Are Children of Welfare Recipients at a Heightened Risk of Bullying and Peer Victimization?

Cumulative risk for comorbidity of depression and anxiety in young people

BACKGROUND

Depression and anxiety often co-occur, resulting in a more severe prognosis than either condition alone. Identifying the impact of risk factors on this comorbidity is essential for guiding early interventions.

METHOD

Data from 4563 young participants in the Growing Up in New Zealand (GUiNZ) longitudinal study were analysed to identify risk factors associated with comorbid depression and anxiety. Scores for depression and anxiety symptoms were converted into binary variables using the cut-off of 10 and 60, respectively, and then combined to create the comorbidity outcome. A Cumulative Risk (CR) score was used to measure the impact of multiple risk factors from prenatal to childhood on the likelihood of this comorbidity. CR scores were further grouped into three levels of risk, and their association with comorbidity was examined using univariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses.

RESULTS

The prevalence of comorbidity at age 12 years was 8.9% (406/4563). Among young people, 14.2% (647/ 4563) had no risk factors, 64.7% (2953/4563) had one to three (low CR score level), and 21.1% (963/4563) had four or more risk factors (high CR score level). In the adjusted analyses, young people in the low and high CR levels had 2.6 times and 4.6 times higher odds, respectively, of experiencing comorbidity compared to those with no risk factors.

DISCUSSION

The risk of comorbid depression and anxiety symptoms increases with the number of risk factors experienced from prenatal to childhood. Multi-faceted interventions targeting several risk factors are recommended to improve youth mental health.

Risk and Protective Factors in Children Bullying Perpetration: Application of the Multiple Disadvantage Model

This secondary study examined bullying perpetration's relationships with social disorganization, social structural factors, social relationships, mental health, and access to health insurance and care. A sample of 30,173 children age 6 to 17 years was extracted from the 2021 National Survey of Children's Health for secondary data analysis. Logistic regression results demonstrated that these children's likelihood of bullying perpetration was positively associated with racial discrimination, child age 6 to 10 years, child age 11 to 13 years, parent education level, employed parent, neighbor support, family violence, difficulty parenting the child, child difficulty with peers, child behavioral/conduct problems, family substance use problem, and child receipt of mental health services; such likelihood also had negative associations with safe neighborhood, Black, Asian, other non-Hispanic ethnic minority, parent age, and family cohesiveness. Implications included interventions to promote awareness of racial discrimination for families as well as bully prevention programs in schools and communities.

A Scoping Review to Identify Community- and Societal-Level Strategies Evaluated from 2013 to 2023 for Their Potential Impact on Child Well-Being in the United States

There is increased recognition for solutions that address the social determinants of health (SDOHs)-the context in which families are raising children. Unfortunately, implementing solutions that address inequities in the SDOHs has proven to be difficult. Many child and family serving systems and communities do not know where to start or do not have the capacity to identify and implement upstream SDOH strategies. As such, we conducted a scoping review to assess the status of evidence connecting strategies that address the SDOHs and child well-being. A total of 29,079 records were identified using natural language processing with 341 records meeting inclusion criteria (e.g., outcomes focused on child well-being, interventions happening at a population level, and evaluations of prevention strategies in the United States). Records were coded, and the findings are presented by the SDOH domain, such as strategies that addressed economic stability (n = 94), education access and quality (n = 17), food security (n = 106), healthcare access and quality (n = 96), neighborhood and built environment (n = 7), and social and community context (n = 12). This review provides an overview of the associations between population-level SDOH strategies and the impact-good and bad-on child well-being and may be a useful resource for communities and practitioners when considering equitable solutions that promote thriving childhoods.

Investigating the Poverty-Reducing Effects of SNAP on Non-nutritional Family Outcomes: A Scoping Review

INTRODUCTION/PURPOSE

Poverty-reduction efforts that seek to support households with children and enable healthy family functioning are vital to produce positive economic, health, developmental, and upward mobility outcomes. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is an effective poverty-reduction policy for individuals and families. This study investigated the non-nutritional effects that families experience when receiving SNAP benefits.

METHODS

We conducted a scoping review using the PRISMA Guidelines and strategic search terms across seven databases from 01 January 2008 to 01 February 2023 (n=2456). Data extraction involved two researchers performing title-abstract reviews. Full-text articles were assessed for eligibility (n=103). Forty articles were included for data retrieval.

RESULTS

SNAP positively impacts family health across the five categories of the Family Stress Model (Healthcare utilization for children and parents, Familial allocation of resources, Impact on child development and behavior, Mental health, and Abuse or neglect).

DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION

SNAP is a highly effective program with growing evidence that it positively impacts family health and alleviates poverty. Four priority policy actions are discussed to overcome the unintentional barriers for SNAP: distributing benefits more than once a month; increasing SNAP benefits for recipients; softening the abrupt end of benefits when wages increase; and coordinating SNAP eligibility and enrollment with other programs.

Bullying and Victimization in Native and Immigrant Very-Low-Income Adolescents in Italy: Disentangling the Roles of Peer Acceptance and Friendship

Background

Very-low-income students are a population at a high risk of perpetrating and suffering bullying at school, and at the same time the peer group at school is often one of the few sources of support for these minors.

Objective

This two-wave study is aimed to disambiguate the two different roles of peer acceptance and friendship on bullying and victimization in very-low-income adolescents, exploring the possible differential role of immigrant background.

Method

An online survey was administered to 249 early to late adolescents living below the poverty threshold (Mage = 12.76; SDage = 2.34; 41.8% girls; 19.3% immigrants). A multivariate regression model with multi-group analyses was applied.

Results

Our results indicated that peer friendship was a protective factor against bullying as well as victimization, whilst peer acceptance was not protective. Only for natives (but not for immigrants), a high level of peer acceptance was a risk factor for bullying, and low school achievement was a risk factor for victimization. The persistence of victimization over time was significantly stronger for immigrants than for natives.

Conclusions

The study provides new insights for the unique protective role of classmates’ friendship in natives and immigrants, while acceptance appeared to be less relevant. Research and applied implications are discussed.