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Poverty dynamics and parental mental health: Determinants of childhood mental health in the UK

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  • Fitzsimons, Emla
  • Goodman, Alissa
  • Kelly, Elaine
  • Smith, James P.

Abstract

Using data from the British Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), an ongoing longitudinal study of a cohort of 18,827 children born in the UK in 2000–2001, we investigate important correlates of mental health issues during childhood. MCS respondents were sampled at birth, at age 9 months, and then when they were 3, 5, 7 and 11 years old. Each sweep contains detailed information on the family's SES, parenting activities, developmental indicators, parental relationship status, and indicators of parental mental health. The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and the related Rutter scale were used to identify behavioral and emotional problems in children. In this paper, childhood problems are separated into four domains: hyperactivity, emotional symptoms, conduct problems, and peer problems. We focus on two aspects of this relationship at ages 5 and 11–the role of temporary and persistent poverty and the role of temporary and persistent mental health problems of mothers and fathers. At ages 11 and 5, without other controls in the model, persistent and transitory poverty have strong estimated associations with all four domains, with somewhat stronger estimated effects for persistent poverty. After a set of controls are added, we document that both persistent levels of poverty and transitions into poverty are strongly associated with levels of and transitions into childhood mental health problems. Similarly, sustained levels and transitions into mothers' mental health problems are strongly associated with levels and transitions into children's mental health problems. This is much less so for fathers.

Suggested Citation

  • Fitzsimons, Emla & Goodman, Alissa & Kelly, Elaine & Smith, James P., 2017. "Poverty dynamics and parental mental health: Determinants of childhood mental health in the UK," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 43-51.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:175:y:2017:i:c:p:43-51
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.12.040
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    Cited by:

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    2. Fitzsimons, Emla & Villadsen, Aase, 2019. "Father departure and children's mental health: How does timing matter?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 222(C), pages 349-358.
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    4. Rasheda Khanam & Son Nghiem & Maisha Rahman, 2020. "The income gradient and child mental health in Australia: does it vary by assessors?," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 21(1), pages 19-36, February.
    5. Sun, Sicong & Chiang, Chien-jen & Hudson, Darrell L., 2024. "Racial/Ethnic differences in the association between parental wealth and child behavior problems," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    6. Xavier Bartoll-Roca & Gemma Serral Cano & Mònica Cortés Albaladejo & Katherine Pérez, 2024. "Household Economic Hardship and Child Mental Health: The Mediating Role of Parents’ Mental Distress in a Southern European City," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 175(1), pages 89-107, October.
    7. Cooper, Kerris & Stewart, Kitty, 2020. "Does household income affect children’s outcomes? A systematic review of the evidence," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 107029, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    8. Louise Black & Margarita Panayiotou & Neil Humphrey, 2019. "The dimensionality and latent structure of mental health difficulties and wellbeing in early adolescence," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(2), pages 1-24, February.
    9. Cooper, Kerris & Stewart, Kitty, 2017. "Does Money Affect Children’s Outcomes? An update," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 103494, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    10. Zélia Muggli & Thierry Mertens & Silva -Sá & Regina Amado & Ana L. Teixeira & Dora Vaz & Maria Rosário O. Martins, 2021. "Migration as a Determinant in the Development of Children Emotional and Behavior Problems: A Quantitative Study for Lisbon Region, Portugal," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-14, January.
    11. Samuel C. M. Faulconer & M. Rachél Hveem & Mikaela J. Dufur, 2022. "Gendered Associations between Single Parenthood and Child Behavior Problems in the United Kingdom," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-16, December.
    12. Fledderjohann, Jasmine & Erlam, Jayne & Knowles, Bran & Broadhurst, Karen, 2021. "Mental health and care needs of British children and young people aged 6–17," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    13. M. Rachél Hveem & Samuel C. M. Faulconer & Mikaela J. Dufur, 2022. "Comparing Children’s Behavior Problems in Biological Married, Biological Cohabitating, and Stepmother Families in the UK," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-18, December.
    14. Till Kaiser & Jianghong Li & Matthias Pollmann-Schult & Anne Y. Song, 2017. "Poverty and Child Behavioral Problems: The Mediating Role of Parenting and Parental Well-Being," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-10, August.
    15. Kerris Cooper & Kitty Stewart, 2017. "Does Money Affect Children's Outcomes? An update," CASE Papers /203, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
    16. Chang, Ling-Yin & Chiang, Tung-liang, 2020. "Association between socioeconomic status and the trajectory of insufficient sleep: Maternal emotional support as a moderator," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 261(C).
    17. Kerris Cooper & Kitty Stewart, 2021. "Does Household Income Affect children’s Outcomes? A Systematic Review of the Evidence," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 14(3), pages 981-1005, June.
    18. Sarah E. Johnson & David Lawrence & Francisco Perales & Janeen Baxter & Stephen R. Zubrick, 2019. "Poverty, Parental Mental Health and Child/Adolescent Mental Disorders: Findings from a National Australian Survey," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 12(3), pages 963-988, June.
    19. Luca Merlo & Lea Petrella & Nikos Tzavidis, 2022. "Quantile mixed hidden Markov models for multivariate longitudinal data: An application to children's Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire scores," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series C, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 71(2), pages 417-448, March.
    20. Kaiser, Till & Li, Jianghong & Pollmann-Schult, Matthias & Song, Anne Y., 2017. "Poverty and child behavioral problems: the mediating role of parenting and parental well-being," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 14(9), pages 1-1.

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