(SDAR) Residential Mobility, Head Start, and Young Children's Health and Wellbeing

Almost one-quarter of young children moved in 2015 according to U.S Census Bureau figures. Although typical moving-especially multiple times-may undermine low-income children's health and well-being. No policies currently exist to promote highly mobile children's health and well-being but public preschool programs such as Head Start may be an avenue for intervening given their documented benefits for disadvantaged children and wide public support. The goal of this project is to use rigorous methods to deepen our understanding of the connection between residential mobility Head Start participation and low-income children's health and well-being as well as the role of parents in promoting highly mobile children's health and well-being. The project has two specific objectives: (1) investigating if participation in Head Start (via random assignment) conditions how low-income children's residential mobility (no moves 1 or 2+) is associated with their health and well-being (physical socioemotional & cognitive development); and (2) exploring the extent to which parenting behaviors (disciplinary practices provision of developmental stimulation & safety practices) mediate the association between Head Start participation and residentially mobile children's health and well-being. To address these objectives we propose using the National Head Start Impact Study 2002-2006 (HSIS) a representative randomized trial of a federal preschool program that serves low-income families. The target population includes 4 667 children (ages 3-4) and their mothers because of the importance of a two-generation strategy and life course approach. HSIS permits experimental and non-experimental estimates of many key associations with non-experimental estimates involving regression-based techniques fixed effects propensity score matching methods and instrumental variable analyses. Results should illuminate whether public preschool programs such as Head Start can support low-income highly mobile children's health and well-being and whether parenting behaviors serve as a potential pathway of those benefits. They also should inform the expansion of public health efforts targeting this vulnerable group of young childrenand their families. Key Terms: Early childhood education School outcomes & services Health disparities Parent-Child Relationship Parenting Social & emotional development Cognitive & linguistic development Mental health & well-being Social Determinants of Health Health Education & Family Support