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Despite drops in drug, alcohol and tobacco use, lower teen birth rates and lower rates of juvenile crime, the overall well-being of young people is barely better than it was nearly 30 years ago.
And childhood obesity is a big factor, according to a report released today by a New York-based philanthropic foundation.
Researchers at Duke University found that despite progress in several key areas, a few important indicators, such as obesity and childhood poverty, have worsened.
In the meantime, the percentage of young adults with a bachelor's degree rose only marginally from 1975 to 2003.
The latest version of the annual Index of Child Well-Being uses government data from 2003 to track 28 indicators, some of which were projected to 2004.
Kenneth Land, a professor of demographic studies at Duke and the developer of the index, says more attentive parenting by baby boomers probably has helped reduce risk factors such as juvenile crime and teen drug, alcohol and tobacco use.
''I think it's a reasonable hypothesis to say (parents) have been much more attentive to child-rearing than perhaps their predecessors were,'' he says.
Also, he says, young people today are more inclined to be team-oriented than their parents were and more likely to accept authority, so they're less likely to rebel by taking drugs or committing crimes.
But he warns that two important factors that kept crime down in the 1990s -- a thriving national economy and a federal program that put thousands of police officers on the streets -- can't be taken for granted anymore.
Childhood obesity, which more than tripled from 1975 to 2004, also has offset other gains, he says. The rate of childhood obesity rose from just more than 5% to a projected 16.7%.
And education is ''one of the areas where we still have work to do,'' says Fasaha Traylor, senior program officer for the Foundation for Child Development, which sponsors the annual index.
''The United States can do better, and it should do better.''
Though stopping short of criticizing schools for the small gains, Traylor says education ''has been surprisingly resistant'' to improvement; basic skills and the percentage of young people holding bachelor's degrees rose only slightly.
Traylor recommends investing more in early-childhood programs and coordinating them with those in elementary school. Such efforts ''will pay dividends down the road.''
Manhattan Institute education researcher Jay Greene, who issued similar findings in September as part of what he called a ''teachability index'' of U.S. students, says the figures track closely with his, but he doubts that higher obesity rates offset progress in infant mortality and other areas.
Greene notes, for instance, that reductions in lead paint in the environment as well as more widespread use of child car seats and bike helmets have led to large drops in mental retardation and serious childhood injuries.
''Why aren't those gains more important than whatever losses have occurred from obesity?'' he asks.
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