Survey Results

Survey Items: Variable in public use data file: HOPEFUL; STRENGTHS; TALKABOUT; WKTOSOLVE

Denominator: Children age 6-17 years

Numerator: Meets 0-1 index criteria; Meets 2-3 index criteria; Meets all 4 index criteria

Revisions and Changes:

Additional Notes: This is a composite measure based on responses to the following 4 survey items: “When your family faces problems, how often are you likely to do each of the following?” (a) Talk together about what to do (TALKABOUT), (b) Work together to solve our problems (WKTOSOLVE), (c) Know we have strengths to draw on (STRENGTHS), and (d) Stay hopeful even in difficult times (HOPEFUL). Response options to the four items are all of the time, most of the time, some of the time or none of the time. In order to meet the Family Resilience Index criteria indicating that the child lives in the home where family demonstrates qualities of resilience, a response of “all of the time” to all 4 items is required.
The validity of the Family Resilience and Connection Index has been documented in the peer-reviewed article Family Resilience And Connection Promote Flourishing Among US Children, Even Amid Adversity.

Treatment of Unknown Values: Missing values are not included in the Denominator when calculating prevalence estimates and weighted population counts displayed in the Prioritizing Possibilities Interactive Data Query results table. Missing values may be due to non-response (i.e. parent/caregiver skipped item) or a “don’t know” response. In the majority of cases, the proportion of missing values is less than 2%. Exceptions are noted in the form of a Data Alert at the bottom of a results table. The exclusion of these values does not change the prevalence estimates (%) and only marginally affects the weighted population counts (Pop. Est.). To learn about the impact of the missing values on the population count estimates, click here.
The way missing values are handled can vary by measure. In some instances, cases are set to missing only if responses to all items in the measure are missing. In other instances, even if only one item is missing the overall measure may be set to missing. Details about which approach is used can be found in the "Additional notes" field above when required.

History and Development: This measure comes from The National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH). The NSCH is funded and directed by the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) and is designed to provide annual national and state-level information on the health and well-being of children ages 0-17 years in the United States. The U.S. Census Bureau administers the survey, oversees the sampling, and produces a final data set of survey results. HRSA’s Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) develops survey content in collaboration with the U.S. Census Bureau and a Technical Expert Panel. The Technical Expert Panel consists of experts in survey methodology and children’s health, federal and state stakeholders, clinicians and researchers.
The NSCH is conducted as a household survey, and one child per household is selected to be the subject for the detailed age-specific questionnaire. The respondent to this questionnaire is a parent or guardian who is living in the home and has knowledge of the sampled child. Survey participants complete either web-based or self-administered paper-and-pencil questionnaires. More information about the survey can be found in the “About the National Survey of Children’s Health” section of the CAHMI’s Data Resource Center website and HRSA’s MCHB website.