Early Childhood Hardship and Adolescent Mental Health

• In Event: 4167 - Section on Children and Youth Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Children & Youth Roundtable 1: Emotional Health

Abstract

Mental health during adolescence has important implications for both current and future well-being. While a link exists between income poverty and mental health, little is known about how experiencing material hardship, or insecurity of food, housing, utilities, and medical care, throughout early childhood affects the mental health of youth. This article uses poisson regressions to examine the longitudinal effect of material hardship experienced at different stages of childhood on adolescent depression and anxiety outcomes at age 15, controlling for family processes and sociodemographic factors. Using longitudinal panel data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (n=3,437), we find that material hardship throughout childhood is significantly and positively correlated with the experience of anxiety and depression at age 15. Notably, experiences of hardship throughout elementary school have particularly strong effects on mental health in adolescence. Our research contributes to the existing literature in important ways. First, the results of the present study provide clarity to prior research on the relationship between material hardship and mental health outcomes in adolescents. Our use of material hardship measures allows us to more accurately capture economic deprivation in households than considering poverty alone. Further, our focus on adolescent mental health outcomes addresses existing gaps in the literature on adolescent mental health related to the sensitive periods in childhood when hardship may have the strongest impact on future mental health.

Authors

• Chrisse Edmunds, Ohio State University

• Melissa Alcaraz, Ohio State University