Early childhood economic disadvantage and the health of Hispanic children

Abstract

This research provides a longitudinal view of early childhood economic deprivation and its associations with health among young Hispanic children born in the United States. Of additional interest is whether economic deprivation is associated with child health similarly across all Hispanic children or whether associations differ by maternal nativity or country of origin. Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing data and multinomial logistic regression are used to estimate the effects of total years in poverty, material hardship, and lack of health insurance on Hispanic children’s health status at age 5 and change in health status between ages 1 and 5. Results show that multiple measures of early childhood economic deprivation have additive negative associations with Hispanic child health, and that living more years in poverty is associated with declining health status among young Hispanic children. Interaction effects indicate that early childhood poverty has stronger associations with lower age 5 health status and declining health between ages 1 and 5 for children with foreign-born Hispanic mothers than for those with native-born Hispanic mothers. No differences were found in the associations between economic deprivation and child health by maternal country of origin. These results suggest an important role of economic resources for protecting Hispanic child health, and that poor Hispanic children with immigrant mothers may be at particularly high risk of developing health problems as they move out of infancy and into early childhood.

Racial-ethnic Disparities in Inflammation: Evidence of Weathering in Childhood?

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Early childhood WIC participation, cognitive development and academic achievement

“…Over 16 million, or about 22% of U.S. children, live in poverty, with an additional 30 million children living just above the poverty line—close to 50% of U.S. children and youth live in poor or low-income families, and several decades of research reveal the negative effects of early childhood economic disadvantage on skill development, health and socioeconomic attainment (Duncan, Ziol-Guest and Kalil 2010; Finch 2003; Reiss 2013; Schmeer 2012). Poverty and food insecurity (uncertainty about the financial ability to provide the next meal) go hand in hand and, for children in economically disadvantaged and food-insecure households, nutritional policy is part of the social safety net to protect against the negative effects of hunger.…”

Child access to the nutritional safety net during and after the Great Recession: The case of WIC

“…Children are especially vulnerable during times of economic insecurity—not only are they more likely to live in poverty than adults, but families also have greater difficulty in investing in children’s development when struggling to meet basic needs (Addy, Engelhardt, and Skinner 2013; Brooks-Gunn, Schneider, and Waldfogel 2013). The effects of low economic status are striking, with several decades of research revealing the negative effects of childhood economic disadvantage on children’s cognitive development and health (Finch 2003; Guo and Harris 2000; Reiss 2013; Schmeer 2012; Strully, Rehkopf, and Xuan 2010). …”