This brief shows that the number of delinquent youth in residential placement facilities fell below 25,000 in 2021. Relative declines from 1999 to 2021 were greater for committed youth (83%) than detained youth (62%). The proportion of detained and committed youth held for a person offense increased between 1997 and 2021. Detention rates decreased the most for Asian (71%) and Hispanic (69%) youth between 2010 and 2021. Commitment rates decreased by at least 69% for youth of all race/ethnicity groups between 2010 and 2021. Among detained youth, youth of color had been in placement longer than White youth. Among committed youth, Asian youth had been in placement longer than youth from all other race/ethnicity groups.

This research examines the experiences of incarcerated women and investigates the relationship between prison victimization, friendship networks, and stress, with specific attention to whether the number of social ties to other women in prison moderates the heightened stress associated with in-prison victimization. Using network and survey data from a sample of 104 incarcerated women in a Pennsylvanian prison unit, results indicate that experiencing violent victimization in prison substantially increases incarcerated women’s perceptions of stress while having greater in-prison friendship ties is associated with lower perceptions of prison stress. In addition, larger in-prison friendship networks substantially reduce the stress associated with women’s in-prison victimization, making friendships a vital resource for victimized women.

This report estimates the lifetime prevalence of incarceration among U.S. military veterans using data from three nationally representative U.S. samples: the National Health and Resilience in Veterans Study, the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions-III, and the National Veteran Homeless and Other Poverty Experiences. Across the three surveys, 3.5%–10.6% of U.S. veterans reported they had been incarcerated some time in their lives for an average of 16.7 to 45.6 months. Among Black veterans, the lifetime prevalence of incarceration ranged from 2.9 to 10.6% and among White veterans, the lifetime prevalence of incarceration ranged from 3.5 to 14.6%. The authors note that these contemporary estimates of incarceration among U.S. veterans highlight racial disparities and the extent of incarceration in this population, which may influence access to employment, housing, and healthcare.

This study examines the age at which individuals go to post-secondary education and the implications of graduates who obtain their degrees later in life (i.e., late bloomers). Despite the consensus that most individuals who acquire a college degree do so in their early 20s, the authors find that around 20% of college graduates obtained their degree after age 30. The authors find that these so-called late bloomers have significantly contributed to the narrowing of gender and racial gaps in the college share, despite the general widening of the racial gap. Second, late bloomers are responsible for more than half of the increase in the aggregate college share from 1960 onwards. Finally, the authors show that the returns to having a college degree vary depending on the age at graduation. The authors note that ignoring the existence of late bloomers therefore leads to a significant underestimation of the returns to college education for those finishing college in their early 20s.

This brief explores the role that the seven City University of New York (CUNY) community colleges play in contributing to CUNY degrees awarded in education, especially in critical shortage areas such as bilingual education and STEM education. The author measures the community college contribution to education degree production in terms of both students whose initial enrollment was at a community college and students who ever enrolled at a community college. The results show that community colleges play a key role in degree production in education: 39% of CUNY students who earn a bachelor’s degree in education and 15% of students who earn a master’s degree in education started at a CUNY community college. Additionally, the CUNY system is responsible for 22% of teacher graduates and 38% of teacher graduates of color for all of New York State, enrolling over 15,000 students in undergraduate and graduate teacher education programs each year. The brief also discusses measures CUNY has taken to support student transfer between two- and four-year colleges, highlighting the creation of transfer course articulation for education coursework as a means to improve the transfer experience for community college students interested in pursuing programs and careers in education.

In this review, the authors synthesized and evaluated 33 collected studies on children’s digital use (ages 0–12) and their associated brain development published between January 2000 and April 2023. The synthesis of the evidence revealed that (1) digital experience does have positive and negative impacts on children’s brains, structurally and functionally; (2) it could cause structural and functional changes in children’s frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital lobes, brain connectivity, and brain networks; and the most vulnerable area is the prefrontal cortex and its associated executive function, and (3) early digital experience has both positive and negative impacts on children’s brain structure longitudinally. The authors recommend that educators and parents be aware of the potential effects of digital experience on children’s brain development and provide appropriate guidance, mediation, and support for children’s digital use. Further, policymakers should establish and implement evidence-based policies and regulations to protect children’s digital well-being.

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the lives of the nation’s estimated 62.7 million parents with children under age 18 as access to paid, unpaid or subsidized child care and school supervision ended for many. The recent end of pandemic relief funds may continue the disruptions for some households, potentially affecting availability of child care for years to come. When asked in the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey from September to December 2022, roughly 61% of parents living with at least one child age 17 or younger said they did not have any formal child care arrangements. The survey shows that (1) About 1 in 5 (21.8%) reported child care was provided by a relative other than a parent. (2) Around 8.4% reported using a day care center. (3) About 5% reported using one of the following options: nonrelative care (5.4%); nursery or preschool (5.4%); or before/after school care (5.1%). (4) About 3% used a family day care. (5) Only 1% reported participating in the Head Start program. Around 15% of parents who had not worked in the last seven days reported they were unemployed in order to provide care to their children who weren’t in school or day care. This trend was particularly pronounced among parents of young children, with more than a third (35%) reporting they did not work because they needed to care for them. The responsibility of providing care for these children was overwhelmingly borne by mothers: nearly 9 out of 10 parents (87%) who did not work to care for children were women.

Government-funded food assistance and cash transfers serve as crucial tools for alleviating poverty and inequality, with millions of families across the U.S. relying on social safety net programs to help meet their basic needs. State and federal policies interact to determine eligibility and benefit levels, resulting in 51 distinct safety nets in each of the states and District of Columbia. This report characterizes the evolution of the safety net for single-parent families over time—from 2001 through 2022—and across states. Key findings include that (1) total benefit eligibility for cash and food programs will continue to drop from the 2021 peak but will likely remain above the pre-pandemic level; (2) there is significant variation by state in total safety net generosity, whether it is cash or food support, and which level of government pays for benefits; (3) benefit increases help low-income families; and (4) not all eligible families actually receive the benefits described here. The report shows that safety net generosity has generally been increasing since 2001, with a spike during the pandemic which was driven by temporary Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Child Tax Credit expansion. The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program has eroded substantially, which particularly affects the lowest income single-parent families. Additionally, there are significant safety net generosity disparities by state, meaning that Americans in some states have access to much less government support than comparable families in other states.

This roadmap highlights actionable strategies for Governors and state policymakers to meet critical state needs while expanding access to economic opportunity by leveraging service programs as career development opportunities, especially for youth from underserved communities. Through national service, individuals commit their time and labor to activities that address pressing challenges impacting their communities, such as housing insecurity, public health, and disaster relief. National service offers participants the ability to earn a living allowance as well as gain experiences and skills that can advance their personal growth, career development, and civic engagement and qualify for an education award at the completion of their service term. The roadmap details five key elements with related policy options for policymakers to consider as they develop and execute a vision for service-to-career pathways in their states: (1) survey the landscape and set a statewide vision; (2) champion service-to-career pathways; (3) align service, workforce development, and other state partners; (4) develop a governance funding strategy; and (5) engage public, private, and philanthropic stakeholders. The roadmap also features case studies from Colorado, Iowa, Maryland, and North Carolina on innovative state models and emerging best practices for aligning state and national service programs with career pathways.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) conducts the annual National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). This report highlights 2022 statistics on substance use, mental health, and treatment in the United States. These national indicators are measured among people aged 12 or older in the civilian, non-institutionalized population. Estimates are presented by age group and by race/ethnicity for selected measures. Tobacco use among youth aged 12 to 17 was 7.3% in the prior month, 73% of whom only vaped tobacco products. Among those who reported prior month alcohol use, 44.5% reported being drinking and 11.7% reported being heavy drinkers. Asian people were less likely to engage in binge drinking or heavy drinkers compared to other racial or ethnic groups; White people were more likely to be heavy drinkers compared to other racial or ethnic groups. Fifteen percent of people aged 12 or older reported marijuana usage in the past month; youth aged 12 to 17 were more likely to vape marijuana (54.9%) than other age groups. Misuse of opioids in the prior month, including heroin or prescription pain relievers, was reported by 3.2% of people aged 12 and older, with misuse being highest among American Indian or Alaska Native people (5.4%) and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander people (5%). In 2022, 17.3% of people aged 12 or older had a substance use disorder. Among those with a substance use disorder who did not receive treatment, most youth aged 12 to 17 (97.5%) and most adults aged 18 and older (94.7%) reported they did not seek treatment or think they needed it. In 2022, 6% of adults had a serious mental illness. Among adolescents aged 12 to 17, 13.4% had serious thoughts of suicide, 6.5% made a suicide plan, and 3.7% attempted suicide in the prior year, those these figures are believed to be underestimates. In 2022, 29.8% of youth aged 12 to 17 and 21.8% of adults aged 18 or older received mental health treatment in the prior year. Almost half of young adults aged 18 to 25 in 2022 (48.8%) had either any mental illness or a substance use disorder in the previous year, which was higher than corresponding percentages for adults aged 26 to 49 (40.6%) and adults 50 or older (21.5%).

This paper examines the relationship between extreme socioeconomic disadvantage and poor health by providing the first detailed and accurate picture of mortality patterns among people experiencing homelessness in the U.S. The analyses center on 140,000 people who were sheltered or unsheltered homeless during the 2010 Census, by far the largest sample ever used to study this population and the only sample designed to be nationally representative. These individuals, along with housed comparison groups, are linked to Social Security Administration data on all-cause mortality from 2010-2022 to estimate the magnitude of health disparities associated with homelessness. The authors find that non-elderly people experiencing homelessness have 3.5 times the mortality risk of those who are housed, accounting for differences in demographic characteristics and geography, and that a 40-year-old homeless person faces a similar mortality risk to a housed person nearly twenty years older. The results reveal notable patterns in relative mortality risk by age, race, gender, and Hispanic ethnicity and suggest that within the homeless population, employment, higher incomes, and more extensive observed family connections are associated with lower mortality. The mortality hazard of homeless individuals rose by 33% during the COVID-19 pandemic, an increase that, while similar in proportional terms to the increase for the housed population, affected a much larger share of the homeless population due to their substantially elevated baseline mortality rate. These findings elucidate the persistent hardships associated with homelessness and show that the well-documented gradient between health and poverty persists into the extreme lower tail of socioeconomic disadvantage.

This study analyzes relationships between Medicaid automatic enrollment for children receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) for a disability and health insurance coverage during transitions. The authors found that automatic enrollment is associated with a statistically significant increase in insurance coverage, and estimate that expanding automatic enrollment to all states is associated with increases in Medicaid enrollment of 3% among all SSI children and 7% among children newly enrolled in SSI. Similar decreases in uninsurance were observed. Analysis in the National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs replicates these findings. The authors conclude that Medicaid automatic enrollment policies are associated with increased insurance coverage for SSI children, particularly those transitioning into the program. Medicaid policy defaults could play an important role in reducing administrative burdens to improve children's coverage and access to care.