Fathers and Families

"Creating Paths to Father Involvement: Lessons from Early Head Start." Trends in Family Program and Policy, Issue Brief #1. Andrew Burwick and Jeanne Bellotti, August 2005. A growing body of research shows that having an involved father enhances a child's well-being. This four-page issue brief, based on Mathematica's evaluation of the Early Head Start Fatherhood Demonstration, delineates lessons for policymakers and practitioners who are embarking on new efforts to increase fathers' involvement in Head Start and other programs and in their children's lives. Issues examined include designing, operating, and sustaining effective fatherhood initiatives. Click here to read more about this study.

Developing the Next Generation

“The NIH Undergraduate Scholarship Program: Career Outcomes of Scholars and Non-Awarded Finalists.” Steven Glazerman, Neil Seftor, and Jesse Gregory, July 2005.
“Process Analysis on the Operation of the NIH Undergraduate Scholarship Program.” Tim Silva, July 2005.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) spends millions of dollars each year to provide scholarships to an elite group of highly talented undergraduate science students from disadvantaged backgrounds to encourage them to pursue careers in biomedical research. Mathematica’s evaluation found that the NIH Undergraduate Scholarship Program appears to be operating as intended and that scholars are achieving career milestones at high rates. They are making steady progress toward the goal of becoming biomedical researchers, and doing so at substantially higher rates than applicants selected as finalists but not awarded scholarships. The findings are presented in two reports. The outcomes report provides evidence from survey data on scholars' and nonawardees' careers. The process report provides evidence from scholar focus groups and administrative data on program experiences and operations.

Using Technology

Collecting and managing high-quality information is a central part of our core business. Survey research has expanded greatly over the years, with the introduction of ever-more-powerful new technology and improved techniques for finding answers to important questions cost-effectively. Along the way, Mathematica staff have been innovators in the field, responding to new challenges, developing new and improved methods, and setting higher standards. Read about our work using advanced technology.

Food Stamps and the Elderly

“Reaching Out: Nutrition Assistance for the Elderly. Evaluation of the USDA Elderly Nutrition Demonstrations.” Scott Cody, James Ohls, June 2005. Historically, low-income seniors age 60 and older who qualify for benefits in the Food Stamp Program (FSP) participate at extremely low rates. To identify effective strategies for increasing participation among this population, the U.S. Department of Agriculture funded the Elderly Nutrition Demonstrations between 2002 and 2004—six projects aimed at testing ways to increase FSP participation among eligible elderly individuals. This report presents findings from Mathematica’s evaluation of the demonstrations. The results suggest that a variety of approaches can be effective in increasing participation among the elderly, including efforts to simplify the application process, to provide individual assistance in completing the application, and to make FSP benefits more appealing to the elderly.
Executive summary. Volume I—Evaluation findings. Volume II—Demonstration summaries.

Obesity and Preschoolers

“A National Study of Neighborhood Safety, Outdoor Play, Television Viewing, and Obesity in Preschool Children.” Hillary L. Burdette and Robert C. Whitaker, Pediatrics, September 2005. Do preschool children have a higher prevalence of obesity, spend less time playing outdoors, and spend more time watching television when they live in a neighborhood that their mothers perceive as unssafe? This study of three-year-olds in 20 U.S. cities found that if mothers perceive their neighborhood as unsafe, their children tend to watch more television, but they are no more likely to be obese and do not spend any less time playing outdoors than children in safer neighborhoods. Researchers used data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a birth cohort study of nearly 5,000 children born in 20 large U.S. cities from 1998 to 2000.

Learn more about our large-scale data collection for the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study.