National Survey of Children’s Health

National Survey of Children’s Health
Name	National Survey of Children’s Health
Country	United States
Administered by	Health Resources and Services Administration, National Center for Health Statistics
First	2003
Frequency	Periodic

Contents

National Survey of Children’s Health

The National Survey of Children’s Health is a large-scale population survey that assesses child health and well-being across the United States, linking demographic, medical, and social indicators for policy and research. The survey supports work by agencies such as the Health Resources and Services Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and state health departments. Its results inform programs and legislation including analyses by the American Academy of Pediatrics, reports for the Child Welfare League of America, and evaluations used by the Kaiser Family Foundation and Urban Institute.

Overview

The survey collects nationally representative data on children from birth through adolescence and provides state-level estimates used by scholars at institutions such as Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University, University of Michigan, and Stanford University. Designed to capture indicators of physical health, mental health, and social context, the survey complements other data sources like the National Health Interview Survey, the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, and the National Survey of Family Growth. Policymakers at bodies including the U.S. Congress, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration rely on its state- and national-level metrics to allocate resources and evaluate initiatives such as the State Children's Health Insurance Program, Medicaid expansion, and school-based health programs promoted by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Sampling and weighting procedures follow standards from agencies such as the National Center for Health Statistics and methodologies informed by researchers at RAND Corporation, Pew Research Center, Brookings Institution, and the Urban Institute. The survey has used address-based sampling, random-digit dialing, and mail/web mixed-mode administration similar to techniques tested by teams at University of California, Berkeley, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke University, and University of Pennsylvania. Questionnaire development incorporated cognitive testing and instrument design practices aligned with recommendations from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, the American Statistical Association, and experts associated with the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. Quality control and variance estimation draw on methods referenced in publications from World Health Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the International Household Survey Network.

Content domains include chronic conditions, preventive care, functional status, behavioral health, family functioning, and neighborhood characteristics, paralleling measures used by investigators at Yale University, University of California, Los Angeles, University of Washington, and Northwestern University. Specific instruments and items align with standardized measures such as health-related quality of life tools evaluated by teams at RAND Corporation, diagnostic criteria referenced by the American Psychiatric Association, developmental screening approaches promoted by the Bright Futures initiative of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and disability classifications consistent with the Social Security Administration definitions. The survey also collects data on health care access, insurance coverage, and utilization relevant to analyses by the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Urban Institute, and the Brookings Institution.

First conducted in the early 2000s, the survey was implemented in cycles with design and administration partnerships involving the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, the National Center for Health Statistics, federal contractors, university research centers, and survey firms with expertise collaborating with Westat, NORC at the University of Chicago, and the RTI International. Historical documentation and methodological reports reference contributions by researchers at Georgetown University, Boston University, University of Minnesota, and University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Over time, changes in mode, sample design, and questionnaire content were informed by recommendations from panels convened by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and reviews cited by the Office of Management and Budget.

Public-use and restricted-use data files, codebooks, and analytic guidance are distributed to researchers, public health officials, and advocacy groups including those at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Health Resources and Services Administration, American Public Health Association, and policy teams at Children’s Defense Fund. Academic users from Princeton University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Brown University, and Cornell University have used the data for peer-reviewed publications; think tanks such as Urban Institute, RAND Corporation, and Pew Research Center have produced policy briefs. Training materials, workshops, and secondary analyses have involved partnerships with the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management and the Society for Research in Child Development.

Survey findings have documented trends in chronic conditions, mental health prevalence, health insurance coverage, and social determinants of health, influencing initiatives by the American Academy of Pediatrics, federal programs like Medicaid, state policymakers, and advocacy organizations including Save the Children, Children’s Health Fund, and the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Key published analyses by researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Yale School of Medicine, Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have shaped debates on early childhood interventions, behavioral health services, and disparities addressed by legislation and funding decisions in state capitols and federal committees such as the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Category:Surveys in the United States