Educationally Disadvantaged Older Youth: Child Development Outcomes

The programs that targeted parenting skills also examined the development of participants' children. Although child development outcomes are not a direct measure of parenting skills, they may indicate indirectly whether programs are having an impact on parenting. The Nurse Home Visitation Program showed positive effects on child outcomes, but New Chance and the Teenage Parent Demonstration did not. Children of participants in the Nurse Home Visitation Program exhibited significantly less emotional vulnerability to fear stimuli and less emotional response to anger stimuli than children of control youths, were less likely to experience language delays, had higher language development scores, and had somewhat higher scores on the Mental Development Index at age 2 (NHV4). On the other hand, children of participants in Teenage Parent Demonstration had lower scores on measures of development and well-being than children in a national sample, and they received slightly higher scores on measures of problem behavior. Young children of participants in New Chance and children of control group members had similar scores on home environment at the 42-month follow-up, and participants' children had lower scores on a measure of cognitive development. Compared to control parents' ratings of their children, program participants rated their children as having more behavior problems and rated them lower on a scale of positive behavior.