Most Hispanic adults born to immigrants in the US report they are fluent in English, but only a small minority of their parents say they speak English well, according to a new report from the Pew Hispanic Center.

The American Community Survey’s Interstate Migration Data: Strategies for Smoothing Irregular Age Patterns by James Raymer & Andrei Rogers (POP2007-08, Population Program, University of Colorado at Boulder)

Emigration and Schooling among Second-Generation Mexican-American Children by Michael S. Rendall & Berna M. Torr (RAND Working Paper WR-529)

White students were less segregated from minority students in 2005-2006 than they were in 1993-1994, but over the same period black and Hispanic students became slightly more isolated from white students, according to an analysis of the Education Department’s Common Core of Data (CCD) Public School Universe Survey by the Pew Hispanic Center. The center’s report attributes the seemingly contradictory trend to Latinos comprising a larger proportion, and whites a smaller proportion, of the student population.

Citation: Rick Fry (2007, August). The Changing Racial and Ethnic Composition of U.S. Public Schools. Pew Hispanic Center. (Available online)

Newsweek’s Robert Samuelson writes about why presidential candidates and think tanks alike have been quiet about possible solutions to problems facing an aging population, and makes a call for action.

Reasons People Do Not Work: 2004 (PDF) uses Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) data to fill in gaps in our knowledge about nonworkers.

The report is number P70-111 in the Current Population Reports series from the Census Bureau.

While US life expectancy has grown, it is behind Japan and most of Europe, ranking 42nd globally (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report). Reasons cited include lack of universal health coverage, racial and socioeconomic disparities, obesity, and a relatively high infant mortality rate.

The research plan for the first phase of the National Children’s Study (birth to 24 months) is now available for comment. Responses will be accepted until September 25, 2007.

The National Children’s Study “will examine the effects of environmental influences on the health and development of more than 100,000 children across the United States, following them from before birth until age 21. The goal of the study is to improve the health and well-being of children.”

America’s Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2007 compiles official statistics on the nation’s young people. Among the highlights: fewer children are living in married two-parent families and fewer teens are having sex.

Growth in the country’s large Sun Belt cities has already received a lot of attention. The Christian Science Monitor reports about similar population booms in smaller “inner Sun Belt” cities.

Americans used to be the tallest people in the world, but have been falling behind other nations since World War II. The Associated Press talked to scholars in demography and economics about the possible causes and implications of this trend (AP via Centre Daily Times).

See also:

John Komlos & Benjamin E. Lauderdale (2007). Underperformance in affluence: The remarkable relative decline in U.S. heights in the second half of the 20th century. Social Science Quarterly 88(2): 283–305. [Available online to Penn State faculty, staff, and students.]

John Komlos & Benjamin E. Lauderdale (2007). The mysterious trend in American heights in the 20th century. Annals of Human Biology 34(2): 0301-4460. [Available online to Penn State faculty, staff, and students.]

John Komlos & Benjamin E. Lauderdale (in press). Spatial correlates of US heights and body mass indexes, 2002. Journal of Biosocial Science. [Available online to Penn State faculty, staff, and students.]

Eileen M. Crimmins & Caleb E. Finch (2006). Infection, inflammation, height, and longevity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 103: 498-503. [Available online to Penn State faculty, staff, and students.]