Wyoming Dropouts and Deaths: Child Wellness 2014

by Tom Rose

In this part of the Wyoming Wellness series we look a bit more closely at a few of the specific wellness indicators related to child and teen deaths and teens who are not in school and not employed. Our starting point for following these wellness metrics is the 2014 Child Wellness report published by the Annie E. Casey Foundation's Kids Count initiative.

We have already discussed Wyoming's child wellness standing overall (19^th in the 2014 report down from 15^th nationally in 2013), and specific areas where Wyoming has either improved or gotten worse.

Nationally, the percentage of sixteen to nineteen-year-olds not in school and not working was measured at 8% in the 2013 report and remained unchanged for 2014. This measurement is considered an economic indicator.

By contrast, Wyoming measured significantly fewer teens in this category in 2013 at 4% slipping closer to the national average to 7% in the 2014 report. Because the number of Wyoming youth in this age category is low, (38,368 aged 16-20 according to 2013 census data) statistics can change rapidly without necessarily indicating problematic policies or trends.

According to the Kids Count Data Center, teenagers between the ages of sixteen and nineteen who are not enrolled in school and not employed are sometimes referred to as "Idle Teens" or "Disconnected Youth". Wyoming has made some improvement in this category above the national average of 8%.

According to First Focus, an advocacy organization dedicated to children and families, Wyoming's 2013 ranking (based on the 2011 statistics) was the best in the nation with only 4% Idle Youth. Since that time Wyoming's numbers have fluctuated a bit but the latest measurement of 5% has Wyoming maintaining lower than the national rate of 8%.

The category of Idle Youth has been studied by many advocacy groups and other organizations. Because the employment opportunities for these youth change drastically according to the economy it is important to understand the economic context of any statistics. Nevertheless, reports that explore this category can yield very interesting information including gender trends, racial and socioeconomic factors and other general demographics. The U.S. Census Bureau presented a report in 2008 focusing on Idle Youth which they define as: "All people 16 to 24 years old not living in group quarters who have not been enrolled in school for three months and are not in the labor force".

The U.S. Census Bureau and advocacy groups consider this category of interest because they are considered inadequately educated or trained for preparedness for the work force. Although the U.S. Census Bureau report needs to be viewed in the context of the 2008 economy it is important to note that there are statistically valid risk factors for the category of Idle or Disconnected Youth including that "Disconnected young men are more likely than other young men to go to prison" and "Disconnected young women are more likely than other young women to rely on public assistance".

Although Wyoming's overall economic wellness score is persistently above the national average, the second wellness indicator, child and teen deaths, falls into the health category in which Wyoming did not perform so well. Wyoming was ranked 39^th in the health category in the 2013 report falling to 45^th in the 2014 report. This sinking ranking is of concern although it is important to note that Wyoming's performance by measured statistics did not significantly degrade in most health categories. The ranking changed because other states were able to make more significant improvements in the measured health categories.

Child and teen death rates are measured per 100,000 children from ages one to nineteen from all causes. The Annie E. Casey Data Center explores these deaths more fully with options to examine national and state-level statistics.

In this category Wyoming death rates are significantly higher than the national average although data is not yet available beyond the year 2011.

The category within these deaths that is most disturbing for Wyoming youth is teens who die by suicide, homicide or accident. The following chart shows the same time span with Wyoming teen deaths compared to national statistics.

The most recent Wyoming teen death rate by suicide, homicide or accident is more than double the national rate. Although this child wellness series has been intended to give an overview of Wyoming's overall wellness performance as compared to children in the rest of the nation, clearly this finding requires further exploration. With Wyoming continuing to have the second highest juvenile arrest rate in the nation according to FBI statistics and also the second highest juvenile incarceration rate in the nation according to the Office for Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, we as a state are already failing this group of young people. When arrests and incarcerations are combined with the unacceptably high level of teen deaths in Wyoming we as citizens need to find out how we can turn things around to make growing up in Wyoming an experience that is less likely to end in incarceration or death.