Posted by: Adam McCann

Growing up can be hard. Without a stable home, positive role models and tools for success, many young Americans fall behind their peers and experience a rocky transition to adulthood. Today, about one in nine individuals between the ages of 16 and 24 are neither working nor attending school. Others suffer from poor health conditions that hinder their ability to develop physically or socially.

Such issues not only affect young people later in life, but they also prove harmful to society as a whole. For instance, more than 70 percent of young adults today are ineligible to join the U.S. military because they fail academic, moral or health qualifications. Research shows that when youth grow up in environments with economic problems and a lack of role models, they’re more at risk for poverty, early pregnancy and violence, especially in adulthood.

To determine the places where young Americans are not faring as well as others in the same age group, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 15 key indicators of youth risk. Our data set ranges from share of disconnected youth to labor force participation rate among youth to youth poverty rate. Read on for our findings, insight into the future of America's young population and a full description of our methodology.

1. Main Findings
2. Share of Disconnected Youth Over Time
3. Ask the Experts
4. Methodology

Main Findings

Embed on your website<iframe src="//d2e70e9yced57e.cloudfront.net/wallethub/embed/37280/geochart.html" width="556" height="347" frameBorder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe> <div style="width:556px;font-size:12px;color:#888;">Source: <a href="https://ift.tt/2uIobbC>  

States with the Most Idle Youth

Overall Rank (1=Most at Risk)	State	Total Score	‘Education & Employment’ Rank	‘Health’ Rank
1	Louisiana	65.26	1	33
2	District of Columbia	61.83	3	23
3	Mississippi	61.37	2	38
4	Arkansas	60.76	4	25
5	Nevada	59.56	5	26
6	West Virginia	59.38	7	18
7	Oregon	58.64	22	2
8	Wyoming	57.28	13	7
9	Oklahoma	57.02	15	6
10	New Mexico	55.41	6	43
11	Alabama	55.11	8	22
12	Delaware	53.89	19	8
13	Alaska	53.76	12	21
14	South Carolina	53.48	10	31
15	Montana	53.09	21	9
16	Ohio	52.67	27	5
17	Michigan	51.24	23	11
18	Tennessee	50.10	14	40
19	South Dakota	49.67	16	30
20	Washington	49.64	24	15
21	California	48.94	11	45
22	Idaho	48.16	18	36
23	Maine	47.54	45	1
24	Missouri	47.05	30	17
25	Indiana	46.94	34	10
26	New York	46.31	20	41
27	Colorado	46.14	32	16
28	Vermont	45.88	42	4
29	Kentucky	45.64	25	37
30	Arizona	45.15	28	39
31	Georgia	44.66	9	50
32	Pennsylvania	43.21	29	42
33	Nebraska	42.65	35	24
34	Iowa	42.47	37	20
35	Illinois	41.18	36	27
36	Florida	41.08	26	46
37	Wisconsin	41.07	38	19
38	North Carolina	40.00	33	44
39	Texas	39.86	17	51
40	North Dakota	38.93	44	12
41	Kansas	38.87	40	29
42	Rhode Island	38.65	39	32
43	Connecticut	37.06	48	13
44	Virginia	35.72	43	34
45	Maryland	35.60	47	28
46	Hawaii	35.39	31	49
47	New Hampshire	34.82	51	3
48	Utah	31.97	41	47
49	Minnesota	31.69	49	35
50	Massachusetts	31.19	50	14
51	New Jersey	29.08	46	48

 

 

Share of Disconnected Youth Over Time

Ask the Experts

Idleness and social disconnection are among the biggest problems for at-risk youths today. For advice on overcoming these challenges, we asked a panel of experts to share their thoughts on the following key questions:

1. What can state and local policymakers do to reduce the number of rural youth who are disconnected from school and work?
2. What is driving the higher levels of “idleness” among minority youth?
3. What tips/advice you have for parents who have an adolescent who is disconnected — that is, dropping out of school and not looking for work? Where should they look for help?
4. Do you believe that the economic policies enacted thus far by the Trump administration will increase or decrease the number of idle youth?

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• Jennifer L. Bellamy Ph.D., MSSW – Associate Professor, Graduate School of Social Work, University of Denver
• Rigaud Joseph MSW, Ph.D. – Assistant Professor, School of Social Work/College of Behavioral Sciences, California State University, San Bernardino
• Lorri McMeel Ph.D., LCSW – Assistant Professor of Social Work/ Undergraduate Program Director, Lewis University
• Ashley Palmer Ph.D., LMSW – Senior Research Assistant, University of Kansas School of Social Welfare

Methodology

In order to determine where young Americans are most at risk of adverse outcomes in adulthood, WalletHub compared a sample comprising the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 15 key metrics, which are listed below with their corresponding weights. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the highest level of youth risk.

Finally, we determined each state and the District’s weighted average across all metrics to calculate its overall score and used the resulting scores to rank-order our sample.

Education & Employment – Total Points: 60

• Share of Disconnected Youth: Double Weight (~10.91 Points)Note: “Disconnected Youth” refers to the population aged 18 to 24 years who are not attending school, not working and have no degree beyond a high school diploma.
• Share of Youth with No High School Diploma: Full Weight (~5.45 Points)Note: “Youth” refers to the population aged 18 to 24 years.
• Share of NAEP-Proficient Students: Full Weight (~5.45 Points)Note: “NAEP-Proficient Students” refers to those who performed at or above the 8th grade math and 8th grade reading proficiency levels of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) assessments.
• Labor Force Participation Rate Among Youth: Full Weight (~5.45 Points)Note: “Youth” refers to the population aged 16 to 24 years.
• Share of AFQT Testers Scoring Above 50: Full Weight (~5.45 Points)Note: “AFQT Testers” refers to civilians who completed the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT), which covers four sections — Word Knowledge, Paragraph Comprehension, Arithmetic Reasoning and Mathematics Knowledge — of the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) to assess a potential recruit’s military trainability and ability to enlist. The resulting score is a percentile, rather than an absolute, and indicates the recruit’s performance relative to 18- to 23-year-old civilians who completed the exam in 1997 as part of a norming study. The lower a tester’s score, the poorer is his or her trainability.
• Youth Poverty Rate: Full Weight (~5.45 Points)Note: “Youth” refers to the population aged 18 to 24 years.
• Rate of Teen Pregnancy: Full Weight (~5.45 Points)
• Share of Homeless Youth: Full Weight (~5.45 Points)Note: “Youth” refers to the population aged 18 to 24 years.
• Presence of “State Tuition Waiver Programs” for Youth in Foster Care: Full Weight (~5.45 Points)
• Rate of Youth Detained, Incarcerated or Placed in Residential Facilities per 100,000: Full Weight (~5.45 Points)Note: Persons under age 21 detained, incarcerated, or placed in residential facilities.

Health – Total Points: 40

• Share of Overweight & Obese Youth: Full Weight (~8.00 Points)Note: “Youth” refers to the population aged 18 to 24 years.
• Share of Youth Using Illicit Drugs in Past Month: Full Weight (~8.00 Points)Note: “Youth” refers to the population aged 18 to 25 years.
• Share of Youth Reporting Heavy Drinking: Full Weight (~8.00 Points)Note: “Youth” refers to the population aged 18 to 24 years.
• Share of Youth with Depression: Full Weight (~8.00 Points)Note: “Youth” refers to the population aged 18 to 24 years.
• Share of Physically, Mentally & Emotionally Inhibited Youth: Full Weight (~8.00 Points)Note: “Youth” refers to the population aged 18 to 24 years who are limited in any activities due to physical, mental and emotional problems.

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 Sources: Data used to create this ranking were collected from the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, The Nation’s Report Card, The Annie E. Casey Foundation, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, National Priorities Project, U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness and National Conference of State Legislatures.

Image: Tero Vesalainen / Shutterstock.com

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