Data Source: Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)

National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH)

Sponsor

Health Resources and Services Administration, Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB).

Description

The NSCH measures the health and well-being of American children and assesses their access to and utilization of health care. It also assesses correlates of child health such as family functioning, parental health, and neighborhood and community characteristics. In addition, age-specific topics are covered for children ages 0-5 and 6-17, respectively.

The survey is administered through random-digit-dial telephone interviews. For 2003 and 2007 surveys, dialing was restricted to landline telephone numbers. Beginning with the 2011 iteration, dialing will include cell phone numbers.

Survey Sample Design

Like all modules of the State and Local Area Integrated Telephone Survey (SLAITS), NSCH uses the sample frame of the National Immunization Survey (NIS). NIS is a household telephone survey that includes calls to more than a million telephone numbers each year in an effort to locate a sufficient sample of households that include children in a very narrow age range: 19-35 months. Since most households do not contain children in that age range, most households contacted are not eligible for NIS. SLAITS makes efficient and cost-effective use of this sample frame to field large-scale population-based surveys with a prescreened sample of households.

Primary Survey Content

Topics measured for all children are:

• Health and functional status, special health care needs, immunizations.
• Health insurance coverage, adequacy of coverage.
• Health care access, utilization.
• Medical home, referrals, care coordination, family-centered care.
• Family functioning, parent-child relationship, stress.
• Parental health, exercise, smoking.
• Neighborhood and community characteristics, amenities, perceived safety.

Topics measured for age-specific groups are:

• Early childhood (ages 0-5): developmental screening, child care, injuries, breastfeeding, and intrafamily social interactions such as reading.
• Middle childhood and adolescence (ages 6-17): school engagement, afterschool activities, sleep and exercise, reading and computing, television, and social behavior.

Population Targeted

Noninstitutionalized U.S. children ages 0-17 years.

Demographic Data

Child demographics (age, sex, race/ethnicity, place of birth: in or out of United States).

Household demographics (income, highest education, primary language, number of adults and children).

Family demographics (family structure, relationships of household members to child, marital status of parents, place of birth of parents).

Contextual demographics (State, metropolitan statistical area status).

Years Collected

2003, 2007; planned for 2011.

Schedule

Every 4 years, on an alternating schedule with the National Survey of Children With Special Health Care Needs.

Geographic Estimates

National and State.

Contact Information

Agency home page: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/.

Data system home page: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/slaits.htm.

References

Blumberg SJ, Foster EB, Frasier AM, et al. Design and operation of the National Survey of Children's Health, 2007. Vital Health Stat 1. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics; 2009. Available at: ftp://ftp.cdc.gov/pub/Health_Statistics/NCHS/slaits/nsch07/2_Methodology_Report/NSCH_Design_and_Operations_052109.pdf [Plugin Software Help].

Blumberg SJ, Olson L, Frankel MR, et al. Design and operation of the National Survey of Children's Health, 2003. Vital Health Stat 1. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics; 2005. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_01/sr01_043.pdf [Plugin Software Help].