Dispelling the Myths

We use 1995 data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation to examine how race and class are related to self-care among children 5 to 13 years old. We find that contrary to popular belief, self-care is less common among minority and lower-class children. We also find that factors such as income and neighborhood safety are related to self-care and can attenuate the relationships observed between race, class, and self-care. Our analyses also indicate that variations in self-care by race, class, income level, and neighborhood safety are dependent on the age of the child, with a major transition in self-care occurring between the ages of 8 and 10.