Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Family Wellbeing during COVID-19: A New Phenomenon or More of the Same?

• In Event: Vulnerable Children and Families in COVID-19: Risks and Resilience

Abstract

Since COVID-19 hit, Black, Hispanic/Latinx, and Native American families have faced greater food insecurity (Schanzenbach & Pitts, 2020), unemployment (Gould et al., 2020), and income loss (Rapid EC Project Team, 2020) than White families, all of which have serious implications for children’s health and development (Johnson & Markowitz, 2018; Noble, 2017). Yet because racial and ethnic disparities existed before COVID-19, the present study asks whether the disparities evident during the pandemic reflect pre-existing differences or a new phenomenon in which Black, Hispanic/Latinx, and Native American families face even greater relative disadvantage than before. To the extent that this disadvantage has grown, we ask whether it can be explained by pre-existing differences in income, education, and household size.

Using data from the Tulsa School Experiences and Early Development Study, a longitudinal study of children from low-income families, we examined rates of food insecurity, income loss, and maternal employment when children were in kindergarten (2018-2019), 1st grade before COVID-19 (2019-2020), and 1st grade during COVID-19 (spring/summer 2020). Rates are compared across the families of Black (n=115), Hispanic/Latinx (n=275), Native American (n=34), and White (n=100) children.

Trends for each measure of hardship by race/ethnicity over time appear in Figure 1. Race/ethnic differences in food insecurity were not statistically significant until COVID-19, when the increase in prevalence for Hispanics/Latinx exceeded that of Black and Native American families and the prevalence for White families declined. Similarly, race/ethnic disparities in income loss became statistically significant only during COVID-19, when increases in prevalence among Hispanic/Latinx and Native American families exceeded those of Black and White families. However, race/ethnic differences in maternal employment were never significant, although all groups experienced declines during COVID-19.

Logistic regression models revealed that during COVID-19, Hispanic/Latinx families had more than four times the odds of being food insecure compared to White families (OR=4.13, p<.001), and Native American families had nearly three times the odds compared to White families (OR=2.75, p<.05). The odds remained similarly high for both groups after controlling for income, household size, and parental education. Hispanic/Latinx families also had nearly twice the odds of losing income during COVID-19 compared to White families (OR=1.97, p<.05), which increased slightly after controlling for demographics.

Findings suggest that even in a low-income sample, COVID-19 exacerbated racial/ethnic inequities in food insecurity and income loss but not maternal employment, placing Hispanic/Latinx and Native American families at greater disadvantage relative to White families. This finding is consistent with data showing that Hispanic/Latinx and Native American individuals in Oklahoma have had disproportionately high rates of COVID-19 infection and mortality (The COVID Tracking Project, 2020). Further, the fact that their financial hardships are not attributable to associated risk factors suggests that these groups are at unique risk. Native American families may have faced more difficulty accessing supports due to delays in federal stimulus funding to tribes, and Hispanic/Latinx families may have been less likely to receive stimulus checks from the federal government because of the citizenship or documentation status of some family members.

Group Authors

The Tulsa SEED Study Team

Authors

• Anne Partika, Georgetown University
  Presenting Author

• Anne Martin, Georgetown University
  Non-Presenting Author