Demographic Characteristics

The demographic profile of parents who participated in the statewide evaluation provides a snapshot of the characteristics of parents receiving HFI services (See Table 2).  Although some fathers were involved in both the HFI program and the data collection procedures, in all cases the mother was identified as the primary HFI recipient.

Parents participating in HFI are geographically diverse.  Approximately 15% of parents in this sample lived in the Chicago metropolitan area.  The remaining 85% of parents were residing in approximately 30 different service areas outside of the Chicago area.

The sample also was racially and ethnically diverse (See Figure 1). For nearly 1 in 6 (14.8%) mothers in this sample, Spanish was their primary language and their services were provided in Spanish.

On average, HFI mothers tend to be young adults, with a mean age of 20.6 years (SD = 3.98).  However, it may be noted that HFI programs serve parents across a wide range of ages.  Mothers in this sample ranged in age from 12 to 42 years.  The majority of mothers were parenting their first child (84.7%).

Over half of the mothers (54.0%) were single, 1.2% were divorced/separated/widowed, 30% were cohabitating, and 14.7% were married.

Mothers in the sample averaged 11.1 years (SD = 2.06) of education.  Roughly one third (32.8%) of the women were employed, and over a quarter (27.6%) were full time students when they began the HFI program.

Description of Pie Chart showing percents of HFI participants By Race and Ethnicity

Table 2

Demographic Characteristics of HFI evaluation participants.