Is Housing Hardship Associated with Increased Adolescent Delinquent Behaviors?

Household energy poverty and trajectories of emotional and behavioural difficulties in children and adolescents: findings from two prospective cohort studies

PURPOSE

The aim of this study is to examine the association between household energy poverty (EP) and trajectories of emotional and behavioural difficulties during childhood.

METHODS

The Growing up in Ireland study is two nationally representative prospective cohorts of children. The Infant Cohort (n = 11,134) were recruited at age 9 months (9 m) and followed up at 3, 5, 7 and 9 years (y). The Child Cohort (n = 8,538) were recruited at age 9 y and followed up at 13 y and 17/18 y. EP was a composite of two relative measures of EP. Emotional and behavioural difficulties were repeatedly measured using the strengths and difficulties questionnaire (SDQ). Linear spline multilevel models were used, adjusted for confounders to examine the association between (1) EP (9 m or 3 y) and trajectories of emotional and behavioural difficulties from 3 to 9 y in the Infant Cohort and (2) EP at 9 y and the same trajectories from 9 to 18 y in the Child Cohort.

RESULTS

In adjusted analyses, EP at 9 m or 3 y of age was associated with higher total difficulties score at 3 y (0.66, 95% CI 0.41, 0.91) and 5 y (0.77, 95% CI 0.48, 1.05) but not at 7 y or 9 y. EP at 9 y was associated with higher total difficulties score at 9 y (1.73, 95% CI 1.28, 2.18), with this difference reducing over time leading to 0.68 (95% CI 0.19, 1.17) at 17/18 y.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study demonstrates a potential association between early life EP and emotional and behavioural difficulties that may be transient and attenuate over time during childhood. Further studies are required to replicate these findings and to better understand if these associations are causal.

Making a way out of no way: The importance of improving financial instability among African American kinship care families

Close attention should be given to the increased reliance on kinship care to provide out-of-home care for vulnerable children and youth because although these families have various strengths, they also frequently face financial instability and experience material hardship. Living in poverty and experiencing material hardship are linked to an array of negative outcomes, including physical and mental health problems, elevated parental stress, and children's academic difficulties and social and behavioral problems. This study examined African American families who are providing informal kinship care with the aim of developing a nuanced understanding of the financial characteristics, challenges, and coping strategies of these families. Data for this study were obtained from two sources: (1) an exploratory sequential mixed-method pilot study and (2) the National Financial Capability Study. It was found that most caregivers in the pilot reported their family resources were only seldom or sometimes adequate to cover their household's basic needs. Some caregivers reported being unaware of public benefits and community resources available for kinship care families, and they had difficulties navigating the system. Additionally, family members' love and support for each other helped them to cope with financial instability. Using a nationally representative dataset, predicted probabilities for three types of financial instability were higher among households with demographic characteristics of kinship care families including difficulty covering expenses, having income that exceeds expenses, and having emergency savings. Implications for practice, policy, and future research are discussed.

Acute care utilization and housing hardships in American children

Millions of families in the United States are economically vulnerable: one shock can lead to hardship. We use data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to examine the association between acute healthcare utilization - emergency room visits or hospitalizations - and subsequent housing hardships, such as being evicted for financial reasons. Further, we explore whether this association differs by who in the family utilized the care and whether perceived social support protects against hardship when these experiences occur. Using lagged dependent variable regression models, we find that families that visited the emergency room or were hospitalized, regardless if it was a child or parent with this experience, were five percentage points more likely to experience any housing hardship than families that did not use acute care. Among families in which a child utilized acute care, perceived social support buffered the impact of using acute care. That perceived social support is associated with a lower likelihood of housing hardship among families that experienced acute care utilization for a child, but not parent, suggests that social support may be able to offset the challenges arising from children's, but not adults', use of acute care. In the face of economic precarity, informal safety nets may be insufficient to reduce the impact of acute care utilization on housing hardships.