Page Last Updated: May 15, 2026

Baby's First Years (BFY)đź”—

Table Namesed_bm_bfy
ConstructBenefits/Services, Economic Stress
Study VisitsV01, V05, V07
Administration Child-specific: No
Respondent: Parent
Method: HBCD Study Staff, in person (4 min estimated duration)
Quality Control Data dashboard was monitored for variable missingness, possible coding errors, scoring verification when needed, and data consistency.
Please review the Known Issues & Pending Updates page for updates that may affect data use.

Instrument Detailsđź”—

The HBCD BFY includes a selection of questions from the BFY Age 1 Survey Instrument. Baby’s First Years is an NIH-funded study of infant and child development and assesses economic stress (originally sourced from the Moving to Opportunity (MTO) study), financial instability, ability to meet basic needs, and benefits/services received over the past 12 months on a 10-point Likert Scale (Noble et al. 2021).

HBCD Modification Details â–¸

For the HBCD study, modifications are summarized below:

  • Removed Medicaid coverage item (collected elsewhere in the HBCD Study).
  • Updates to receipt of services items:
    • Updated instruction: “Have you received any of these services in the past 12 months?”
    • Added response option: “Free or reduced school lunch.”
  • Updated eviction instruction: “In the past 12 months, have you EVER been forced to leave or were evicted from your home?”
  • Added response options across items: “Don’t know” and “Decline to answer.”

Referencesđź”—

Noble, K. G., Magnuson, K., Gennetian, L. A., Duncan, G. J., Yoshikawa, H., Fox, N. A., & Halpern-Meekin, S. (2021). Baby’s First Years: Design of a randomized controlled trial of poverty reduction in the United States. Pediatrics, 148(4), e2020049702. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2020-049702

Sanbonmatsu, L., Marvakov, J., Potter, N. A., Yang, F., Adam, E. K., Congdon, W. J., Duncan, G. J., Gennetian, L. A., Katz, L. F., Kling, J. R., Kessler, R. C., Lindau, S. T., Ludwig, J., & McDade, T. W. (2012). The long-term effects of moving to opportunity on adult health and economic self-sufficiency. Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research, 14, 109-136.