Experiences of poverty-related family risk and internalizing problems in childhood: The mediating role of hope

Abstract

This longitudinal study examined whether poverty-related family risk groups with varying family resource, parental, and relational risks differed in their children's internalizing problems, and whether children's hope mediated this relationship. A sample of 798 children from poor families (N = 798, Mage = 11.76, SD = 2.56) was obtained from six township public schools in China. Four groups were identified: education and involvement risk group, high risk group, parenting risk group, and family resource risk group. All groups differed in terms of internalizing problems. Compared to the education and involvement risk group, children in the high risk and parenting risk groups demonstrated higher internalizing problems, which was explained by their lower level of hope. These findings highlight that children from poor families are affected by different risk combinations, and hope may be a possible mechanism linking specific risk combinations with children's internalizing problems. These findings have implications for targeted intervention strategies.