ABSTRACT
Every generation of adults is concerned about the conditions of its children and youth (Moore, 1999). From the stagflation and socially turbulent days of the 1970s through the decline of the rust belt industries and transition to the information age in the 1980s, to the relatively prosperous e-economy and multicultural years of the late 1990s, Americans have fretted over the material circumstances of the nation’s children, their health and safety, their educational progress, and their moral development. Are their fears and concerns warranted? How do we know whether circumstances of life for children in the United States are bad and getting worse, or good and improving? On what basis can the public and its leaders form opinions and draw conclusions?
