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Tracking Change In The North Country: Paths To The Future Of Coös County, Eleanor M. Jaffee

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

From 2008 through 2018, the Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation partnered with the Carsey School of Public Policy (formerly the Carsey Institute) at the University of New Hampshire for a research project titled Tracking Change in the North Country. In this brief, author Eleanor Jaffee summarizes several major products of this research partnership and considers how they may inform future directions for North Country policy and programming.

Deaths Exceed Births In Most Of Europe, But Not In The United States, Kenneth M. Johnson, Layton M. Fields, Dudley L. Poston Jr.

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

In this brief, authors Kenneth Johnson, Layton Fields, and Dudley Poston, Jr. present important new findings about the diminishing number of births compared to deaths in Europe and the United States from their recent article in Population and Development Review. Their research focuses on the prevalence and dynamics of natural decrease in subareas of Europe and the United States in the first decade of the twenty-first century using counties (United States) or county-equivalents (Europe). The authors report that 58 percent of the 1,391 counties of Europe had more deaths than births during that period compared to just 28 percent …

Behind At The Starting Line: Poverty Among Hispanic Infants, Daniel T. Lichter, Scott R. Sanders, Kenneth M. Johnson

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

In this brief, authors Daniel Lichter, Scott Sanders, and Kenneth Johnson examine the economic circumstances of Hispanic infants using the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey annual microdata files from 2006 through 2010. They report that a disproportionate share of Hispanic infants start life’s race behind the starting line, poor and disadvantaged—an important finding because the proportion of all U.S. births that are Hispanic is growing rapidly. The poverty risk is especially high among rural Hispanic infants and those in new destinations. Despite higher poverty risks, Hispanic infants receive less governmental assistance. High Hispanic infant poverty has immediate and long-term consequences …

Women As Economic Providers: Dual-Earner Families Thrive As Women's Earings Rise, Kristin Smith

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

This brief examines married and single women’s contributions to family income using Current Population Survey data for 2000 and 2013. Women’s contributions to family income are essential for most families. This is obviously true for the growing number of single-mother families, but increasingly so for married couple families. While dual-earner families are doing relatively well, family income overall has been stagnant or decreasing among single-earner families, resulting in a widening income gap. Author Kristin Smith reports that of different family types, married couples in which the husband was the primary earner had the highest median family income in 2013 ($101,000), …

Child Protective Services May Link Families To Needed Income Supports, Wendy A. Walsh, Marybeth J. Mattingly

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

A number of public safety-net programs exist to help improve the economic well-being of vulnerable children, but little is known about the extent to which families with a child maltreatment report receive these services over time. In this brief, we examine the incidence of receiving four types of income support both immediately after the child maltreatment report and eighteen months following. The data for this analysis come from the second National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW II), a national sample of children who had a maltreatment report that resulted in an investigation by CPS within a 15-month period …

Coverage Rates Stabilize For Children’S Health Insurance: State Policy Change May Be Needed To Address Remaining Children Without Insurance, Michael J. Staley

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

This brief uses data from the American Community Survey to estimate children’s health insurance coverage from 2008–2013 across the United States as well as by region, place type, and type of coverage. Author Michael Staley reports that decreases in rates of private insurance coverage among children were offset by increases in rates of coverage by public insurance in 2013, keeping national coverage stable at 92.9 percent. Rates rose in the West, continuing a trend since 2008. However, at 91 percent, rates among children there are still lower than in the Northeast and Midwest, where rates have stabilized above 94 percent. …

A Community Schools Approach To Accessing Services And Improving Neighborhood Outcomes In Manchester, Nh, Justin R. Young

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

This brief uses data collected by the Manchester Health Department in 2013 and analyzed by the Carsey School of Public Policy in the Bakersville, Beech Street, and Gossler Park neighborhoods in Manchester, New Hampshire, to provide information about how barriers to various dimensions of well-being differ by place and also across race/ethnicity, foreign-born status, and age. Survey data and focus groups also gave residents a voice in the implementation of the Manchester Community Schools Project—a partnership between the Manchester Health Department, city elementary schools, philanthropists, neighborhood residents, and several nonprofit agencies—to improve and enhance educational achievement, economic well-being, access to …

Strategies To Strengthen Youth Leadership And Youth Participation Opportunities In Central Appalachia, Rebecca O'Doherty, Ada Smith, Ben Spangler, Elandria Williams, Katie Richards-Schuster

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

The purpose of this study was to assess opportunities for strengthening youth leadership and participation in the Central Appalachian region. In particular, authors Rebecca O’Doherty, Ada Smith, Ben Spangler, Elandria Williams, and Katie Richards-Schuster sought to understand and document the range of activities and strategies in the region as well as understand the nuances involved in promoting and sustaining youth leadership opportunities. Through interviews with key leaders in the region, they explored critical themes for strengthening youth leadership. To highlight the potential and opportunities for future development, they share a case study of an innovative approach to nurturing and sustaining …

Limited Access To Ap Courses For Students In Smaller And More Isolated Rural School Districts, Douglas J. Gagnon, Marybeth J. Mattingly

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

This brief assesses trends in access to, enrollment in, and success in Advanced Placement (AP) coursework in relation to school district poverty, racial composition, and urbanicity. It uses data merged from the 2011–2012 Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC), the 2012 Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE), and the 2010 Decennial U.S. Census. Authors Douglas Gagnon and Marybeth Mattingly report that nearly one-half (47.2 percent) of rural districts have no secondary students enrolled in AP courses, compared with only 20.1 percent of town, 5.4 percent of suburban, and 2.6 percent of urban districts. Remote rural districts with small populations are …

Understanding Connections Between Rural Communities And Family Well-Being, Cynthia Fletcher

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

In this report, author Cynthia Needles Fletcher explores the role of "place" in shaping rural residents'-and in particular low-income residents'-futures. The analysis draws from interviews with residents and community key informants in Hampton, Iowa in an original study in 1997 and again in 2012-13

Levels Of Household Chaos Tied To Quality Of Parent-Adolescent Relationships In Coös County, New Hampshire, Corinna J. Tucker

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

In this brief, author Corinna Tucker examines Coös County adolescents’ reports of household chaos using data from the Coös Youth Study and discusses whether socio-economic and parenting differences are related to adolescents who experience household chaos. Tucker reports that household chaos—characterized by high levels of environmental noise, crowding, disorganization and instability—is generally low in Coös County, but there is variability in the extent of adolescents’ experiences with chaos. Household chaos was greater in households with lower socio-economic status than those with average and higher socio-economic status. The finding that household chaos was related to adolescents’ reports of lower quality relationships …

Restraint And Seclusion Of Students With A Disability Continue To Be Common In Some School Districts Patterns Remain Relatively Consistent Despite Recent Policy Changes, Douglas J. Gagnon, Marybeth J. Mattingly, Vincent J. Connelly

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

In 2013, Carsey released a brief that analyzed rates of restraint and seclusion using a large, nationally representative data set of U.S. school districts. This brief, which analyzes a more comprehensive data set and the most current Civil Rights Data Collection, serves as a follow-up to the pre­vious brief. Authors Douglas Gagnon, Marybeth Mattingly, and Vincent Connelly report that, despite numerous states with revised policies related to seclusion and restraint in schools between 2009 and 2012, trends in the rates of restraint and seclusion of students with a disability in the United States remained relatively consistent between survey years. Low-poverty, …

Health Insurance Among Young Adults Rebounds Post Recession: More Become Dependents On A Parent's Plan After Aca Extends Coverage To Adult Children, Michael J. Staley, Jessica A. Carson

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

While much of the existing research explores young adults' insurance only in the post-recession period (that is, 2010 to present), authors Michael Staley and Jessica Carson assess young adults' rates of coverage within and beyond the context of the recession by examining changes across the entire 2007 to 2012 period.

Cause For Optimism? Child Poverty Declines For The First Time Since Before The Great Recession, Marybeth J. Mattingly, Jessica A. Carson, Andrew P. Schaefer

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

New data released on September 18, 2014, by the U.S. Census Bureau indicate that child poverty fell by 0.4 percentage point between 2012 and 2013, to 22.2 percent. Though still significantly higher than in 2007 when the Great Recession hit (18.0 percent), and higher than at its conclusion (20.0 percent) in 2009, the decline from 2012 may be cause for optimism. Estimates suggest the number of poor children declined by roughly 300,000 between 2012 and 2013.

Families Continue To Rely On Wives As Breadwinners Post-Recession, Kristin Smith, Andrew P. Schaefer

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

This brief uses data from the 2013 Annual Social and Economic Supplement to the Current Population Survey to examine how President Obama’s proposed expanded eligibility and higher credit values might affect tax filers in both rural and urban America. Authors Jessica Carson and Marybeth Mattingly report that proposed changes to the earned income tax credit (EITC) will increase the share of workers without a qualifying child eligible for the EITC equally in rural and urban places, although rural residents are more likely to be eligible under both current and proposed policies. The average increase in the credit is $476, more …

Key Findings And Recommendations From The Coös Youth Study: Research From The First Half Of The Study, Michael S. Staunton, Eleanor M. Jaffee

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

In this brief, authors Michael Staunton and Eleanor Jaffee review the key findings and recommendations from research conducted in the first half of the Coös Youth Study, which began in 2008 and is planned to continue through 2018. The study explores young people’s decisions about their educational and job opportunities in rural northern New Hampshire and their plans to stay in their home region or move away. The authors discuss the highlights of these topics: youth aspirations and perceptions of regional opportunities, substance use and mental health, participation in extracurricular and out-of-school activities, youth retention and out-migration, and community attachment …

Public Insurance Drove Overall Coverage Growth Among Children In 2012, Michael J. Staley

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

Using data from the American Community Survey, this brief examines the rates of health insurance coverage among children under 18 in the United States by region and by rural, suburban, and central city residence between 2008 and 2012. Author Michael Staley reports that, between 2011 and 2012, overall rates of health insurance coverage among children increased slightly (0.3 percentage point); 92.8 percent of the nation’s children had health insurance in 2012. Rates of public health insurance coverage for children grew from 28.3 percent in 2008 to 38.1 percent in 2012, whereas rates of private health insurance coverage for children decreased …

Proposed Eitc Expansion Would Increase Eligibility And Dollars For Rural And Urban “Childless” Workers, Jessica A. Carson, Marybeth J. Mattingly

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

This brief uses data from the 2013 Annual Social and Economic Supplement to the Current Population Survey to examine how President Obama’s proposed expanded eligibility and higher credit values might affect tax filers in both rural and urban America. Authors Jessica Carson and Marybeth Mattingly report that proposed changes to the earned income tax credit (EITC) will increase the share of workers without a qualifying child eligible for the EITC equally in rural and urban places, although rural residents are more likely to be eligible under both current and proposed policies. The average increase in the credit is $476, more …

Do You Trust Scientists About The Environment?, Lawrence C. Hamilton

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

In this brief, author Lawrence Hamilton examines the results of a Granite State Poll conducted by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center in late January–early February 2014. The poll asked about public trust in scientists, along with other questions on science, political, and social issues that help to place the science-trust results in perspective. Almost two-thirds of New Hampshire residents surveyed say that they trust scientists to provide accurate information about environmental issues. Only 12 percent do not trust scientists to provide this information. Wide disparities occur along party lines, however, regarding this and other questions about science. The …

Immigration To Manchester, New Hampshire, Sally Ward, Justin R. Young, Curt D. Grimm

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

This brief analyzes immigration and refugee resettlement in Manchester and the effects on the city’s demographic composition, as well as the implications for its future. Authors Sally Ward, Justin Young, and Curt Grimm report that Manchester, New Hampshire, like the nation, is experiencing a new wave of immigration. In the past, most of the city’s immigrants tended to come from Canada and Europe. Today, they are most likely from Latin America, followed by Asia and, to a lesser extent, Africa. The rate of refugee placement in Manchester has remained relatively steady since the 1990s. Of all refugees who arrived in …

The Increasing Diversity Of America's Youth, Kenneth M. Johnson, Andrew P. Schaefer, Daniel T. Lichter, Luke T. Rogers

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

This brief documents how unfolding demographic forces have placed today’s children and youth at the forefront of America’s new racial and ethnic diversity. Authors Kenneth M. Johnson, Andrew Schaefer, Daniel T. Lichter, and Luke T. Rogers discuss how the rapidly changing racial and ethnic composition of the youth population has important implications for intergroup relations, ethnic identities, and electoral politics. They report that diversity is increasing among America’s youth because there are more minority children and fewer non-Hispanic white children. Minority births exceeded non-Hispanic white births for the first time in U.S. history in 2011 according to Census Bureau estimates. …

Forest Management And Wildfire Risk In Inland Northwest, Joel N. Hartter, Forrest R. Stevens, Lawrence C. Hamilton, Paul T. Oester, Russell G. Congalton, Mark J. Ducey, Morgan A. Crowley

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

This brief reports the results of a mail survey of forest landowners in northeastern Oregon conducted in the fall of 2012 by the Communities and Forests in Oregon (CAFOR) Project at the University of Colorado and the University of New Hampshire in cooperation with Oregon State University College of Forestry Extension. The mail survey--a follow-up to a telephone survey conducted for the counties of Baker, Union, and Wallowa in the fall of 2011 -was administered to understand who constituted forest landowners in these three coun¬ties and their perceptions about forest management on both public and private land, as well as …

Intimate Partner Violence Among Lgbtq+ College Students, Katie Edwards, Kateryna Sylaska

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

Drawing from a survey of 391 college students in same-sex relationships, this brief documents the rates and patterns of intimate partner violence, and responses to it among LGBTQ+ youth. Authors Katie Edwards and Kateryna Sylaska report that four in ten LGBTQ+ college students in the sample reported intimate partner violence victimization or perpetration within a current relationship and that more than one-third of the victims told no one about the abuse, a rate that is higher than what is generally found among heterosexual college students. Victims most frequently turned to friends when revealing the abuse, followed by family members. Only …

Walking Builds Community Cohesion: Survey Of Two New Hampshire Communities Looks At Social Capital And Walkability, Shannon H. Rogers, Kevin H. Gardner, Cynthia H. Carlson

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

This brief reports the results of a survey conducted in 2009 of approximately 2,000 households in Portsmouth and Manchester, New Hampshire, to examine the connection between walkability and social capital. Authors Shannon Rogers, Kevin Gardner, and Cynthia Carlson report that higher levels of social capital are found in areas that are perceived to be more walkable, as measured by the number of places people can walk to in their community. In addition, walkability is influenced by concerns of safety, access, time, and health and by physical characteristics such as proximity, scale, and aesthetics. Given the link between walkability and greater …

The Importance Of Outdoor Activity And Place Attachment To Adolescent Development In Coös County, New Hampshire, Jayson Seaman, Sean R. Mclaughlin

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

This brief discusses the rates of participation in structured and unstructured outdoor activities as Coös County youth age, along with the relationship between outdoor activity involvement and indicators of place attachment throughout this period. The analysis is based on data collected between 2008 and 2013 as part of the Carsey Institute’s Panel Study of Coös County youth. Authors Jayson Seaman and Sean McLaughlin, who concentrate on a subsample of 222 youth who completed surveys in both eighth and twelfth grade, report that Coös County youth participated in outdoor activities at a rate 20 percent higher than national averages for youth …

The Long-Term Unemployed In The Wake Of The Great Recession, Andrew P. Schaefer

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

Using the Annual Social and Economic Supplement of the Current Population Survey, this brief outlines the demographic and economic characteristics of the long-term unemployed and compares them with their short-term unemployed counterparts. It also describes changes in the composition of the long-term unemployed since the start of the Great Recession. Author Andrew Schaefer reports that the percentage of unemployed workers who were seeking employment for more than six months more than doubled between 2007 and 2013 from 18.4 percent to 39.3 percent and that the long-term unemployed are more likely than the short-term unemployed to live in urban areas. In …

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, …