Growing up in economic hardship: The relationship between childhood social assistance recipiency and early adulthood obstacles

Miia Bask,Mika Gissler,Pasi Haapakorva,Tiina Ristikari

doi:10.1111/ijsw.12444

Abstract

Despite the vast body of literature investigating the effects of childhood economic conditions, few studies have investigated the significance of the timing and extent of economic hardship experienced during childhood. This study utilised the 1987 Finnish Birth Cohort, which includes all 59,476 children born in Finland in 1987, to explore the impact of the timing of childhood economic hardship on subsequent well‐being, with a special emphasis on gender differences during three developmental stages. We examined the relationship between the timing and extent of childhood economic hardship and the following four subsequent adolescence and early adulthood outcomes: the cohort members’ criminal convictions, early school leaving, psychiatric diagnoses, and social assistance (SA) recipiency in adulthood. We found a strong association between heavy receipt of SA during secondary school and the cohort members’ early adulthood receipt of SA. Furthermore, early childhood economic hardship seemed to be especially detrimental for girls.

Highlights

The relationship between childhood economic hardship and adult outcomes has interested social scientists over the years, and knowledge regarding the connections between childhood poverty and adult outcomes is vast
Previous research has shown that childhood poverty experiences have long-term effects on the life courses of children
We were initially interested in performing a descriptive examination of the patterns of economic hardship in the children born in this cohort who were affected by the economic crisis quite early during their life course

Summary

Introduction

The relationship between childhood economic hardship and adult outcomes has interested social scientists over the years, and knowledge regarding the connections between childhood poverty and adult outcomes is vast. In a longitudinal study, Najman et al (2009) found that growing up in poverty explains anxiety and depression in adolescence and early adulthood and that an increase in the number of poverty spells during children’s early life course is related to an increase in mental health problems. This finding was supported by a Finnish report utilising data from the 1987 birth cohort (Paananen, Ristikari, Merikukka, Rämö, & Gissler, 2012). Lewis’s (1966) perspective has been criticised, the importance of culture in the study of poverty has received recent attention, and the more nuanced, contemporary perspectives of the culture of poverty are sometimes called the new culture of poverty (e.g., Harding, 2010; Small, Harding, & Lamont, 2010)

Aims

Materials and methods

Findings

Discussion