National Survey of Parents Identifies Barriers to Family Well-Being

全国父母调查识别家庭幸福感的障碍

A new survey shows households with children under age 18 are experiencing economic strain, with parents suffering from depression, burnout and hopelessness.

一项新的调查显示，有18岁以下儿童的家庭正在经历经济压力，父母患有抑郁、倦怠和绝望。

Capita launched the new national survey, Quarterly Insights from American Families, in partnership with YouGov. The survey will be conducted quarterly.

楷博（Capita）推出了新的全国性调查《美国家庭季度洞察》。与YouGov合作开展。该调查将每季度进行一次。

“This is the baseline,” said Elliot Haspel, a senior fellow with Capita. “We really want to be able to ask questions that serve as an early warning system for family well-being.”

“这是基准线，”Capita的高级研究员埃利奥特·哈斯佩尔说道，“我们真正希望提出一些问题，作为家庭福祉的早期预警系统。”

Haspel said what stood out to him from the survey is “how much parents are facing precarity right now… I think that it tells us that families are really struggling and they really need support.”

哈斯佩尔表示，调查中让他印象最深刻的是“家长们目前正面临多大的不确定性……我认为这告诉我们家庭正面临真正的困境，他们确实需要支持。

The questions

问题

YouGov, on behalf of Capita, surveyed 1,000 parents with children under age 18 between Feb. 2 and Feb. 16, 2026. North Carolina is one of four states that were oversampled in the survey, meaning the results are especially representative of those facing parents in those states. (The others are Colorado, Michigan and New Jersey.)

YouGov 受 Capita 委托，于 2026 年 2 月 2 日至 2 月 16 日对 1000 名有 18 岁以下子女的家长进行了调查。北卡罗来纳州是调查中被过度抽样的四个州之一，这意味着结果特别能代表这些州父母所面临的情况。（其他三个州是科罗拉多州、密歇根州和新泽西州。）

The survey consists of 69 questions (available here) designed to track families across three dimensions: stability, predictability, and quality of life. Capita defines the question underlying each dimension:

该调查包含69个问题（可在此处获取），旨在从三个维度追踪家庭状况：稳定性、可预测性和生活质量。Capita定义了每个维度背后的问题：

Stability: Can families meet basic needs without falling into crisis?

稳定性：家庭能否在不陷入危机的情况下满足基本需求？

Predictability: Can they plan their lives without constant disruption?

可预测性：他们能否在没有持续干扰的情况下规划自己的生活？

Quality of life: Do they have the time, health, and connection to flourish, not just survive?

生活质量：他们是否有时间、健康和连接来蓬勃发展，而不仅仅是生存？

Haspel explained that this survey is meant to fill the gap between surveys such as RAPID, which focuses on parents and caregivers of young children, and surveys of all Americans more broadly.

哈斯佩尔解释说，这项调查旨在填补RAPID等调查之间的空白，重点关注幼儿的父母和照料者，并对更广泛的美国民众进行调查。

He said two-thirds of the survey questions will remain the same each time, and another third will shift based on Capita’s specific areas of interest at a given moment.

他表示，每次调查中三分之二的问题将保持不变，另外三分之一的问题会根据Capita当时的特定兴趣领域进行调整。

Haspel pointed out that for all Americans, life can be stressful, and parenting in particular will always come with its own stressors.

哈斯佩尔指出，对所有美国人来说，生活都可能充满压力，而育儿尤其会伴随着其自身的压力源。

“The issue is, what are the artificial, unnecessary stressors that we put on families as a result of policy choices?” Haspel said.

哈斯佩尔说：“问题在于，由于政策选择，我们给家庭带来了哪些人为的、不必要的压力？”

The answers

答案

One of the main findings from the survey revolves around the economic pressure that families are facing. As the Capita report puts it: “Multiple indicators point to significant and widespread financial stress.”

调查的主要发现之一是家庭面临的经济压力。正如《资本报告》所指出的：“多个指标表明存在广泛而严重的财务压力。”

Here are some of those indicators:

以下是其中一些指标：

More than a third were worried at some point in the last year that food would run out before they had money to buy more — and almost as many actually had that happen.

去年一年中，超过三分之一的人曾在某个时候担心食物会在他们有钱购买更多之前耗尽——几乎有同样多的人真的经历了这种情况。

One in 5 reported skipping out on needed medical care due to costs in the last year, and 15 percent skipped filling a prescription for the same reason.

过去一年中，每5人就有1人因费用问题而未接受所需的医疗护理，15%的人因同样原因未按处方取药。

In the last three months, 20 percent of households reported a member losing a job or having their hours cut.

在过去的三个月里，20%的家庭表示家庭成员失去了工作或者工作时间被缩短。

In the last month, 25 percent of respondents said they had a shift canceled, shortened, or extended with less than 24 hours’ notice. The same percentage were required to be “on call” — available without guaranteed hours — during that period.

上个月，25%的受访者表示，他们收到的轮班取消、缩短或延长的通知时间不足24小时。同一比例的受访者在该期间被要求“待命”——即随时待命但没有保证的工作时长。

Financial stress can be a leading driver of “toxic stress.” This compounding, long-term stress can do permanent damage to the health of parents and the development of children — and can sometimes lead to adverse childhood experiences.

经济压力可能是“毒性压力”的主要诱因。这种累积的长期压力会对父母的健康和儿童的发展造成永久性损害，有时还可能导致不良童年经历。

Evidence shows that safe, stable and nurturing relationships with adults can protect children from the negative outcomes of adverse childhood experiences and toxic stress. But the survey suggests most parents are struggling to maintain that kind of relationship with their children.

研究表明，与成年人建立安全、稳定且充满关爱的关系，能够保护儿童免受不良童年经历和有毒压力带来的负面影响。但调查显示，大多数父母在与子女维持这种关系方面存在困难。

Two-thirds of respondents said that in the last month, stress made it hard to be as patient with their children as they wanted to be. And half of parents reported feeling down, depressed or hopeless in the last two weeks.

三分之二的受访者表示，上个月压力使他们难以像自己希望的那样对孩子保持耐心。一半的父母报告称，在过去两周内感到情绪低落、抑郁或绝望。

There are several questions in the survey that pertain specifically to work and child care. Here are some related findings:

调查中有几个问题专门涉及工作和育儿。以下是一些相关发现：

More than 70 percent of respondents describe their job as family friendly.

超过70%的受访者描述他们的工作为家庭友好型。

Almost two-thirds said family life is a top priority, and they want their job to fit around it.

近三分之二的人表示家庭生活是首要优先事项，他们希望工作能围绕家庭生活安排。

In the last year, 27 percent of respondents missed work or lost pay because of child care problems.

在过去一年中，27%的受访者因育儿问题而缺勤或收入减少。

One in 5 parents regularly supervise their children while working.

每5位家长中就有1位在工作时定期监督孩子。

Despite the challenges presented by scheduling, about 70 percent of parents report being satisfied with their existing child care situation, whether they have children who are school age or below. And 81 percent said their communities are welcoming to families with minor children.

尽管日程安排存在诸多挑战，约70%的父母表示对现有的育儿状况感到满意，无论他们的孩子是学龄儿童还是学龄前儿童。81%的人表示他们的社区对有未成年子女的家庭持欢迎态度。

But 43 percent said their work schedules made it hard to keep consistent routines for their children, and that matters.

但43%的人表示，他们的工作时间安排使得很难为孩子保持一致的日常作息，而这确实很重要。

“That lack of control over one’s schedule contributes to lack of control over one’s life more broadly, and it can affect parenting relationships,” Haspel said.

哈斯佩尔表示，对日程安排缺乏控制会更广泛地导致对生活的整体失控，并可能影响亲子关系。

As the Capita report explains:

正如Capita报告所解释的：

“Job quality or schedule quality is often thought of as labor policy, it’s not thought of as a family policy,” Haspel said. “If you care about having strong, healthy families, this is a contributing factor.”

哈斯佩尔表示：‘工作质量或日程安排质量通常被视为劳动政策，而非家庭政策。如果你关心拥有强大健康的家庭，这就是一个促成因素。’

The meaning

意义在于

While this first set of survey results represents the baseline of what Capita plans to measure over time, there are still significant takeaways from this early warning system.

虽然这一组初步调查结果代表了Capita计划长期衡量的基准，但这个早期预警系统仍能带来重要的启示。

“A lot of what we’ve been hearing around the issues with affordability, the issues with being able to navigate all the extra challenges of parenting in 2020s America is showing up in family well-being,” Haspel said.

哈斯佩尔表示：“我们在听闻关于可负担性问题以及2020年代美国为人父母所面临的诸多额外挑战时，这些问题正体现在家庭福祉上。”

Here’s what Capita has to say about the initial survey results:

这是汇丰集团对初步调查结果的评论：

The report goes on to point out that policies supporting the well-being of children and families are most likely to succeed if they address multiple aspects of family hardship and reach all families who are affected.

报告进一步指出，支持儿童和家庭福祉的政策若要最有可能取得成功，就必须解决家庭面临的多个困难方面，并覆盖所有受影响的家庭。