A Measure of Child Exposure to Household Material Deprivation: Empirical Evidence from the Portuguese Eu-Silc

Abstract

Although monitoring and evaluating child poverty has been recognized as important, there is little statistical information focused on children. Because the annual EU-Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) survey does not include child-specific information on an annual basis, this study proposes a measure of child exposure to household material deprivation based on this dataset. The study considers four domains of deprivation that have a direct impact on child development: housing conditions, household financial capacity, household durable goods, and environmental living conditions. Although developing a child-centered measurement of child deprivation is important, the EU-SILC considers the household as the unit of measurement. Therefore, our proposal is household-based, allowing annual monitoring of children's exposure to deprivation-an important insight for social policy purposes to tackle the problem of child poverty. Using the 2017 Portuguese sample, we applied graded response models to assess the psychometric properties of the EU-SILC items and fit separate indexes per domain and the composite index. Item selection was based on their characteristic curves and information functions. The results allow for the selection of more informative items for every domain to obtain the composite index. In general, the empirical analysis confirmed the theoretical approach for item selection. The methodology may be directly applied to the full EU dataset or to each country individually.

Employment Insecurity and Material Deprivation in Families with Children in the Post-Great Recession Period: An Analysis for Spain and Portugal

“…Following the work of Ferrão et al. ( 2021 ), we will analyse the risk of exposure of children to household material deprivation, an essential determinant of child well-being. Specifically, we focus on the cases of Spain and Portugal.…”

“…In a recent study, Ferrão et al. ( 2021 ) developed a measure of children's exposure to household material deprivation.…”

“…In terms of child poverty, we focused our analyses on the measure of children's exposure to household material deprivation proposed by Ferrão et al ( 2021 ). Although the EU-SILC provides information on specific child deprivation indicators, these indicators are only included in the waves of 2009 and 2014.…”

“…Although the EU-SILC provides information on specific child deprivation indicators, these indicators are only included in the waves of 2009 and 2014. In our dependent variable, we used the standard household material deprivation items that Ferrão et al ( 2021 ) identify as those that could have a greater impact on the well-being of children, since the information on these items is provided annually by the EU-SILC. These items indicate whether (a) the dwelling is overcrowded; (b) the dwelling is dimly lit; (c) the home cannot be kept adequately warm; (d) there are arrears on mortgage, rent payments, utility bills, purchase instalments, or other loans 1 ; (e) the household cannot afford a meal with meat, chicken, or fish every second day; (f) the household does not have a computer because it cannot afford it; (g) the household does not have a car because it cannot afford it; (h) there is noise from neighbours or the street; (i) there is pollution, grime, or other environmental problems in the area; and (j) there is crime, violence, or vandalism in the area.…”

Single-Parent Families, Educational Gradient, and Child Deprivation: The Cases of Italy and Spain

“…Scientific literature has focused especially on the economic perspective of child well-being, attempting to measure it through different dimensions of child poverty (Bradshaw, 2015;Dijkstra, 2009;Gordon & Nandy, 2012;OECD, 2013). Traditionally, family income has been commonly used as an indicator of children's economic well-being, although alternative indicators that better reflect children's quality of life, such as material deprivation, are now being used more frequently (Ferrão et al, 2021;Guio et al, 2018;Main & Bradshaw, 2012). This growing interest in child well-being has taken place gradually and in parallel with demographic, family, and socioeconomic changes that have diversified family structures and increased family inequality and precarity (McLanahan, 2004;Nieuwenhuis & Maldonado, 2018).…”