The Urban Child Institute (UCI) began publication of theData Book: The State of Children in Memphis and Shelby County in2006 to inspire action by encouraging data-driven decisions, illuminating the challenges and opportunities facing our community, and shaping a community-wide conversation about the importance of ensuring every child a fair start in life.

Since that time, the community has frequently used the annual Data Book, citing statistics from it in local discussions, policy development, and grant applications. UCI also invested in a longitudinal study of 1,500 Shelby County mother-child dyads, known as CANDLE, that uniquely brings together biological, physical,...

Children’s experiences in their earliest years affect how their brains work, the way they respond to stress, and their ability to form trusting relationships. During these years the brain undergoes its most dramatic growth, setting the stage for social and emotional development. Language blossoms, basic motor abilities form, thinking becomes more complex, and children begin to understand their own feelings and those of others.

From the first day of life to the first day of school, a child grows at a phenomenal pace.

All aspects of child development are interconnected (Figure 1.1). For example, a child’s ability to learn new...

Chapter One made the case that the first three years of a child’s life are a time of incredible growth—physically, mentally, socially, and emotionally. This chapter drills down to focus on the children of Shelby County and their families, and on those factors that may influence the development of social and emotional competencies already described.

This chapter includes maps of Shelby County to show how these factors are spread out across the county. The map above provides information on the relative location of zip codes within Shelby County.

There are many young children in Shelby County. The 240,133 children...

A child’s home influences his or her development. The home is a safe place for play and nurturing, which is key for social and emotional development. The home is also where important interactions happen with parents, caregivers, friends, siblings, and others in the community.

This chapter focuses on the home environment and how positive interactions between parents and children can support healthy social and emotional development in early childhood. It also describes parental stress and parental mental health concerns in more detail. Both are significant influences on the social and emotional well-being of children, and help and support are available...

A significant proportion of children spend at least some time in nonparental care during their first five years of life. This chapter focuses on aspects of nonparental care that shape the development of social and emotional competencies in young children (Figure 4.1) .

Similar to parent-child interactions, interactions that children have with nonparental caregivers can play an important role in promoting child development. This may be driven by the education level and training of the provider, as well as the overall quality of the nonparental care. The types of child care, including center-based, family child-care homes, relative care, or care...

This book highlights factors known to affect children’s social and emotional development. While it does not cover all factors, mostly due to data gaps, it was designed to provide information on key factors that may be addressed or strengthened within the Shelby County community. These include factors in the home and child-care environment.

It is the hope of The Urban Child Institute that every reader of this book will identify some way in which he or she can support the social and emotional development of children in Shelby County. Some may be compelled by a topic, such as high rates...