than 1 1 3 8 32 ~9 6
*Reference 7 (a). ?Reference 7 (b).
M ! NN. HOME STATU5 I NDEX Cl-, Cl-, ll S C OY~. S
b
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F i g . 2 . - - C o m p a r i s o n b e t w e e n C h i l d R e s e a r c h C o u n c i l f a m i l i e s a n d t h o s e in t h e general population as shown by the Minnesota Home Status Index. The scale at the l e f t is b a s e d on t h e a c c e p t e d s y s t e m of s c o r i n g in t h i s i n d e x , e a c h u n i t r e p r e s e n t i n g one s i g m a . T h e b r o k e n l i n e i n d i c a t e s t h e a v e r a g e of t o t a l s c o r e s on C h i l d R e s e a r c h Council families.
DUNLOP:
FAMILIES
O F CI~IILD R E S E A R C H
COUNCIL
115
The following is a p r e s e n t a t i o n of some of our findings on education, occupation, income, size of family, race, religion, and related facts. There are now 115 children in the Child Research Council series, coming f r o m e i g h t y - f o u r homes. Of these homes, only 5 p e r cent are located in D e n v e r ' s relief a r e a or in its high delinquency area, while 65 per cent are located in the area of fewest delinquents. I n the ]~igh infant m o r t a l i t y a r e a we find only 6 p e r cent of our families, in the low i n f a n t m o r t a l i t y area 37 per cent, and in those areas b e t w e e n high and low, 57 per cent (Fig. 1). The m a j o r i t y of our families live in desirable residential areas of Denver as is shown b y the s t u d y m a d e on the location of homes in relation to building zones. E i g h t y - t w o p e r cent are living in A or B zones, which are those building zones h a v i n g the highest r e q u i r e m e n t s f r o m the s t a n d p o i n t of " h e a l t h , welfare, morals, and s a f e t y of the people. ''~b Seven p e r cent are living in D or E zones, which h a v e the lowest building requirements. Six p e r cent live outside the city limits in small towns. All b u t five of our families a n s w e r e d the questionnaire on salaries. The a v e r a g e incomes of our group are above the a v e r a g e of D e n v e r and the genera1 population. W e h a v e no families receiving salaries over $20,000 yearly, while D e n v e r and the United States have a few in the $50,000 class and over. Almost h a l f of our group fall within the $2,500 to $5,000 class. W e find 35 per cent of the D e n v e r population and 32 p e r cent of the general p o p u l a t i o n in this b r a c k e t as is shown in Table I. TABLE
II
ITEMS IN" MINNESOTA I:IOME STATUS INDEX
P E R C E N T OF CI-IILD I~ESEARCI~ COUNCIL ]~A~ILIES Wt:IO ARE A B O V E AVEt~AGE ~F GENERAL POPULATION
Children Facilities
51
Economic Status Cultural Status Sociality Status Occupational Status Educational Status
92 75 64 63 88
The Child R e s e a r c h Council families are f o u n d to be above the average of the general p o p u l a t i o n living in an u r b a n e n v i r o n m e n t according to ratings m a d e on the Minnesota H o m e Status Index. Our homes rate highest on Economic Status a n d lowest on C h i l d r e n ' s Facilities. However, a comparison of our scores with those of the general population shows t h a t we are above the a v e r a g e of the p o p u l a t i o n in all classifications included in the index, as is shown in Table If. The scores in each item and the total scores of Child Research Council families are shown in Figs. 2 and 3. H a l f of our families have no p a i d assistance, 39 p e r cent h a v e fulltime maids, and 11 p e r cent have p a r t - t i m e help for housekeeping or
116
THE
JOURNAL
OF
MINN. HOME
PEDIATRICS
STATUS
INDEX
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care of children. F o u r t e e n p e r cent of our families are listed in Denv e t ' s Social Record, s which lists those citizens of D e n v e r who haye been chosen as being p r o m i n e n t in business or socially. These families are not all r a t e d high on the Minnesota H o m e Status I n d e x b u t are scattered f r o m high to low on the score range. One f a m i l y is listed in. W h o ' s W h o in America, 1940-41. 9 One in 4,300 of the general population is listed in W h o ' s W h o in A m e r i c a > ~ E i g h t e e n p e r cent of our m o t h e r s are m e m b e r s of J u n i o r League. Our families were f o u n d to be in the high occupational levels according to G o o d e n o u g h ' s a n d A n d e r s o n ' s classification of occupational groups. Over h a l f of our f a t h e r s are e n g a g e d in professional or semi-
DUNLOP:
117
FAMILIES OF CI-IILD RESEARCH COUNCIL
professional groups, and only 4 per cent are employed in unskilled labor or day labor. The occupational group as compared with the general population is shown in Table III. TABLE OCCUPATIONAL GROUP
III
CHILD RESEARCH COUNCIL ( % ) 32 26 34 4 3 1
Professional Semiprofessional Skilled Slightly skilled Unskilled Day labor *Reference 1 (c).
GENERAL POPULATION* ( % ) 4 :10 22 22 8 13
We have one family o n relief and the rest are self-supporting. Ten per cent of our mothers are working full time. Of married women in Denver, 17 per cent were in occupations during 19307 ~~ All the Child Research Council youths betweer~ 16 and 21 years of age (nine boys and one girl) are i n school with one exception, and 80 per cent of them are doing part-time work after school hours. Of all Denver youths, 16 to 21 years of age, 44 per cent are in school, 20 per cent are employed full time, and 8 per cent are working part time, not attending school. 4 TABLE I V EDUCATION OF CHILD ]-:~ESEARCH COUNCIL PARENTS AS CO~[PARED WITH THE DENVER POPULATION
EDUCATIONAL GROUPS
CHILD RESEARCH COUNCIL CUMULATIVE FREQUENCY FREQUENCY %
%
Completed college Entered college Finished high school E n t e r e d high school E i g h t h grade N o t reported
43 19 24 6 8 0
43 62 86 92 100 0
DENVER* CUMULATIVE FREQUENCY FREQUENCY %
%
8 9 24 16 42 1
8 17 41 5Z 99 1
*U. S. Census Bureau, 1940.
Our parents are well educated, as is indicated by the figures in Table IV. Forty-three per cent of our fathers and mothers have either finished college and stopped there or have taken graduate work in addition to college. Eight per cent of the Denver population completed college. 12a (Figures for the general population are not yet available.) Eight per cent of our parents finished the eighth grade only, while 42 per cent of the Denver population have gone through the eighth grade and stopped there. Our fathers and mothers have had almost equal amounts of education, except that 30 per cent of our fathers have had postgraduate work above college level while only 11 per cent of the mothers have had this amount. Forty-four per cent of our fathers have completed
118
THE JOURNAL OF PE,DIATt~ICS
college or t a k e n p o s t g r a d u a t e w o r k in addition, and 43 per cent of our mothers fall within this group (Table V). Of the eighteen children of preschool age in the Child Research Council, eleven are a t t e n d i n g preschools. One child a t t e n d s public preschool, and ten are a t t e n d i n g p r i v a t e preschools. TABLE V EDUCATION OF THE FATHERS AND MOTHERS OF THE CI-IILD RESEARCH COUNCIL
EDUCATIONAL GI%OUPS Graduate Completed college E n t e r e d college F i n i s h e d h i g h school E n t e r e d h i g h school Eighth grade
FATHER CUMULATIVE FREQUENCY
FREQUENCY
%
%
30 14 20 22 5 9
MOTHER ' CUMULATIVE FREQUENCY
FREQUENCY
%
%
]] 32 19 26 5 7
30 44 64 86 91 100
11 43 62 88 93 100
Child Research Council families are only slightly smaller t h a n those of Denver and the general population. The size of our families as compared with those of D e n v e r and the general p o p u l a t i o n are shown in Table VI. TABLE V I SIZE OF FAMILY
CHILD RESEARCH COUNCIL( % )
35 49 13 2 0 0 0 ] 0 0 *Reference 11 (b ). ~Reference 11 ( a ) . 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 11
(1 (2 (3 (4
child) children) children) children)
DENVERPOPULATION* GENERAL POPULATION~ (%) (%) 42 29 14 8 4 2 1
(6 c h i l d r e n ) Less t h a n 1
30 27 17 11 7 5 2 1 Le s s t h a n I
We have one adopted child in our series and one pair of twins. Of our mothers, three have been divorced and two of the three have been remarried. Our records show t h a t 95 per cent of our p a r e n t s are native born, while 5 per cent are foreign born. W e have no Negroes in our series. Of the D e n v e r population, we find t h a t 77 per cent of the families are native-born white, 18 per cent are f o r e i g n born, 3 per cent are Negroes, and 2 per cent others 11b (Fig. 4). Over half of our families are Protestant, 9 per cent Jewish, 7 per cent Catholic, a n d 5 per cent m i x e d (one p a r e n t Catholic and one P r o t e s t a n t ) . The figures for D e n v e r a n d the United States are not as high for Protestants. Religious groups of the Child Research Council as c o m p a r e d with those of D e n v e r and the general p o p u l a t i o n are shown in Table V I I .
DUNLOP:
119
F A 3 ~ I L I E S OF C H I L D I%I~SEARCH C O U N C I L TABLE VII CHILD R~]SEARCH COUNCIL
DENVER*
GENEI%AL POPULATION~
(%)
(%)
(%)
79
50
69
Roman Catholic Mixed Jewish
7 5 9
35 14
24 6
Others
0
I~ELIGIOUS GROUP
Protestant
Less
than
1
Less
than
I
*l~eference 1 3 ( a ) . f R e f e r e n c e 13 ( b ) .
RACIAL
GROUPS
I00 _
I'I [ '
,
]
D~rlu
SO
m 7O 60 50 't-0 30 2-.C Ic
Wk~te Fig'. 4 , - - R a c i a l g r o u p s of t h e Child R e s e a r c h Council a s c o m p a r e d w i t h D e n v e r a n d the general population.
There are more Jews and Catholics in Denver than there are in the general population. SUMMARY
A m a j o r i t y of Child Research Council families are living outside of the undesirable areas of the city as revealed b y relief reports, delinquency records, i n f a n t m o r t a l i t y rates, and building zone regulations. Our families are well above average for Denver or for the general population of the c o u n t r y in income levels, in per cent of native-born parents, and in the following items as scored on the Minnesota Home Index scale: occupational status, education, social and cultural status in the community. In size of family and in facilities for the children, they are near the average ~or the community.
120
TI:IE JOUR]~TAL OF PEDIATRICS
A l t h o u g h t h e r e are i n d i v i d u a l d i f f e r e n c e s i n p r a c t i c e , or i n t h e c i t y i n w h i c h a g i v e n p e d i a t r i c i a n m a y be w o r k i n g , he m a y f i n d i n t h i s s t u d y a base l i n e f r o m w h i c h to s t a r t . I t is h o p e d t h a t t h e d a t a pres e n t e d m a y be of some v a l u e as w e l l to t h e g e n e r a l p r a c t i t i o n e r a n d o t h e r p r o f e s s i o n a l p e o p l e t r e a t i n g or s t u d y i n g a series s i m i l a r to ours. I t is also to be h o p e d t h a t t h i s b r i e f c r o s s - s e c t i o n a l t y p e of a n M y s i s m a y s t i m u l a t e o t h e r s to s t u d y t h e s e social a n d e c o n o m i c f a c t o r s t h r o u g h o u t t h e g r o w t h s p a n of t h e child. "Such i n f o r m a t i o n is essential if we are to u n d e r s t a n d i n d i v i d u a l s well e n o u g h to a p p r a i s e adeq u a t e l y t h e p r o b l e m s t h e y so o f t e n p r e s e n t . REFERENCES 1. Leahy~ Alice M.: The Measurement of Urban Home Environment, Minneapolis, 1936, University of Minnesota Press. (a) p. 4 3 ; (b) p. 3; (e) p. 17. 2. Goodenough, F. L., and Anderson, J. E.: Experimental Child Study, New York, 1931, The Century Co., Appendix. 3. City Council of Denver: (a) Zoning Map of Denver; (b) Building Zone Ordinance. Passed Feb. l, 1925, and Revised Oct. 1, 1939. 4. Carmichael, F. L., and Wiedeman, ~ . C.: The Youth Problem in Denver, University of Denver t~eports, ]938, vol. 14, no. 2. (a) p. 5; (b) p. 2. 5. Kaplan, A. D.H.: Am. J. Pub. ~ealth 22: 1037, 1932. 6. The Denver Council of Social Agencies: Social Welfare in Denver. From City Conference in Social Welfare, May 24, 25, and 26, 1939, p. 22. 7. U. S. Treasury Department: Division of Tax Research in Cooperation with the WPA. Statistics of Income Supplement Compiled from Income Tax Returns for 1936, Washington, D. C., June, 1940. (a) p. 1, Table l (U. S.); (b) p. 98, Table 7. 8. Denver Press Club: Denver Social Record and Club Annual, 1941-42, Denver, Colo., 1942, The Program Publishing Co., 189 pp. 9. Marquis, Albert Nelson: Who's Who in America, 1940-4], Chicago, 1940, The A. N. Marquis Co. ]0. Bryon, J., I I I : What's What in Who's Who, Reader's Digest 40 (No. 239): 32-35, 1942. (From Sat. Rev. of Lit.) 11. U. S. Census Bureau: 15th Census, 1930, Washington~ D. C, 1933, U. S. Printing Office. (a) Population. Families. Colorado. Vol. 6, p. 7, Table 4; (b) Population. Families. Colorado. Vol. 6, p. 206, Table 19; (c) Population. Occupations by States. u 4, p. 247, Table 15. 12. U. S. Census Bureau: 16th Census, Washington~ D. C, 1940, U. S. Printing Office. Colorado. 2rid Series, p. 106, Table 39. 13. U. S. Department of Commerce. Bureau of the Census. Religious Bodies. Vol. 1, 1936. (a) p. 728, Table 32; (b) p. 346, Table 25.
Erratum
On page 741 of th~ December, 1942, issue of the JOURNAL, the article entitled '~The Treatment of Iehthyosis With Vitamin A " by Howard G. t~apaport, M.D., Harold Herman, M.D., and Edward Lel~man, M.D., the A and B parts of Fig. 4 are reversed. B should be A and A should be B.
pediatrician may have wondered, duriIlg his years of practice, T HE just what kind of a sampling of the general population his patients and their families represented as to education, occupation, income, size of family, and similar items. Very few physicians have been able, however, to make a systematic study of the families in their practice in order to obtain reliable information in the socio-economic sphere over a period of years because of the time consumed in doing so and the turnover in patients from time to time. The need for such information is apparent when one notes the increasing emphasis being placed on the understanding of the "whole child" rather than merely a specific illness. The Child Research Council, an independent research institute headed by a pediatrician and affiliated with the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver, is equipped to make such a study. This Council follows children in families which are similar in most respects to those found in the pediatrician's practice. Our series is composed of children coming f r o m a diversity of families scattered up and down the social and economic scale. Although there are no extremes such as poverty-stricken parents or retired millionaires, yet we do find carpenters and engineers, clerks and lawyers, or leisurely housewives contrasted with career women among those present. The babies accepted for study are within normal healthy limits at the start of life, but in the group of growing children are to be found the same general run of children's diseases which the pediatrician encounters. The Child Research Council is d e v o t e d to the study of children as they develop from birth into maturity. Its purpose is to set up more adequate standards for the appraisal of growth, development and heMth of the individual child. The physical, social, and mental makeup of each child has been taken into consideration in an effort to obtain an adequate picture of the child as a whole. An excellent example of the picture we are attempting to por t r a y is given at staff conferences. At this time our pediatrician, psychologist, anthropometrist, social worker, and workers in the various medical sciences gather together to offer their contributions, which go to make up a vivid, accurate account of the child as a living functioning organism. The soeio]ogic aspect of our study of the child represents an attempt to learn something about his social and environmental life. This type of research affords us an opportunity to see what kind of a home Jack From the Child Research Council and the l:Tniversity of Colorado School of Medicine. lll
112
TI-IE J O U R N A L
O F ~PED~ATRICS
has, what his characteristics are in the way of jealousy, food likes and dislikes, w h a t his teacher thinks of him, whether his family is larger or smaller than average, and whether he lives in a neighborhood where infant mortality is high. These factors in Jack's environment illustrate the sort of useful data being collected by the social worker, during her observations of the home, school, and community, and in her statistical study of the group as compared with the Denver population and with that of the United States. The home of the child is studied by means of yearly visits. A question blank is used during the interview and the information obtained is then written up in diary form and placed in the child's record. During the first visit to the home the parent is asked questions about the environmental history, such as the education, occupation, and re]igion of the child's grandparents, the relationship between the child's mother and her family and many other pertinent facts. On all succeeding visits questions pertain to the present environment of the child. They include such subjects as a description of the house and its furnishings, recreational interests of parents and child, such as movies, radio programs, reading interests, etc., the maid and her relationship to the child, disciplinary measures practiced, the amount of allowance given the child and how he uses it, the sex education given the child, what kind of an adjustment he has made in school, religious training; and other topics of possible interest in relation to the understanding of the child. Occasionally, at staff conferences, other sidelights regarding the home and family are presented when the worker gives her own impressions in addition to the parent's statements. The Minnesota Home Status Index, TM a scale for measuring urban environment, is another source of information regarding the home. This scale was developed by Dr. Alice Leahy, Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Minnesota, and is used to compare our group of families with those of the general population. The items included in the scale are: Children's Facilities, which covers questions regarding play equipment, lessons, camp and the like; Economic Status, which concerns itself with whether the family has an automobile, goes on a vacation yearly, has an electric refrigerator, and other modern conveniences; Cultural Status, which takes up the magazines read by parents, the professional clubs they belong to, whether they play musical instruments or have other special skills or cultural interests ; Sociality Status, which includes sports, fraternities, social clubs, etc.; Occupational Status, which reveals what occupational group the father is in; and Educational Status, which is concerned with the amount of education the parents have received. The occupational index used in this scale is Gooden0ugh and Anderson's classification of occupations 2 based on the U. S. Census Bureau figures, the Taussig classification of noncompeting occupational groups, and the Barr Scale of occupations which classifies them according to the demands made on mental ability,lb
DUNLOI~:
FAiY[ILIES OF C H I L D
I%E~EARC]-I C O U N C I L
]]3
The occupational groups are: professional, semiprofessional, skilled, semiskilled, slightly skilled, and day labor. A list of occupations is given with each classification. The school is visited once a year at which time information is obtained from the teacher in regard to the child's adjustment, socially and academically. Such questions as these are asked: In what subjects does the child do his best work? Does he cause a disturbance in the classroom f r e q u e ~ t l y ? Does he daydream during class? Does he put forth effort in his work? This material is joited down on a question blank, to be incorporated, later, in the child's diary record.
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o
o o
0 oo
1~*o ~' o ~ ~ |
Oo o
0
: I
Fig. 1 . - - M a p of D e n v e r s h o w i n g w h e r e o u r f a m i l i e s a r e l o c a t e d in r e l a t i o n .to h i g h a n d low mortality, high a n d low delinquency, a n d high relief area.
The community has been studied by means of a zoning map, ~a on which our families' residences have been plotted (Fig. 1). The map has been marked off into highest and lowest delinquency areas, 4a highest and lowest infant mortality, ~ highest relief areas, 6 and desirable and undesirable building zones. Thus we are able to see whether Jack lives in a " g o o d " neighborhood defined as one in which there are few delinquents, with few people on relief and a building zone regulation allowing only single dwellings and no hotels. The data obtained from this study of the child and his family in the Child Research Council group are being compared with available data Concerning the Denver population and that of the country at large.
114
TilE
OF PEDIATRICS
JOURNAL
TABLE I YEAI%LY INCONKES OF CHILD I~ESEARCH COUNCIL FAMILIES AS CO1VIPA!%ED WITI~I THE INCOMES OF THE DENVER POPULATION
CHILD
~XCOME ($)
RE SEARCI-I
COUNCIL ( % )
Over 50~000 20,000 to 50,000 10,000 to 20,000 5,000 to 10,000 2,500 to 5,000 1,000 to 2,500 U n d e r 1,000
L
5 19 47 28 1
DEI~VVER*
(%) Less than I 1 3 10 35 45 5
GENERAL POPI/LATreNt (%)
Less than 1 1 3 8 32 ~9 6
*Reference 7 (a). ?Reference 7 (b).
M ! NN. HOME STATU5 I NDEX Cl-, Cl-, ll S C OY~. S
b
9
~
2.0 9
..::.
.:..
~
1.5
|
.5
,.. 9149149
. o e . o .
....
i,.
iNle
., o.
-
.
.
~
.
.
~
9
,12:.
.
9
~
. 0 t . . .
0~.
..
-, ".
::.
" ":
""
.
.
.
,......
**
a c e
-2 9" Q9
o
..
.l, o.
:
"',
-7..(
F i g . 2 . - - C o m p a r i s o n b e t w e e n C h i l d R e s e a r c h C o u n c i l f a m i l i e s a n d t h o s e in t h e general population as shown by the Minnesota Home Status Index. The scale at the l e f t is b a s e d on t h e a c c e p t e d s y s t e m of s c o r i n g in t h i s i n d e x , e a c h u n i t r e p r e s e n t i n g one s i g m a . T h e b r o k e n l i n e i n d i c a t e s t h e a v e r a g e of t o t a l s c o r e s on C h i l d R e s e a r c h Council families.
DUNLOP:
FAMILIES
O F CI~IILD R E S E A R C H
COUNCIL
115
The following is a p r e s e n t a t i o n of some of our findings on education, occupation, income, size of family, race, religion, and related facts. There are now 115 children in the Child Research Council series, coming f r o m e i g h t y - f o u r homes. Of these homes, only 5 p e r cent are located in D e n v e r ' s relief a r e a or in its high delinquency area, while 65 per cent are located in the area of fewest delinquents. I n the ]~igh infant m o r t a l i t y a r e a we find only 6 p e r cent of our families, in the low i n f a n t m o r t a l i t y area 37 per cent, and in those areas b e t w e e n high and low, 57 per cent (Fig. 1). The m a j o r i t y of our families live in desirable residential areas of Denver as is shown b y the s t u d y m a d e on the location of homes in relation to building zones. E i g h t y - t w o p e r cent are living in A or B zones, which are those building zones h a v i n g the highest r e q u i r e m e n t s f r o m the s t a n d p o i n t of " h e a l t h , welfare, morals, and s a f e t y of the people. ''~b Seven p e r cent are living in D or E zones, which h a v e the lowest building requirements. Six p e r cent live outside the city limits in small towns. All b u t five of our families a n s w e r e d the questionnaire on salaries. The a v e r a g e incomes of our group are above the a v e r a g e of D e n v e r and the genera1 population. W e h a v e no families receiving salaries over $20,000 yearly, while D e n v e r and the United States have a few in the $50,000 class and over. Almost h a l f of our group fall within the $2,500 to $5,000 class. W e find 35 per cent of the D e n v e r population and 32 p e r cent of the general p o p u l a t i o n in this b r a c k e t as is shown in Table I. TABLE
II
ITEMS IN" MINNESOTA I:IOME STATUS INDEX
P E R C E N T OF CI-IILD I~ESEARCI~ COUNCIL ]~A~ILIES Wt:IO ARE A B O V E AVEt~AGE ~F GENERAL POPULATION
Children Facilities
51
Economic Status Cultural Status Sociality Status Occupational Status Educational Status
92 75 64 63 88
The Child R e s e a r c h Council families are f o u n d to be above the average of the general p o p u l a t i o n living in an u r b a n e n v i r o n m e n t according to ratings m a d e on the Minnesota H o m e Status Index. Our homes rate highest on Economic Status a n d lowest on C h i l d r e n ' s Facilities. However, a comparison of our scores with those of the general population shows t h a t we are above the a v e r a g e of the p o p u l a t i o n in all classifications included in the index, as is shown in Table If. The scores in each item and the total scores of Child Research Council families are shown in Figs. 2 and 3. H a l f of our families have no p a i d assistance, 39 p e r cent h a v e fulltime maids, and 11 p e r cent have p a r t - t i m e help for housekeeping or
116
THE
JOURNAL
OF
MINN. HOME
PEDIATRICS
STATUS
INDEX
F',~,, I ~
5co'f=s-Ck~l ,.I R,=,,,,.=I, C~
/
I
I
r I
-rt
|1
#-!
~'I
~'I
~, L~I
Lpl v,
I
I i I I
cf -5.0 Fig. 3.--The
-2.5 -:Z.O -I.5 r~nge
of
scores
-I.0 of
-.5
0
.5
1.0
Child Research Council H o m e S t a t u s Index.
1.5
2.0
families
2.5 on
the
5.0
.~
Minnesota
care of children. F o u r t e e n p e r cent of our families are listed in Denv e t ' s Social Record, s which lists those citizens of D e n v e r who haye been chosen as being p r o m i n e n t in business or socially. These families are not all r a t e d high on the Minnesota H o m e Status I n d e x b u t are scattered f r o m high to low on the score range. One f a m i l y is listed in. W h o ' s W h o in America, 1940-41. 9 One in 4,300 of the general population is listed in W h o ' s W h o in A m e r i c a > ~ E i g h t e e n p e r cent of our m o t h e r s are m e m b e r s of J u n i o r League. Our families were f o u n d to be in the high occupational levels according to G o o d e n o u g h ' s a n d A n d e r s o n ' s classification of occupational groups. Over h a l f of our f a t h e r s are e n g a g e d in professional or semi-
DUNLOP:
117
FAMILIES OF CI-IILD RESEARCH COUNCIL
professional groups, and only 4 per cent are employed in unskilled labor or day labor. The occupational group as compared with the general population is shown in Table III. TABLE OCCUPATIONAL GROUP
III
CHILD RESEARCH COUNCIL ( % ) 32 26 34 4 3 1
Professional Semiprofessional Skilled Slightly skilled Unskilled Day labor *Reference 1 (c).
GENERAL POPULATION* ( % ) 4 :10 22 22 8 13
We have one family o n relief and the rest are self-supporting. Ten per cent of our mothers are working full time. Of married women in Denver, 17 per cent were in occupations during 19307 ~~ All the Child Research Council youths betweer~ 16 and 21 years of age (nine boys and one girl) are i n school with one exception, and 80 per cent of them are doing part-time work after school hours. Of all Denver youths, 16 to 21 years of age, 44 per cent are in school, 20 per cent are employed full time, and 8 per cent are working part time, not attending school. 4 TABLE I V EDUCATION OF CHILD ]-:~ESEARCH COUNCIL PARENTS AS CO~[PARED WITH THE DENVER POPULATION
EDUCATIONAL GROUPS
CHILD RESEARCH COUNCIL CUMULATIVE FREQUENCY FREQUENCY %
%
Completed college Entered college Finished high school E n t e r e d high school E i g h t h grade N o t reported
43 19 24 6 8 0
43 62 86 92 100 0
DENVER* CUMULATIVE FREQUENCY FREQUENCY %
%
8 9 24 16 42 1
8 17 41 5Z 99 1
*U. S. Census Bureau, 1940.
Our parents are well educated, as is indicated by the figures in Table IV. Forty-three per cent of our fathers and mothers have either finished college and stopped there or have taken graduate work in addition to college. Eight per cent of the Denver population completed college. 12a (Figures for the general population are not yet available.) Eight per cent of our parents finished the eighth grade only, while 42 per cent of the Denver population have gone through the eighth grade and stopped there. Our fathers and mothers have had almost equal amounts of education, except that 30 per cent of our fathers have had postgraduate work above college level while only 11 per cent of the mothers have had this amount. Forty-four per cent of our fathers have completed
118
THE JOURNAL OF PE,DIATt~ICS
college or t a k e n p o s t g r a d u a t e w o r k in addition, and 43 per cent of our mothers fall within this group (Table V). Of the eighteen children of preschool age in the Child Research Council, eleven are a t t e n d i n g preschools. One child a t t e n d s public preschool, and ten are a t t e n d i n g p r i v a t e preschools. TABLE V EDUCATION OF THE FATHERS AND MOTHERS OF THE CI-IILD RESEARCH COUNCIL
EDUCATIONAL GI%OUPS Graduate Completed college E n t e r e d college F i n i s h e d h i g h school E n t e r e d h i g h school Eighth grade
FATHER CUMULATIVE FREQUENCY
FREQUENCY
%
%
30 14 20 22 5 9
MOTHER ' CUMULATIVE FREQUENCY
FREQUENCY
%
%
]] 32 19 26 5 7
30 44 64 86 91 100
11 43 62 88 93 100
Child Research Council families are only slightly smaller t h a n those of Denver and the general population. The size of our families as compared with those of D e n v e r and the general p o p u l a t i o n are shown in Table VI. TABLE V I SIZE OF FAMILY
CHILD RESEARCH COUNCIL( % )
35 49 13 2 0 0 0 ] 0 0 *Reference 11 (b ). ~Reference 11 ( a ) . 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 11
(1 (2 (3 (4
child) children) children) children)
DENVERPOPULATION* GENERAL POPULATION~ (%) (%) 42 29 14 8 4 2 1
(6 c h i l d r e n ) Less t h a n 1
30 27 17 11 7 5 2 1 Le s s t h a n I
We have one adopted child in our series and one pair of twins. Of our mothers, three have been divorced and two of the three have been remarried. Our records show t h a t 95 per cent of our p a r e n t s are native born, while 5 per cent are foreign born. W e have no Negroes in our series. Of the D e n v e r population, we find t h a t 77 per cent of the families are native-born white, 18 per cent are f o r e i g n born, 3 per cent are Negroes, and 2 per cent others 11b (Fig. 4). Over half of our families are Protestant, 9 per cent Jewish, 7 per cent Catholic, a n d 5 per cent m i x e d (one p a r e n t Catholic and one P r o t e s t a n t ) . The figures for D e n v e r a n d the United States are not as high for Protestants. Religious groups of the Child Research Council as c o m p a r e d with those of D e n v e r and the general p o p u l a t i o n are shown in Table V I I .
DUNLOP:
119
F A 3 ~ I L I E S OF C H I L D I%I~SEARCH C O U N C I L TABLE VII CHILD R~]SEARCH COUNCIL
DENVER*
GENEI%AL POPULATION~
(%)
(%)
(%)
79
50
69
Roman Catholic Mixed Jewish
7 5 9
35 14
24 6
Others
0
I~ELIGIOUS GROUP
Protestant
Less
than
1
Less
than
I
*l~eference 1 3 ( a ) . f R e f e r e n c e 13 ( b ) .
RACIAL
GROUPS
I00 _
I'I [ '
,
]
D~rlu
SO
m 7O 60 50 't-0 30 2-.C Ic
Wk~te Fig'. 4 , - - R a c i a l g r o u p s of t h e Child R e s e a r c h Council a s c o m p a r e d w i t h D e n v e r a n d the general population.
There are more Jews and Catholics in Denver than there are in the general population. SUMMARY
A m a j o r i t y of Child Research Council families are living outside of the undesirable areas of the city as revealed b y relief reports, delinquency records, i n f a n t m o r t a l i t y rates, and building zone regulations. Our families are well above average for Denver or for the general population of the c o u n t r y in income levels, in per cent of native-born parents, and in the following items as scored on the Minnesota Home Index scale: occupational status, education, social and cultural status in the community. In size of family and in facilities for the children, they are near the average ~or the community.
120
TI:IE JOUR]~TAL OF PEDIATRICS
A l t h o u g h t h e r e are i n d i v i d u a l d i f f e r e n c e s i n p r a c t i c e , or i n t h e c i t y i n w h i c h a g i v e n p e d i a t r i c i a n m a y be w o r k i n g , he m a y f i n d i n t h i s s t u d y a base l i n e f r o m w h i c h to s t a r t . I t is h o p e d t h a t t h e d a t a pres e n t e d m a y be of some v a l u e as w e l l to t h e g e n e r a l p r a c t i t i o n e r a n d o t h e r p r o f e s s i o n a l p e o p l e t r e a t i n g or s t u d y i n g a series s i m i l a r to ours. I t is also to be h o p e d t h a t t h i s b r i e f c r o s s - s e c t i o n a l t y p e of a n M y s i s m a y s t i m u l a t e o t h e r s to s t u d y t h e s e social a n d e c o n o m i c f a c t o r s t h r o u g h o u t t h e g r o w t h s p a n of t h e child. "Such i n f o r m a t i o n is essential if we are to u n d e r s t a n d i n d i v i d u a l s well e n o u g h to a p p r a i s e adeq u a t e l y t h e p r o b l e m s t h e y so o f t e n p r e s e n t . REFERENCES 1. Leahy~ Alice M.: The Measurement of Urban Home Environment, Minneapolis, 1936, University of Minnesota Press. (a) p. 4 3 ; (b) p. 3; (e) p. 17. 2. Goodenough, F. L., and Anderson, J. E.: Experimental Child Study, New York, 1931, The Century Co., Appendix. 3. City Council of Denver: (a) Zoning Map of Denver; (b) Building Zone Ordinance. Passed Feb. l, 1925, and Revised Oct. 1, 1939. 4. Carmichael, F. L., and Wiedeman, ~ . C.: The Youth Problem in Denver, University of Denver t~eports, ]938, vol. 14, no. 2. (a) p. 5; (b) p. 2. 5. Kaplan, A. D.H.: Am. J. Pub. ~ealth 22: 1037, 1932. 6. The Denver Council of Social Agencies: Social Welfare in Denver. From City Conference in Social Welfare, May 24, 25, and 26, 1939, p. 22. 7. U. S. Treasury Department: Division of Tax Research in Cooperation with the WPA. Statistics of Income Supplement Compiled from Income Tax Returns for 1936, Washington, D. C., June, 1940. (a) p. 1, Table l (U. S.); (b) p. 98, Table 7. 8. Denver Press Club: Denver Social Record and Club Annual, 1941-42, Denver, Colo., 1942, The Program Publishing Co., 189 pp. 9. Marquis, Albert Nelson: Who's Who in America, 1940-4], Chicago, 1940, The A. N. Marquis Co. ]0. Bryon, J., I I I : What's What in Who's Who, Reader's Digest 40 (No. 239): 32-35, 1942. (From Sat. Rev. of Lit.) 11. U. S. Census Bureau: 15th Census, 1930, Washington~ D. C, 1933, U. S. Printing Office. (a) Population. Families. Colorado. Vol. 6, p. 7, Table 4; (b) Population. Families. Colorado. Vol. 6, p. 206, Table 19; (c) Population. Occupations by States. u 4, p. 247, Table 15. 12. U. S. Census Bureau: 16th Census, Washington~ D. C, 1940, U. S. Printing Office. Colorado. 2rid Series, p. 106, Table 39. 13. U. S. Department of Commerce. Bureau of the Census. Religious Bodies. Vol. 1, 1936. (a) p. 728, Table 32; (b) p. 346, Table 25.
Erratum
On page 741 of th~ December, 1942, issue of the JOURNAL, the article entitled '~The Treatment of Iehthyosis With Vitamin A " by Howard G. t~apaport, M.D., Harold Herman, M.D., and Edward Lel~man, M.D., the A and B parts of Fig. 4 are reversed. B should be A and A should be B.