The Well-Being of Canada's Young Children - Government of Canada Report 2008

Chapter 7 - Monitoring the Well-Being of Canada's young Children

The information presented in the following table includes an overview of all the indicators of well-being for young children from birth to 5 years of age, as well as family- and community-related measures, for 1998/99, 2000/01, 2002/03 and 2004/05. The table also includes indicators of well-being that were not discussed fully in the report, including new cases of disease for which there are immunizations and core housing need. These indicators appear in the table as possible indicators for full development given future meaningful data.

Please note: All indicators presented are for the year indicated at the top of the column, unless otherwise specified. In addition, those indicators denoted with an asterisk (*) are part of a common set of indicators of young children's well-being on which all governments participating in the Early Childhood Development Agreement have agreed to report.

With each subsequent year of reporting, there are challenges for some of the indicators with respect to sample size. As a means of addressing the challenges small sample sizes pose in some jurisdictions, the means and confidence intervals are presented in table 7.

While a number of trends can be observed in the following table, it is important to note that, for the majority of indicators and determinants, it is only when changes in the same direction are consistently observed over time that a trend may be established. Significant change can be measured only when it involves a large number of children. Small changes in either direction should be interpreted with caution as they may reflect variability in the sampling and/or data collection methods rather than true changes. Indicators from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY) are based on a parent's report of how their children are doing; therefore, small variations could be reflective of the variability in parental responses rather than actual trends. Additional reports on the well-being of Canada's young children will continue to monitor changes in the indicators to determine whether sustained change in the well-being of children has occurred.

Table 6: Overview of Indicators of Child Well-Being
Indicator	1998/99	2000/01	2002/03	2004/05
^a Data points periodically change due to the continuous and cyclic nature of surveillance. The data presented are those reported to the Public Health Agency of Canada as of November 2007. Hib data are not presented in this report as they are currently under revision. ^b Data has changed across all cycles due to changes made to the cut-off scale to ensure consistencies among the indicators.
Percentage of Young Children Born at a Healthy Birth Weight (≥2,500 grams or ≤ 4,000 grams)	81.5% (1998) 81.3% (1999)	80.6% (2000) 80.9% (2001)	81% (2002) 81.4% (2003	81.8% (2004)
Percentage of Young Children Born at Low Birth Weight (<2,500 grams)	5.7% (1998) 5.6% (1999)	5.6% (2000) 5.5% (2001)	5.8% (2002) 5.8% (2003	5.9% (2004)
Percentage of Young Children Born at High Birth Weight (>4,000 grams)	12.8% (1998) 13.1% (1999)	13.8% (2000) 13.6% (2001)	13.2% (2002) 12.8% (2003	12.3% (2004)
Pre-term Birth Rate — Percentage of Live Births at Less than 37 Weeks of Gestation	7.2% (1998) 7.3% (1999)	7.5% (2000) 7.3% (2001)	7.5% (2002) 7.7% (2000	7.9% (2004)
Number of New Cases of Hib (Haemophilus Influenzae-b) Among Children 0-4 Years of Age*^a	Not available	Not available	Not available	Not available
Number of New Cases of Meningococcal Group C Disease Among Children 0-5 Years of Age*^a	12 (1999)	18 (2000) 28 (2001)	9 (2002) 5 (2003)	11 (2004) 2 (2005)
Number of New Cases of Measles Among Children 0-5 Years of Age*^a	11 (1999)	81 (2000) 7 (2001)	2 (2002) 6 (2003)	6 (2004) 2 (2005) 8 (2006)
Infant Mortality Rate — Number of Deaths Among Children 0-1 Years of Age, per 1,000 Live Births)*	5.3 (1998) 5.3 (1999)	5.3 (2000) 5.2 (2001)	5.4 (2002) 5.3 (2003)	5.3 (2004)
Percentage of Young Children Diagnosed with Asthma	9.9%	10.2%	9.4%	8.8%
Percentage of Young Children with at Least One Reported Allergy	Not available	10.7%	10.2%	10%
Injury Hospitalization Rate (due to unintentional injuries) Among Young Children, (per 100,000)	Age <1: 438.9 Age 1-4: 465.3	Age <1: 387 Age 1-4: 432	Age <1: 386.4 Age 1-4: 383.5	Age <1: 348.1 Age 1-4: 365
Injury Mortality Rate Among Young Children (per 100,000)	Age <1: 12.7 Age 1-4: 8.8 (1999)	Age <1: 16.8 Age 1-4: 6.3 (2000)	Age <1: 15 Age 1-4: 7.3 (2002)	Age <1: 9.5 Age 1-4: 6.1 (2004)
Incidence of New Cases of Cancer Among Children 0-4 Years of Age (per 100,000)	24.3 (1998) 23.4 (1999)	21.9 (2000) 22.1 (2001)	21.2 (2002) 21.3 (2003)	21.6 (2004)
Percentage of Young Children Displaying Average to Advanced Levels of Motor and Social Development (MSD)*	86.1%	88.1%	86.4%	83.6%
Percentage of Young Children Not Displaying Behaviours Associated with Emotional Problem-Anxiety*	86.2%	86.5%	83.3%	85.3%
Percentage of Young Children Not Displaying Behaviours Associated with Hyperactivity-Inattention*	87.8%	94%	94.5%	93.4%
Percentage of Young Children Not Displaying Behaviours Associated with Physical Aggression-Conduct Problem*	86.5%	88%	85.4%	85.8%
Percentage of Young Children Not Displaying Behaviours Associated with Indirect Aggression	91.6%	93.2%	92.9%	93.7%
Percentage of Young Children Not Displaying Behaviours Associated with Low Pro-social Behaviour	89.8%	This information is no longer captured in the NLSCY. The indicator has been replaced by “Percentage of Children Displaying Age-Appropriate Personal-Social Behaviour.”
Percentage of Children Displaying Age-Appropriate Personal-Social Behaviour*	This information was not captured for this year in the NLSCY.	88.5%	84.3%	85.4%
Language Skills — Percentage of Children Displaying Average to Advanced Verbal Development (PPVT-R)*	84.1%	85.5%	86.9%	86.5%
Percentage of Children Displaying Average to Advanced Number Knowledge	This information was not captured for this year in the NLSCY.	85.3%	84.3%	83.7%
Percentage of Children Displaying Average to Advanced Levels of Copying Skills and Writing Tasks	This information was not captured for this year in the NLSCY.	84.8%	85.7%	85.2%

Family Related Measures
Parental Education — Percentage Who Had Obtained Postsecondary Education	Mothers — 45.3% Fathers — 48.7%	Mothers — 47.7% Fathers — 49.9%	Mothers — 52.6% Fathers — 53%	Mothers – 56.5% Fathers – 55.2%
Level of Income — Percentage of All Families with Young Children Living Above the Post-Tax Low Income Cutoff	83.6% (1999)	86.5% (2001)	87.3% (2003)	86.6% (2005)
Percentage of Parents Not Displaying Signs of Parental Depression	88.8%	89.4%	90.7%	90%
Percentage of Mothers Who Use Tobacco During Pregnancy	19.4%	18.4%	15.9%	14.6%
Percentage of Mothers Who Consume Alcohol During Pregnancy	14.4%	13.9%	15.6%	15.5%
Percentage of children who live in homes where neither parent smokes	59.8%	61.6%	66%	67.2%
Percentage of Parents Indicating Positive Family Functioning Among Family Members	89.1%	88.6%	90.2%	91.3%
Positive Parenting — Percentage of Parents Indicating Positive Interaction Within the Family^b	90.6%	92.1%	95%	94.3%
Percentage of Children 0-3 Who Are Being or Were Breastfed	79.9%	82.1%	84.2%	86%
Reading by Adult — Percentage of Children Who Are Read to Daily	Not available (note the question changed after cycle 3)	65.4%	67.3%	64.8%
Distribution of Children 6 months to 5 Years of Age in Child Care by Type of Care	Parental Care: 47.7% Non-Parental Care: 52.3% total, of which… 50.2% care in someone else's home 25.4% care in the child's home 19.2% daycare centre 5.2% other	Parental Care: 46.3%	Parental Care: 43.7%	Parental Care: 45%
		Non-Parental Care: 53.7% total, of which… 48.5% care in someone else's home 23.1% care in the child's home 24.5% daycare centre 3.9% other	Non-Parental Care: 56.3% total, of which… 45.6% care in someone else's home 21% care in the child's home 28.4% daycare centre 5% other	Non-Parental Care: 55% total, of which… 45.2% care in someone else's home 18.5% care in the child's home 30.5% daycare centre 5.8% other
Non-Parental Child Care – Distribution of Children by Number of Hours	<23 hrs/week — 38% >24 hrs/week — 62%	<23 hrs/week — 38.4% >24 hrs/week — 61.6%	<23 hrs/week — 38.3% >24 hrs/week — 61.8%	<23 hrs/week — 35.4% >24 hrs/week — 64.6%

Community Related Measures
Percentage of Parents Indicating a Sense of Neighbourhood Cohesion	84.9%	85.9%	87%	86.4%
Percentage of Parents Indicating a Sense of Neighbourhood Safety	This measure was not captured in 1998–99.	75.8%	77.9%	77.7%
Percentage of Families with Children Living in Core Housing Need	Data not available	Rental Households — 36.6% Owner Households — 6.2% (2001)	Data not yet available.	Data not available.

Table 7: Means and Confidence Intervals for Indicators of Child Well-Being
Indicator	1998/99	2000/01	2002/03	2004/05
Motor and Social Development	mean: 100.1 confidence intervals lower: 99.6 upper: 100.6	mean: 100.6 confidence intervals lower: 100.2 upper: 100.9	mean: 100.5 confidence intervals lower: 100.0 upper: 100.9	mean: 98.5 confidence intervals lower: 98.0 upper: 99.0
Emotional Problems/Anxiety (children aged 2 to 3 years old)	mean: 1.1 confidence intervals lower: 1.0 upper: 1.2	mean: 1.3 confidence intervals lower: 1.2 upper:1.3	mean: 1.5 confidence intervals lower: 1.4 upper: 1.6	mean: 1.3 confidence intervals lower: 1.2 upper: 1.3
Emotional Problems/Anxiety (children aged 4 to 5 years old)	mean: 2 confidence intervals lower: 1.9 upper: 2.1	mean: 1.9 confidence intervals lower: 1.8 upper: 2.0	mean: 2.1 confidence intervals lower: 2.0 upper: 2.2	mean: 2 confidence intervals lower: 2.0 upper:2.1
Hyperactivity-Inattention (children aged 2 to 3 years old)	mean: 4.1 confidence intervals lower: 4.0 upper: 4.2	mean: 3.6 confidence intervals lower: 3.5 upper: 3.7	mean: 3.7 confidence intervals lower: 3.6 upper: 3.8	mean:3.6 confidence intervals lower: 3.5 upper: 3.8
Hyperactivity-Inattention (children aged 4 to 5 years old)	mean: 4.7 confidence intervals lower: 4.6 upper: 4.8	mean: 3.9 confidence intervals lower: 3.7 upper: 4.0	mean: 4.1 confidence intervals lower: 4.0 upper: 4.2	mean: 4.1 confidence intervals lower: 4.0 upper: 4.2
Physical Aggression, Conduct Problems (children aged 4 to 5 years old)	mean: 1.6 confidence intervals lower: 1.5 upper: 1.7	mean: 1.5 confidence intervals lower: 1.4 upper: 1.6	mean: 1.7 confidence intervals lower: 1.7 upper: 1.8	mean: 1.7 confidence intervals lower: 1.6 upper: 1.8
Personal-Social Behaviour	This information was not captured for this year in the NLSCY.	mean: 48.7 confidence intervals lower: 48.1 upper: 49.4	mean: 51.4 confidence intervals lower: 51.1 upper: 51.8	mean: 51.9 confidence intervals lower: 51.6 upper: 52.2
Peabody Picture and Vocabulary Test Revised (PPVT-R)	mean: 98.8 confidence intervals lower: 98.2 upper: 99.3	mean: 100.2 confidence intervals lower: 99.5 upper: 100.1	mean: 101.1 confidence intervals lower: 100.5 upper: 101.7	mean: 101.2 confidence intervals lower: 100.4 upper: 102.0
Number Knowledge	This information was not captured for this year in the NLSCY.	mean: 100.7 confidence intervals lower: 99.9 upper: 101.5	mean: 99.3 confidence intervals lower: 98.8 upper: 99.9	mean: 99 confidence intervals lower: 98.2 upper: 99.7
Who am I?	This information was not captured for this year in the NLSCY.	mean: 99.7 confidence intervals lower: 98.9 upper: 100.6	mean: 100.2 confidence intervals lower: 99.7 upper: 100.8	mean: 103 confidence intervals lower: 102.1 upper: 103.8