Economic Resources and Trajectories of Children's Mental Health over the Early Life Course

• In Event: 277 - Regular Session. Advancing Research on Mental Health Disparities

Abstract

Although the timing, duration, and sequencing of economic disadvantage are relevant to the experience of poverty and children’s mental health, to date, few studies consider these temporal patterns simultaneously. This study uses data from the Child Supplement of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (n=2,680) to assess the extent to which stability and change in family income is associated with children’s trajectories of depression/anxiety and antisocial behavior from age 4 to 14. We empirically construct 6 income categories that represent children with comparable profiles of economic resources over time: increasing, decreasing, fluctuating, and stability across low-, medium-, and high-income families. Incorporating these income categories in multiple group latent growth curve models provides an important opportunity to understand how they initiate and shape children’s mental health trajectories. Results reveal significant disparities in antisocial behavior and depression/anxiety at age 4 and over time across the income categories, with the most pronounced difference occurring between children in the persistently low- and high-income categories. In addition, whereas children exposed to persistently low and medium levels of income demonstrate a modest increase in antisocial behavior in early adolescence, children with persistently high levels of income exhibit a steady decline in problem behaviors across the early life course.

Authors

• Jinette Comeau, Western University

• William R. Avison, Western University

• Andrea E. Willson, University of Western Ontario