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Variation Found In Rates Of Restraint And Seclusion Among Students With A Disability, Douglas J. Gagnon, Marybeth J. Mattingly, Vincent J. Connelly

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

The restraint and seclusion of individuals—practices usually associated with highly restrictive environments—are extreme responses to student behavior used in some public schools. In this brief, authors Douglas Gagnon, Marybeth Mattingly, and Vincent Connelly report that restraint and seclusion are used much more frequently on students with a disability than on students without a disability. In addition, the majority of U.S. school districts does not restrain or seclude students with a disability; 59.3 percent of districts report no instances of restraint, while 82.5 percent do not report a single instance of seclusion. However, a small proportion of districts report exceedingly high …

New Hampshire Children In Need Of Services: Impacts Of 2011 Legislative Changes To Chins, Lisa Speropolous, Barbara Wauchope

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

Using administrative data from state and local agencies and data from interviews with CHINS professionals, this brief provides an overview of participation in the Children in Need of Services (CHINS) program before and after the change in the law in September 2011 but before funding returned in 2013. Specifically, it examines changes in CHINS petitions filed, children served, and services provided to children and their families in the state. Authors Lisa Speropolous and Barbara Wauchope present the study as an example of the impact that state fiscal policy can have on the most vulnerable of New Hampshire’s populations.

Mental Health Among Northern New Hampshire Young Adults: Depression And Substance Problems Higher Than Nationwide, Karen T. Van Gundy

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

This brief uses data on depressive and substance abuse symptoms from two surveys administered in 2011—the Coös Youth Study and the National Survey on Drug Use and Health—to compare mental health patterns among young adults in Coös County, New Hampshire, to patterns among rural young adults nationwide. The analyses focus on 214 Coös young adults and 1,477 young adult respondents, ages 18 to 21, who were living in non-metropolitan areas in 2011 and who provided usable data on depressive and substance abuse symptoms. Author Karen Van Gundy reports that Coös County young adults are more likely than rural young adults …

Snap Use Increased Slightly In 2012, Jessica A. Carson

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

This brief uses data from the American Community Survey to examine rates of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) receipt in 2012, track changes since the onset of the recession, and monitor receipt by region and place type. It also explores changes in SNAP receipt among households that may be at particular risk for food insecurity and considers rates among some less traditionally at-risk populations, exploring changes in their rates of receipt over time.

Author Jessica Carson writes that reports of SNAP receipt in 2012 increased among populations at particular risk for food insecurity, including households with children, seniors, the poor, …

Coös Youth With Mentors More Likely To Perceive Future Success, Kent Scovill, Corinna J. Tucker

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

This fact sheet explores whether Coös youths’ mentor experiences and their academic attitudes and well-being are linked. Authors Kent Scovill and Corinna Jenkins Tucker analyze data from the Coös Youth Study collected in 2008, focusing on seventh and eleventh grade students from all public schools in Coös County, New Hampshire.

Of the Coös youth surveyed, 82 percent with a mentor relationship reported believing that they were likely to graduate college, compared to 72 percent of those without a mentor, and 63 percent of Coös youth with a mentor agreed that they could do anything they set their minds to, while …

2012 National Child Poverty Rate Stagnates At 22.6 Percent, Marybeth J. Mattingly, Jessica A. Carson, Andrew P. Schaefer

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

No abstract provided.

Comparing Teen Substance Use In Northern New Hampshire To Rural Use Nationwide, Karen T. Van Gundy

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

Using data administered in 2011 from the Carsey Institute’s Coös Youth Study and the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, this brief compares teen substance use patterns in New Hampshire’s most rural county to patterns among rural youth nationwide. Author Karen Van Gundy reports that about half of the teens in Coös County and in rural areas nationwide reported using any substance in the previous year. Alcohol use was reported most often, followed by tobacco or marijuana, and other illicit substances. Rural boys nationwide reported using tobacco at significantly higher rates than Coös boys and girls and rural girls …

Wanting More But Working Less: Involuntary Part-Time Employment And Economic Vulnerability, Rebecca K. Glauber

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

Using data from the Current Population Survey, a national survey of U.S. households, this brief outlines a strong association between involuntary part-time employment and economic vulnerability. Author Rebecca Glauber reports that the involuntary part-time employment rate more than doubled between 2007 and 2012. For women, it rose from 3.6 percent to 7.8 percent and, for men, the rate increased from 2.4 percent in 2007 to 5.9 percent in 2012. Involuntary part-time employment is a key factor in poverty. In 2012, one in four involuntary part-time workers lived in poverty, whereas just one in twenty full-time workers lived in poverty. In …

Granite Staters Weigh In On Renewable Energy Versus Drilling: Environmental Quality Of Life Ranks High Across Party Lines, Lawrence C. Hamilton, Cameron P. Wake

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

Since the fall of 2001, the University of New Hampshire’s Survey Center has been conducting the Granite State Poll—a statewide, scientific survey of public opinion and behavior concerning policy issues—via telephone interviews with random samples of New Hampshire residents about four times each year. Starting in 2010, the poll began regularly including environmental topics among its mix of survey questions. In 2012, the environmental questions expanded to include non-climate topics, in connection with a new five-year project on Ecosystems and Society under the New Hampshire Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research. In this brief, authors Lawrence Hamilton and Cameron Wake …

Who Would Be Affected By A New Minimum Wage Policy?, Jessica A. Carson

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

This brief describes the population who would be directly affected by the President’s proposal to increase the minimum wage to $9.00 per hour: workers earning between $7.25 and $9.00 per hour. Using data from the 2010 and 2012 Annual Social and Economic Supplement of the Current Population Survey, author Jessica Carson details the characteristics of these potentially affected earners and compares them with the hourly workforce more broadly, paying particular attention to rural-urban differences. She reports that nearly 17 percent of hourly paid workers earn between $7.25 and $9.00 per hour and would see a pay increase under the proposed …

Middle-Skill Jobs Remain More Common Among Rural Workers, Justin R. Young

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

This issue brief uses data from the Current Population Survey collected from 2003 to 2012 to assess trends in employment in middle-skill jobs and the Great Recession’s impact on middle-skill workers, with particular attention paid to differences between those in rural and urban places. Author Justin Young reports that roughly half (51 percent) of American workers living in rural areas held middle-skill jobs in 2012—positions requiring at least some on-the-job training, an apprenticeship-type experience, or postsecondary education but no more than a two-year degree. This figure is well above the national average of 43 percent and the urban average of …

Child Care Subsidies Critical For Low-Income Families Amid Rising Child Care Expenses, Kristin Smith, Nicholas Adams

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

The high cost of child care is a barrier to employment among low-income families with young children. Child care subsidies are designed to support both parental employment and child development by lowering the cost of child care and making high-quality child care affordable to low-income families. This policy brief compares the shares of income spent on child care in 2005 and 2011 using data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau. Authors Kristin Smith and Nicholas Adams report that child care expenditures were higher on average in 2011 than in 2005 (in constant 2011 dollars) and that employed, poor mothers with …

Sixty Percent Of Coös Youth Report Having A Mentor In Their Lives, Kent Scovill, Corinna J. Tucker

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

In this brief, authors Kent Scovill and Corinna Jenkins Tucker describe Coös youths’ mentor relationships using data from the Carsey Institute’s Coös Youth Study collected in 2007. They report that, in 2007, a majority of Coös youth in seventh and eleventh grade (60.2 percent) report having a mentor. In addition, 68 percent of Coös youths’ mentors are extended family members, and females are more likely than males to report a mentor relationship. Considering how mentoring relationships can play a crucial role in adolescents’ lives, they conclude that efforts to strengthen the capacity for arranged and naturally occurring mentor relationships in …

2012 New Hampshire Civic Health Index, Bruce L. Mallory, Quixada Moore-Vissing

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

The 2012 New Hampshire Civic Health Index follows earlier studies, including the New Hampshire Civic Index compiled by the NH Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College in 2006 and the 2009 Civic Health Index published by the Carsey Institute in collaboration with the National Conference on Citizenship and Knowledge Networks. This report begins with key findings, a general description of the Granite State, followed by detailed findings from the U.S. Census Current Population Survey and other surveys that illustrate patterns of volunteering and giving, voting and voter registration, civic engagement (both informal and formal), and confidence in public institutions …

Age And Lifecycle Patterns Driving U.S. Migration Shifts, Kenneth M. Johnson, Richelle Winkler, Luke T. Rogers

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

Migration—people moving between locations—is now driving much of the demographic change occurring in the United States. In this brief, authors Kenneth Johnson, Richelle Winkler, and Luke Rogers share new research on age-related migration patterns to provide a fuller understanding of the complex patterns of demographic change in the United States. Examining four migration age groups, including emerging adults, young adults, family age, and older adults, their analysis of trends over time shows evidence that certain age groups migrate in similar ways. For example, young adult migrants are flowing to large metropolitan areas, while family age migrants are leaving large urban …

Deaths Exceed Births In Record Number Of U.S. Counties, Kenneth M. Johnson

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

In this fact sheet, author Kenneth Johnson examines new data released by the Census Bureau which provide insights into the continuing influence of the Great Recession on U.S. demographic trends. He reports that, for the first time in U.S. history, deaths exceeded births in two entire states: Maine and West Virginia, and a record 36 percent of all U.S. counties experienced natural decrease in 2012. Natural decrease occurs when more deaths than births occur in an area in a given year. The growing incidence of natural decrease in America has gone largely unnoticed, but the new data demonstrate that natural …

Rural Natives’ Perceptions Of Strengths And Challenges In Their Communities, Jessica D. Ulrich-Schad

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

This brief uses two sources of data to explore how Native Americans view the current socioeconomic and environmental state of their communities and their future within them—the Community and Environment in Rural America (CERA) surveys and focus groups with Native leaders in one rural state. The data help to illustrate how the Native experience is both similar to, and unique from, that of other rural Americans. While the findings reported by author Jessica Ulrich-Schad illustrate that there are significant challenges facing Native people, they also show that strengths and opportunities continue to exist in Indian Country and that Natives remain …

Informal Kinship Care Most Common Out-Of-Home Placement After An Investigation Of Child Maltreatment, Wendy A. Walsh

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

This fact sheet examines differences between urban and rural areas in foster care placement with informal kin caregivers. The data for this analysis come from a national sample of children who had a maltreatment report that resulted in an investigation: the second National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being. Author Wendy Walsh reports that informal kinship placement settings, where a parent voluntarily places a child with a family member, were the most common out-of-home placement in both rural and urban areas. Informal placements involve children who are in physical custody of a relative but may remain in legal custody of …

Record Number Of Children Covered By Health Insurance In 2011, Michael J. Staley

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

Using data from the 2008 through 2011 American Community Survey, this brief describes rates of children’s health insurance coverage nationally, by region, and place type (that is, rural, suburban, and central city). In addition, it details the composition of coverage in the United States, specifically the proportion of children covered by private and public insurance. Author Michael Staley reports that rates of insurance coverage for children under age 18 increased from 90 percent in 2008 to 92.5 percent in 2011 and that the proportion of children covered by public health insurance increased substantially for the fourth consecutive year in every …

Psychotropic Medication Use Among Children In The Child Welfare System, Wendy A. Walsh, Marybeth J. Mattingly

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

Prior research demonstrates that children in the child welfare system are given psychotropic medication at rates approximately three times higher than children and adolescents in the general population. Using data from the second National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being, authors Wendy Walsh and Marybeth Mattingly report that among children age 4 and older with a report of maltreatment, rates of psychotropic medication use are significantly higher in rural (20 percent) than urban areas (13 percent). Children age 4 and older with a maltreatment report in rural areas were significantly more likely to take more than one medication than children …

Recent Data Show Continued Growth In Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Use, Jessica A. Carson, William W. Meub

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

This brief uses data from the American Community Survey to examine rates of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) receipt in 2011, with particular attention to changes since the onset of the recession, and to receipt by family composition, region, and place type (rural, suburban, and central city locations). It also explores SNAP receipt among households at particular risk for food insecurity. Authors Jessica Carson and William Meub report that 13 percent of all households reported receiving benefits in 2011. This represents an increase from 7.7 percent in 2007, reflecting both changes in need and policy. SNAP is increasingly the target …