NEW YORK, Jan 17 (Reuters) -- More inner-city children than ever are growing up to become educated, prosperous adults, according to researchers. They say supportive parents and solid educations are making the difference.
"Substantial proportions of inner-city children become successful adults," is the conclusion of a study of almost 2,700 Baltimore residents born to poor families in the early 1960s. Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine researchers compared the progress of those children with that of their parents at similar stages in their lives.
"I think there's been very definite progress made," said study lead author Dr. Janet Hardy. "The second-generation children, who are now young adults, are considerably better off than their mothers were at the time the children were born."
For example, Hardy says only 28% of the mothers have high school diplomas, compared with 78% of their children.
Her study connected higher education levels with increased financial success. "The children are better off financially," Hardy says. "About half, or 46% of their mothers were living at the poverty level or below, and only about 20% of the children are."
Study authors also measured levels of what they called 'healthy lifestyle' -- the absence of criminal history, drug use, and other self-destructive behaviors. Over 70% of the second-generation children managed to avoid such unhealthy behaviors, according to the study.
Physical health improved along with other measures of success. "With better social conditions," Hardy explained, "health conditions improve."
Of course, not all inner-city children were found in the same situation. "Eighteen percent (of the grown children) were currently receiving welfare," researchers say. "An additional 6% had Medicaid or food stamps; and over 4% were incarcerated" at the time of the study. Two-fifths did not meet the criteria for good mental and physical health, researchers say, and almost a third were involved in 'unhealthy' lifestyles.
However, the study may help overturn some racially biased ideas of just who are most apt to lead troubled lives. "One of the things that was really interesting in our study," Hardy noted, "is that when you take a very poor population of blacks and whites, as was the case in our study, the blacks actually have done a little better than the whites." Researchers found that "blacks had significantly higher education than whites and were somewhat better off behaviorally." The study population consisted of 77% black and 23% white families.
Hardy believes previous research is often unreflective of inner-city lives. "Most of the national data gives whites a great advantage," she says, "because it doesn't take account of the social circumstances." She says that "if you have people of different races at the same poverty level, it tends to wash out any supposed 'race effect.'"
A good education seemed key in giving poor kids the break they need to become successful in adulthood. "Reading and language utilization is especially important," Hardy says. "This comes through loud and clear in our study."
She says maintaining national reading-skill norms is especially tough for inner-city students, since language scores are usually lower than national averages in samples of poorer children.
Having a stable family is a major plus. "We do have data that shows that living with two parents, at least until age 16, is a very positive influence," Hardy says. The study also found that better-educated parents were more likely to produce better-educated offspring.
One unexpected finding was the fact that smoking seemed part of an equation for failure in many children. "One of the clear-cut negatives was the commencement of a smoking habit by age 18," Hardy said. "I have no real explanation for it, but I think smoking is what we call a 'marker' for some other behaviors. It's a very persistent finding in our data."
The study stressed that disadvantages can be overcome by positive family and educational factors. Throughout the study, children born of undereducated mothers 'made it' when their own good performance was matched with secure families and constructive behaviors.
SOURCE: Pediatrics (1997;99(1):80-87)
