A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Growing Up in the Great Recession: The Effects of Three Dimensions of Economic Well-being on Child Behavioral Difficulties from Ages 3 to 17
Authors: Gibbons Ryan Alberto, Sprong Stefanie, Chzhen Yekaterina
Publication year: 2023
Journal: Journal of Youth and Adolescence
Journal name in source: Journal of youth and adolescence
Journal acronym: J Youth Adolesc
Volume: 52
Issue: 5
First page : 1024
Last page: 1038
ISSN: 0047-2891
eISSN: 1573-6601
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-022-01721-2
Abstract
Empirical research into the relationship between economic well-being and child outcomes has been limited by its cross-sectional nature, or its narrow focus on predominantly financial aspects of economic well-being. This article attempts to overcome these shortcomings by using data from the Growing Up in Ireland Cohort98 (age: 9-17; N = 5,748; female: 51.4%) and Cohort08 studies (age: 3-9 years; N = 7,208; female: 49.8%), which cover a period of large macroeconomic fluctuation (2007-2017). This fluctuation makes a robust fixed effects analysis feasible, allowing for economic well-being effects to be isolated by controlling for all time-invariant confounders. The article uses three different measures of economic well-being (subjective financial strain, material deprivation, income) to explore how distinct forms of economic well-being affect child behavior. The results suggest that household income is not related to behavioral difficulties, whereas subjective financial strain is predictive of externalized behavioral difficulties in adolescent boys. Material deprivation is predictive of externalized behavioral difficulties in adolescent boys and internalized behavioral difficulties in younger boys, but has no effect on girls' behavioral outcomes. The findings indicate that the relationship between economic well-being and child behavioral outcomes is complex, and requires multi-dimensional measures of economic well-being to accurately ascertain the different effects.
Empirical research into the relationship between economic well-being and child outcomes has been limited by its cross-sectional nature, or its narrow focus on predominantly financial aspects of economic well-being. This article attempts to overcome these shortcomings by using data from the Growing Up in Ireland Cohort98 (age: 9-17; N = 5,748; female: 51.4%) and Cohort08 studies (age: 3-9 years; N = 7,208; female: 49.8%), which cover a period of large macroeconomic fluctuation (2007-2017). This fluctuation makes a robust fixed effects analysis feasible, allowing for economic well-being effects to be isolated by controlling for all time-invariant confounders. The article uses three different measures of economic well-being (subjective financial strain, material deprivation, income) to explore how distinct forms of economic well-being affect child behavior. The results suggest that household income is not related to behavioral difficulties, whereas subjective financial strain is predictive of externalized behavioral difficulties in adolescent boys. Material deprivation is predictive of externalized behavioral difficulties in adolescent boys and internalized behavioral difficulties in younger boys, but has no effect on girls' behavioral outcomes. The findings indicate that the relationship between economic well-being and child behavioral outcomes is complex, and requires multi-dimensional measures of economic well-being to accurately ascertain the different effects.
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