Despite the fact that there is enormous variation in child well-being across the states, little systematic research has been done to explain why states differ on this measure. The current study extends existing research in this area by testing whether there is a relationship between child well-being and state characteristics, including population composition and policy differences across states. The study uses the state-level index, on which the rankings from the KIDS COUNT Data Book are based, as the measure of child well-being.

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