Understanding the Early Years - Early Childhood Development in North York - May 2001

4. Results of the NLSCY... What we learned from parents and guardians

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Key findings

• Almost half of the children in the North York sample had a mother tongue other than English or French.
• North York parents scored well on measures of parenting style.
• Almost one-quarter of children were living in lone-parent families.
• The biggest barriers to resource utilization were time, program costs and lack of awareness about programs and services.

The NLSCY provides information about the outcomes of children in the community and some of the family and community factors that can help explain the outcomes. As part of the study, Statistics Canada interviewers collected detailed information from a sample of almost 746 children in North York using instruments from the NLSCY. Because the questionnaire was also used across the country in a national survey, comparisons can be made to national averages.

The three following chapters are based on the analysis of the responses of these families to the NLSCY instrument. About two-thirds of the children in the sample were five years of age and the rest were six years old. Just over half of the children were boys. The parents of these children provided a great deal of information that will help their community better understand the needs and experiences of the children living there. The sample is statistically representative.

When interviewers contacted families in the community, they asked to speak to the "person most knowledgeable". (PMK) about the child. This person answered the survey questions. We use the term mother and PMK interchangeably because in most cases the PMK was the child's mother.

What parents said about their children

Cultural diversity

North York is an ethnically and culturally diverse community. Although most children in the sample were born in Canada (81%), a large number of their parents (about three-quarters) were born outside of this country. The mother tongue of almost half of the children in the North York sample (47%) was a language other than English or French — considerably higher than the provincial or national figures (14% and 10% respectively). Similar numbers of parents reported that their children were unable to conduct a conversation in English or French (48%). Such diversity will lead to both unique strengths and challenges for community members when preparing their children for school.

Residential mobility and social relationships

Moving causes breaks in social and institutional ties to an area, which can have negative effects on children. Moving numerous times (three or more times) has been associated with an increase in child problem behaviours.⁵ Almost one-in-five children in the North York sample had lived in their home for one year or less; about one in three had moved within the previous three years. Almost 33% of the families lived in neighbourhoods characterized as high mobility areas (those where 20% or more of families had moved in the year preceding the 1996 Census).

Despite the high mobility rates in the community, most parents reported that their children were engaged in frequent social interactions with others. Almost all parents reported that their child knew other children who lived within walking distance from their home — only 3.4% of parents indicated otherwise. Moreover, most children knew several other children. Nearly 70% of parents reported that their child had four or more friends in the neighbourhood. As well, children in the North York communities visited each other fairly regularly. A full three-quarters (75.4%) of parents indicated that children visited with friends at least weekly and often on a daily basis. Only 10% of children never visited with other children in the neighbourhood. Parents also reported that most of the interactions between children in the community were positive, although about one-quarter (23.2%) state that their child had experienced frequent or occasional problems, such as bullying, with older children.

Resource utilization

Children also benefited from resources in their communities. This is significant because the quality, quantity and use of resources in one's community are believed to have important implications for development. The following tables show the participation rates of children in various educational, recreational, sport and entertainment resources.

Table 1 - Percentage of five and six year old children using educational and recreational resources

	At least once a week	At least once a month	A few times a year	Not at all
Educational resources
Library	52.1	25.0	13.0	9.9
Book clubs or literacy programs (e.g., Dial a Story)	22.5	11.0	13.2	53.2
Educational centres or workshops (e.g., Science Centre)	5.9	8.7	37.7	47.8
Family or parent resource centres, support services or programs (e.g., Parent Child Resource Centre for Mom and Tots, Family Support Network)	4.1	4.7	13.8	77.4
Recreational resources
Parks and play spaces	84.9	10.9	2.9	1.4
Recreational or community centres	27.9	18.7	21.0	32.4
Indoor, outdoor or wading pools	30.4	16.2	30.6	22.7

Table 2 - Children's participation rates in sports and recreational activities in North York, Ontario, and Canada (Percentages)

	A few times or more			Once a week			Almost never*
	NY	Ont	Can	NY	Ont	Can	NY	Ont	Can
Sports with coaching/instruction	9.4	12.8	16.0	20.1	27.9	22.1	70.5	59.4	61.9
Other organized activity with coaching/instruction (e.g., dance, gymnastics or martial arts)	6.7	3.9	7.5	16.4	28.6	22.4	76.9	67.5	70.1
Unorganized sports or physical activity	42.9	50.4	51.1	17.7	16.2	13.8	39.4	33.5	35.0
Lessons in music, art or non-sport activities	4.0	1.3	2.6	14.1	9.9	9.0	81.9	88.7	88.4
Clubs, groups or community programs with leadership	2.9	0.6	0.8	15.5	23.8	20.8	81.5	75.6	78.5
* Includes a very small proportion of children who were monthly participants. Source: NLSCY

Almost all parents reported that their child used at least one type of educational or entertainment resource and over 80% reported the child's involvement in sports or recreational resources (Tables 1 and 2, Figure 2). Kindergarten children in North York had higher participation rates in music, art and other non-sport activities than children in the rest of the province or country. Participation in sports activities and community programs with leadership (e.g., Scouting or Guiding movements), however, was somewhat lower compared to the national and provincial percentages. Rates of non-participation in many of the resources were high (in some cases as many as 80% of children were not participating in certain resources) — see Tables 1 and 2 and Figure 2 — and were often higher in North York than in the rest of the province and country.

Factors associated with community resource utilization

A child's exposure to educational, recreational and other resources can increase his or her opportunities for interaction with other children and adults and is thought to contribute to their physical, social and language development.

In North York, participation rates in community resources seemed to be associated with family characteristics. Children using educational resources were more likely to live in families where:

• mothers had higher levels of education;
• at least one parent was employed; and
• where English was the first language learned at home and where household incomes were higher (in the case of educational centres).

Organized sports, recreational centres, pools and entertainment resources were in most cases more likely to be used by children in families where:

• there were two parents;
• mothers were older and had higher levels of education;
• at least one parent was employed;
• English was the first language learned at home;
• the mother was not a recent immigrant; and
• household incomes were higher.

There was no clear link between a family's characteristics and a child's involvement in unorganized sports and their use of parks and play spaces. However, household income and language first learned at home were exceptions: more children whose first language was English (69%) than those who first language was a language other than English (59%) and more children with household incomes that were above $60,000 were involved in unorganized sport activities.

Most parents in North York said that educational and recreational resources were within walking distance of their homes (88% and 85% respectively). Fewer thought that entertainment resources were as readily available within their immediate neighbourhoods (59% of parents). There was a tendency for resources to be used more often by children who lived within walking distance or a short drive or bus ride.

Parental involvement was also related to a child's use of community resources. Parents who participated in music, arts or sports groups themselves were significantly more likely to have children who also participated in them.

In addition, children who watched two or more hours of television per day were less likely to participate in physical activities (e.g., general sports, dance, gymnastics, martial arts), leadership programs (e.g., Beavers) and music, art or other non-sports lessons. Children who spent any amount of time using computers were also less likely to be involved in organized sports and lessons in music, art and other non-sport activities.

Sixty-two percent of children watched two or more hours of television per day and two-thirds of parents indicated that their children spent time using a computer outside of school hours.

Overall, children in North York were benefiting from a variety of resources and opportunities in their community. However, there were cases where participation rates differed in relation to family characteristics.

What parents said about their families

Parenting

Parenting style has been gaining research attention as a key variable influencing children's outcomes — often more important than a family's income, educational level or work status. As was the case in Canada as a whole, most parents in North York engaged in positive rational, consistent and effective parenting practices.

Parenting styles

POSITIVE CATEGORY — The positive interaction scale asks parents how often they praise their child; how often they talk and play with them; and how often they laugh together. Higher scores indicate a higher degree of positive parenting.

RATIONAL CATEGORY — These are the types of questions used to classify rational parents: when your child breaks the rules or does things he or she is not supposed to, how often do you: raise your voice? scold or yell at your child? calmly discuss the problem? use physical punishment? and describe alternative ways of behaving that are acceptable?

INEFFECTIVE CATEGORY — Parents scoring higher on the ineffective scale were those who were more likely to indicate that they often got annoyed with their child for saying or doing things he or she was not supposed to; they often got angry when they punished their child; they often had to discipline the child repeatedly for the same thing.

CONSISTENT CATEGORY — Questions included in the consistent parenting scale include: how often does your child get away with things that you feel should have been punished? When you give your child a command or order to do something, what proportion of the time do you make sure he or she does it?

Parents in the community had high levels of social support (only 12.5% reported that they lacked social support). Good family functioning characterized 88% of families (e.g., adequate problem solving, communication skills and emotional responsiveness amongst all family members). Few symptoms of depression were reported, with 9% who reported many depressive tendencies.

Economic and demographic characteristics of families in the North York sample

Most parents in North York were working at the time this information was collected; in 85% of families, at least one parent was employed. Fewer mothers were working than were spouses (60% and 85% respectively) although this is common for young families. More than half of the families in North York (59.9%) rented their homes and, of these, about one-fifth (21.4%) were subsidized.

Family structure

Nearly one-quarter (23.5%) of the kindergarten children in the North York sample were living in lone-parent families. This figure is 10% higher than the provincial rate and 6.3% higher than the overall rate for Canada.

Income

Household income provides an indication of a family's economic situation. In order to better understand the actual circumstances in which children live, however, the absolute value of household income must be considered in relation to the size of the family and its geographic place of residence. Families are doing worse than the average if they fall below the "low income cut-off" (LICO), calculated using this approach. Families are then classified into one of five income categories: "lowest," "lower middle," "middle," "upper middle," and "highest."

More families in the North York sample tended to fall in the low and lower middle income categories (23.7%) and fewer in the two highest categories (43.5%) compared to Ontario and Canada as a whole.

Education

Because parents are a child's first teachers and maternal education has an important influence on a child's development, the educational profile of a community is important for understanding the kinds of resources that would be beneficial in supporting families with children. Close to half of mothers had completed a college or university degree (45.3%) — exceeding the proportion of similarly educated parents in the rest of the country (43.2% in Canada), but lower than the proportion in Ontario (49%). However, there were also a substantial number of parents who had not completed high school, and, in the case of mothers, this proportion (16.2%) was much higher than the provincial average (8.8%). Considering educational levels in the community is important when making decisions about the kind of community-based programming that may be appropriate.

What parents said about their neighbourhoods

The majority of parents had favourable perceptions of their neighbourhoods. They saw them as being safe and clean, with good schools, good access to public transportation and adequate services for children. Just over 60% felt they never had to worry about their children's safety because of the rate of crime in their neighbourhood.

Table 3 - How did parents rate their neighbourhoods? (Percentages)

	Excellent	Good	Average	Fair	Poor
Lots of families with children	32.8	37.0	18.5	7.3	4.5
Good schools, nursery schools	34.8	50.0	11.3	3.1	0.8
Adequate facilities for children	31.7	43.5	13.1	6.3	5.4
Safe and clean community	30.9	42.5	13.1	8.4	5.0
Presence of health facilities	29.0	49.7	14.8	4.0	2.5
Active involved residents	17.3	39.2	24.0	11.4	8.1
Accessible public transportation	48.8	42.0	6.1	2.0	1.1

Almost all of the families that had recently moved into a new neighbourhood also felt they had moved to a higher quality neighbourhood than their previous one. Almost three-quarters of parents believed that their new neighbourhood was an "excellent" or "good" place to raise children in comparison to their old one. Just under 10% felt that they had moved to a neighbourhood that was either "fair" or "poor" in comparison to their old one.

Community involvement

Active and involved membership in neighbourhood organizations is a clear sign of a community's willingness to work together for the common good. Parents were asked to indicate whether or not they participated in any local volunteer organizations. More than half (55.4%) of parents in North York indicated they were members of at least one such type of community organization, usually a religious group (33.9%) or a school association (27.4%).

Table 4 — Family involvement in the community (Percentages)

	Participation
	Yes	No
A school association	27.4	72.6
A religious affiliated group	33.9	66.1
A neighbourhood, civic or community association	11.3	88.7
A cultural or ethnic affiliated association	15.8	84.2

Voting for elected officials is another important indicator of civic participation. Among citizens who were eligible to vote, 85.6% indicated they voted in elections "always" or "most of the time." Only 8.5% reported they "never" voted in elections.

Neighbourhoods that were high in social cohesion had neighbours who were willing to look out for trouble, help each other out, keep an eye on each other's children, and get together to deal with problems.

Community cohesion

A cohesive community is one where families know, trust and help one another. This factor was measured by asking parents whether their children had adults they could look up to in the neighbourhood; whether other neighbours could be counted on to watch that children were safe; and if neighbours would keep their eyes open for possible trouble when others were away from home. Most parents felt that their community had a good degree of social cohesion. The results, however, suggested that the level of cohesion in North York was slightly lower than in the rest of Ontario and the country. About 16.5% of parents scored the social cohesion of North York at 7 or lower on a scale of 1 to 15 compared to 10.1% of Ontarians and 9.2% of Canadians rating their communities on this scale.

Obstacles to community involvement

Although most parents held generally positive perceptions of their neighbourhoods and reported that they felt they had good facilities to meet their children's needs, they sometimes had problems gaining access to the services they required. Facilitating access may be an important goal for those in the community who are involved in planning and administering programs.

According to parents, the three most common barriers to participation in community resources were:

• lack of time;
• costs associated with programs; and
• lack of awareness that the resource existed.

Given the cultural diversity of the community, one might have expected language to be a fairly significant obstacle to overcome in order to gain access to certain programs and services. Though an issue for some families, language was one of the least frequently cited barriers to participation.

Summing up

Most parents had positive views of their own neighbourhoods and of North York. Resources were perceived to be readily available. Generally, families were also functioning with adequate levels of support and good parenting skills.

The community, however, is both ethnically and culturally diverse with a large immigrant population and many children whose mother tongue was neither English nor French. Although such diversity can provide increased opportunities for awareness and learning about other cultures, this study found that immigrant children with limited working knowledge of either English or French sometimes did not participate in the community resources studied to the same extent as non-immigrant children.

Social and economic circumstances — in North York as in other communities — can also enhance or hinder opportunities for community involvement depending on the levels of resources that a family has available to them.

Increased socio-economic resources (e.g., higher incomes, higher educational levels) were associated with increased participation in community programs and services where cost was a factor.

Participation rates in programs and services that involved minimal costs (e.g., use of libraries, parks and play spaces, unorganized sports activities), however, were higher across all socio-economic groups.

Increased involvement in community activities enhances children's opportunities for social interaction and physical activity, mental stimulation, learning and language development. In addressing barriers to such activities, communities may want to examine issues such as promoting awareness of activities and their importance for child well-being, as well as cost and availability of programs for children in the pre-school years.

• ⁵Dewit, D.J., Offord, D.R., and Braun, K. (1998). The relationship between geographic mobility and childhood problem behaviour. HRDC, Applied Research Branch Working paper W-98-17E.

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