Disadvantaged Families Research Articles

Validation of the Engagement, Perseverance, Optimism, Connectedness, and Happiness Measure in Adolescents from Multistressed Families: Using First- and Second-Order Confirmatory Factor Analysis Models

The Engagement, Perseverance, Optimism, Connectedness, and Happiness (EPOCH) Measure of Adolescent Well-Being (Kern, M. L., Benson, L., Steinberg, E. A., and Steinberg, L. [2016]. The EPOCH measure of adolescent well-being. Psychological Assessment, 28, 586-597) is a recently developed and validated scale to assess adolescent well-being and positive functioning. This measure includes five dimensions of developmental assets (i.e., EPOCH) that can foster adolescents’ well-being, physical health, and other social-emotional outcomes. Prior studies have tested measure equivalence across demographic, cultural, and language groups. The current study examined the validity of the EPOCH measure, using a national sample of adolescents from socioeconomically disadvantaged families ( n = 3444) in the United States. Consistent with theoretical expectations, confirmatory factor analyses supported the hypothesized first-order and second-order factor structure. The overall EPOCH scale and its subscales were also associated as expected with adolescents’ depression, anxiety, behavior problems, delinquency, school connectedness, and social skills. Findings provide empirical support for the EPOCH and its underlying multidimensional theory of adolescent well-being. Unexpectedly, the dimension of engagement was not found to be highly related to other dimensions, and its items had low factor loadings on the EPOCH construct in the current data. Implications of the study are described and directions for future research discussed.

Gun Violence Exposure and Experiences of Depression Among Mothers.

Gun violence is a uniquely prevalent issue in the USA that disproportionately affects disadvantaged families already at risk of health disparities. Despite the traumatic nature of witnessing gun violence, we have little knowledge of whether exposure to local gun violence is associated with higher risks of depression among mothers, whose symptoms of depression are likely to have spillover effects for kin. We examined the association between exposure to gun violence in mothers’ neighborhoods and their experiences of depression using longitudinal Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study data (n = 4587) in tandem with lagged outcome and fixed effect models. We find that mothers who witness at least one shooting in their neighborhoods or local communities exhibit more symptoms of depression and are 32–60% more likely to meet criteria for depression than mothers who do not witness a shooting. We also find that witnessing a shooting is associated with increases in parental aggravation, which is partially mediated by maternal depression. Given this and other previously documented spillover effects of mothers’ mental health on children and family members, these findings have important implications for mothers’ wellbeing and their kin. Further, we observe substantial racial and socioeconomic disparities in exposure to gun violence, suggesting that gun violence may heighten health disparities and drawing attention to the importance of providing mental health resources in communities that are most affected by gun violence.

Psychological distress, self-harm and attempted suicide in UK 17-year olds: prevalence and sociodemographic inequalities.

In a large (n = 10 103), nationally representative sample of 17-year-olds 16.1% had experienced high psychological distress in the past 30 days, 24.1% had self-harmed in the previous 12 months and 7.4% had ever attempted suicide. Females, White adolescents, sexual minorities and those from more socioeconomically disadvantaged families had worse mental health outcomes; with the exceptions of no detected differences in attempted suicide by ethnicity and in self-harm by socioeconomic position. Findings include a narrower gender gap in self-harm at age 17 (males 20.1%, females 28.2%) compared with at age 14 (males 8.5%; females 22.8%) and 2-4 times higher prevalence in sexual minority adolescents (39.3% high distress, 55.8% self-harmed, 21.7% attempted suicide compared with 13.4%, 20.5% and 5.8%, respectively, in heterosexual adolescents).

The Consumption, Income, and Well-Being of Single Mother Headed Families 25 Years After Welfare Reform

We investigate how material well-being has changed over time for single mother headed families—the primary group affected by welfare reform and other policy changes of the 1990s. We focus on consumption as well as other indicators including components of consumption, measures of housing quality, and health insurance coverage. The results provide strong evidence that the material circumstances of single mothers improved in the decades following welfare reform. The consumption of the most disadvantaged single mother headed families—those with low consumption or low education—rose noticeably over time and at a faster rate than for those in comparison groups. Institutional subscribers to the NBER working paper series, and residents of developing countries may download this paper without additional charge at www.nber.org.

Do Financial Incentives Aimed at Decreasing Interhousehold Inequality Increase Intrahousehold Inequality?

Research has shown that giving disadvantaged families financial incentives to invest in their children could decrease socioeconomic inequality by enhancing human capital formation. Yet, within the household how are such gains achieved? We use a field experiment to investigate how parents allocate time when they receive financial incentives. We find that incentives increase investment in the target child. But, parents achieve these gains by substituting away from time spent with the child’s sibling(s). An unintended consequence is that intrahousehold inequality increases and aggregate gains from the program are overstated when focusing only on target children.

Особенности социализированности несовершеннолетних из неблагополучных семей

The article provides data on socialization levels of risk group minors from socially disadvantaged families. 66 adolescents (studying in general-education schools in Arkhangelsk) have been examined, they are raised both in well-to-do and problem families. It has been established that the predominant type of a socially disadvantaged family is a conflict-ridden one. Teenagers raised in problem families are characterized by low level of their social identities (interpersonal and group-related) on the cognitive, affective and behavioral levels. They possess lowered adaptive abilities and are characterized by lack of harmony in decision-making due to constant failures in reaching their goals; such teenagers have distorted value orientations, they don't strive to maintain or preserve happy, problem-free and close relationships, they don’t contain or avert actions (or urges and tendencies towards actions) which could harm others or do not meet social expectations.

Скрытая дилемма российской социально-экономической политики стимулирования рождаемости

The demographic policy of the Russian government, which aims to ‘preserve and increase the people’, combines two qualitatively different approaches to understanding the problem of population decline. Most often, the emphasis is placed on stimulating fertility, although there is also an understanding that it is important to raise the quality of their upbringing and education. While the focus on increasing human capital is economically justified, the desire to increase the birth rate has no such justification. The theory of demographic transition proves that stimulating the birth rate is an erroneous goal. The ‘cash for babies’ policy applied in Russia is based on the conviction that children, even those born in poor and dysfunctional families, inevitably ‘pass’ through the education system and become qualified workers. On the basis of this stereotype, the system of pro-natalist incentives is built in such a way that, in accordance with the law of diminishing marginal utility, it creates stronger incentives for poorer families and is therefore actually aimed at increasing the birth rate primarily in the poor strata, having little effect on middle-class families. Meanwhile, modern theories of social capital and labor market signals prove the limited ability of schools and universities to play the role of social elevators. International studies (in particular, in the USA) shows that state benefits for children of poor and disadvantaged families contribute to the reproduction of a culture of poverty. Therefore, when the Russian authorities provide assistance primarily to low-income and single-parent families with children, they create problems for the future. The study proposes to replace the current policy based on the principle ‘more babies but cheaper’ with a policy aimed at middle-class families and based on the principle ‘less is more’. Thus, an orientation towards stimulating population growth is replaced by an orientation towards fostering human capital.

Sociodemographic Disadvantage, Living With a Smoker, and Health Risk Behaviors in Middle-Aged and Older Women

Sociodemographic disadvantage places individuals at risk for an unhealthy lifestyle (Kushi et al., 2012; Shanker et al., 2010), as well as for exposure to second-hand household smoke (Gan et al., 2015; Zhang et al., 2012). However, the role of living with a smoker in the association between sociodemographic status and health behavior is unstudied. This study investigated the role of living with a smoker in partially explaining the link between sociodemographic disadvantage and physical inactivity and poor dietary behaviors. The study used limited access data from the Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study obtained from NHLBI. Participants were 83,597 women ranging in age from 49 to 81; 6038 participants lived with a smoker. Cross-sectional logistic regression analyses examined paths in the models; bias-corrected bootstrapped confidence intervals tested indirect effects in probit analyses. Analyses controlled for age, ethnicity, marital status, and participants’ current smoking status. Results demonstrated a significant association (p < .001) between sociodemographic disadvantage (composite of low education and low income) and living with a smoker (OR = 1.74). The unstandardized indirect effects (CIs are in brackets) from sociodemographic disadvantage through living with a smoker to no exercise, no walking, high percent dietary fat, and low servings of fruits and vegetables through living with a smoker were statistically significant (.023 [.019, .028], .026 [.023, .033], .041 [.037, .047], and .032 [.027, .036], respectively). These findings illustrate the need to address multiple non-smoking health risk behaviors in household smoking interventions for disadvantaged families. This project was supported by the NIH/NCI (R03CA215947).

Care Coordination for Vulnerable Families in the Sydney Local Health District: What Works for Whom, under What Circumstances, and Why?

Introduction:Healthy Homes and Neighbourhoods (HHAN), an integrated care programme in the Sydney Local Health District (SLHD), seeks to address the needs of disadvantaged families through care coordination, as one of its components. This research aims to determine for whom, when and why the care coordination component of HHAN works, and establish the reported outcomes for clients, service-providers and partner organisations.Methods:Critical realist methodology was utilised to undertake a qualitative evaluation of the impact of care coordination. Purposive sampling was used to select a total of 37 participants for interview, including consumers, service-providers and key stakeholders. Thematic analysis was undertaken to derive the major modes of intervention of HHAN, and data representing these elements was coded and summarised under contexts, mechanisms and outcomes.Results:Analysis indicates that care coordination has a positive impact on clients’ sense of independence, self-awareness and outlook on life. Trust and favourable interpersonal relations were identified as major underlying mechanisms for a successful client-provider working relationship. The identified modes of intervention facilitating positive consumer outcomes included accessibility, flexibility and service navigation. Persistent siloes in health and systemic resistance to collaboration was seen to hinder effective care delivery.Conclusions:This study suggests that a care coordination model may be effective in engaging disadvantaged families in healthcare, assist them in navigating the health system and can lead to beneficial health and social outcomes. Successful implementation of care coordination requires flexible programme design and experienced and skilful clinicians to fulfil the care coordinator role. There is a need to appreciate the negative impact that the complex and siloed health system can have on disadvantaged families.

Commentary: COVID-19 and mental health equity in the United States.

A recent commentary in Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology emphasized the disproportionately adverse mental health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic (Purtle, 2020). While this perspective focused specifically on disparities in financial insecurity and grief stemming from disparities in COVID-19 mortality in adults, we expand this view to incorporate a developmental perspective of the pre-existing inequities experienced by children and families that have been magnified by COVID-19 in the United States. The COVID-19 pandemic is an abrupt and chronic stressor that puts many children and adolescents at risk for developing mental and behavioral health disorders—particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds and marginalized communities, as the pandemic has illustrated in the U.S. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, these children were already more likely to experience severe economic hardship, lack access to quality education and other resources critical for coping with adversities, and be at increased risk for maltreatment and exposure to home or community violence, all of which can result in increased risk for adverse health outcomes (Nurius et al., 2015; Jones et al., 2018). Moreover, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) families in the U.S. face systemic racism and discrimination. These inequities are only magnified and perpetuated by the COVID-19 pandemic (Figure 1) (Beaunoyer et al., 2020; Hooper et al., 2020; Turner Lee, 2020a; Van Dorn et al., 2020). Open in a separate window Figure 1 The COVID-19 pandemic magnifies and exacerbates existing inequities (left) for disadvantaged children and families in the United States (indicated by thicker arrows in right), thereby placing them at greater risk for recurring suboptimal health outcomes and exacerbation of existing inequities. The asterisks (*) denote increased risk factors for disadvantaged children and families during COVID-19, which are not mutually exclusive. These are also potential points for intervention.

FAMILY DISADVANTAGE AS A FACTOR OF JUVENILE CRIME

The relevance of the study is caused by the fact that raising children in a family is a complex process that covers the influence of the whole environment and microclimate in the family to the formation of the child. The article aims to carry out a theoretical analysis of family unhappiness as a factor in juvenile delinquency. The article highlights the causes of social maladaptation of the child-related to the family; states the consequences of the negative influence of the family on the formation of personality; presents the influence of family unhappiness on juvenile delinquency in interaction with other environmental factors; und out the objective and subjective circumstances which promote the incorrect moral formation of the person in a family are; It was found that families that contribute to the formation of the personality of a juvenile offender are divided into families with negative moral and legal characteristics of parents and families with limited educational opportunities of adults. The authors determined that most juvenile offenders were brought up in disadvantaged families; it is noted that minors adopt habits and patterns of their future behavior from their parents in the domestic situations in which they find themselves. Methods used: analysis of socio-pedagogical, pedagogical, and psychological literature to highlight various aspects of the impact of unfavorable family environment on the development of criminal behavior of minors. The study found that early detection of children prone to delinquency and early intervention to prevent and prevent situations in conflict with the law, strengthening their parents' educational competence, and reducing the vulnerabilities of such parents, are crucial. family, and helping to get out of a difficult life situation.

WEB-ТЕХНОЛОГІЯ ВИКОРИСТАННЯ ПРОГРАМ ВІДЕОЗАХОПЛЕННЯ ПРИ ПІДГОТОВЦІ ОСВІТНІХ МАТЕРІАЛІВ ВІДДАЛЕНОГО НАВЧАННЯ

Promising areas for improving the education system, and with the advent of coronavirus online mode has become critical in education, in this regard are at home. Schools have started using Zoom software, and the role of the modular learning environment has grown significantly. At the same time, many problems were identified, such as the lack of Internet access for students from rural areas or disadvantaged families, which has become an obstacle to learning and access to educational materials. In response, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has made a number of recommendations for distance learning. Modern distance education is an extensive system of knowledge transfer at a distance using various tools and technologies, the result of which is the receipt by users of the necessary information for its successful implementation in practice. There are a variety of ways to disseminate knowledge today: mailing books, writing assignments, audio and video discs, telephone consultations, and virtually limitless possibilities of the World Wide Web. The use of distance learning methods allows to provide educational services of various kinds in remote areas, to teach without interruption from the main activity, to teach people with disabilities, to have access to educational resources of the world through the use of modern electronic communications. In today's world, education plays a key role in people's lives, which makes it necessary to constantly develop teaching methods, including distance learning. The coronavirus pandemic has revealed many shortcomings of distance education, as well as the absolute unpreparedness of students and educational institutions for this form of education. That is why it is important to develop this industry now in order to further provide comfortable education for both Ukrainian and foreign students and to ensure that in the future the education system will be ready for situations similar to the coronavirus pandemic. The article is written to assess the advantages and disadvantages of distance learning, its necessity, analysis of the requirements for distance learning materials. Prospects of technologies of multimedia representation of researched objects, processes, phenomena, adequate modeling of the subject area, and their realization.

Child Welfare Financing: What Do We Fund, How, and What Could Be Improved?

Government efforts toward the prevention, detection, and investigation of child abuse and neglect are carried out through the United States’ child welfare system—a complex web of programs that provide family assistance and promote child safety. Most funding for these activities is split among federal, state, and local governments and comprises specific child welfare–related funding (such as Titles IV-E and IV-B of the Social Security Act) and non–child welfare funding that is spent on programs that support poor and disadvantaged families (Medicaid and TANF). I provide an overview of these funding streams that finance the child welfare system, review the federal legislation since 1970 that has led to the current funding structure, and end with a discussion of how the Family First Prevention Services Act of 2018 has the potential to create better outcomes for children and families by promoting prevention activities and program support with strong evidence of success.

Severe Housing Insecurity during Pregnancy: Association with Adverse Birth and Infant Outcomes.

Introduction: Housing insecurity is increasingly commonplace among disadvantaged women and children. We measured the individual- and population-level impact of severe housing insecurity during pregnancy on adverse birth and infant outcomes. Methods: We analyzed data from 3428 mother–infant dyads enrolled in the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a prospective cohort study representing births in 20 large U.S. cities from 1998 to 2000. Severe housing insecurity was defined as threatened eviction or homelessness during pregnancy. Outcomes included low birth weight and/or preterm birth, admission to a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) or stepdown facility, extended hospitalization after delivery, and infant health and temperament. We estimated exposure–outcome associations with risk ratios adjusted for pre-pregnancy maternal sociodemographic and heath factors and calculated a population attributable fraction (PAF) of outcomes attributable to severe housing insecurity. Results: We found statistically significant associations between severe housing insecurity during pregnancy and low birth weight and/or preterm birth (risk ratio (RR] 1.73, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.28, 2.32), NICU or stepdown stay (RR 1.64, CI 1.17, 2.31), and extended hospitalization (RR 1.66, CI 1.28, 2.16). Associations between housing insecurity and infant fair or poor health (RR 2.62, CI 0.91, 7.48) and poor temperament (RR 1.52, CI 0.98, 2.34) were not statistically significant. PAF estimates ranged from 0.9–2.7%, suggesting that up to three percent of adverse birth and infant outcomes could be avoided by eliminating severe housing insecurity among low-income, pregnant women in US cities. Conclusions: Results suggest that housing insecurity during pregnancy shapes neonatal and infant health in disadvantaged urban families.

Neighborhood Contexts and Child Maltreatment Reports Among Families Receiving AFDC/TANF: A Longitudinal and Multilevel Study.

Attention to the relationship between neighborhood context and child maltreatment is growing. However, no study exists that considers families' residential moves and neighborhood changes longitudinally. This is particularly relevant to disadvantaged families who move frequently. Our sample includes children who experienced a child maltreatment report (CMR) or an AFDC case in early childhood. We followed up these children from 1995 to 2009 through various administrative databases. We used multilevel logistic growth curve models to estimate the CMR likelihood at each age from 1 to 16. Estimates were limited to ages on AFDC/TANF to trace families' residential addresses based on AFDC/TANF payee records. Our findings highlight the importance of tracing residential neighborhoods in a longitudinal study. While doing so, we identify some possible neighborhood contextual influences. These, however, are small in contribution to overall risk and are less observable among children that are more vulnerable.

Disentangling the pathways of parent screen time and child behavior

The topic of digital device usage is a growing area of importance as devices are increasingly becoming a part of daily life for people of all ages worldwide. The medical field has made recommendations on limiting screen use for young children. However, new data are emerging that goes beyond focusing on just child screen time. In this volume of The Journal, Wong et al disentangle the factors of parent screen time, distracted parenting, parent-child interactions, and child behaviors. They used data from 1254 parent-child dyads (mean child age 3.4 years) from disadvantaged backgrounds in Hong Kong and evaluated the use of parent and child electronic use, parent-child interactions, and children's psychosocial behavior. Results showed that increased parent technology use was associated with higher levels of distracted parenting, reduced parent-child interactions, increased child screen time, and psychosocial difficulties. Additionally, children's internalizing difficulties were related to parent's high use of digital devices primarily because of the reduction in parent-child interactions. Children's externalizing behavior was related to increased problematic parental device use through reduced parent-child interactions, distracted parenting, and increased child screen time. These results suggest that limiting parental use of electronics in front of young children may be beneficial and help foster child psychosocial development. Article page 258 ▸ Parent Technology Use, Parent–Child Interaction, Child Screen Time, and Child Psychosocial Problems among Disadvantaged FamiliesThe Journal of PediatricsVol. 226PreviewTo disentangle the pathways of parent technology use, parent–child interactions, child screen time, and child psychosocial difficulties among disadvantaged families in Hong Kong. Full-Text PDF

Understanding the Early Years of Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Couples' Marriages.

Recent research has identified significant differences in how satisfaction in newlywed relationships progress, with the majority of spouses reporting relatively high marital satisfaction. However, most studies have focused on white, middle class, childless couples, and it is not clear whether these findings hold for socioeconomically disadvantaged couples (those with low educational attainment or income). Further, previous work has largely ignored differences between spouses within the same marriage and the circumstances under which interpersonal processes between spouses are influential to prospective marital satisfaction. Using dyadic growth-mixture modeling and three waves of data from 530 newlywed couples in the Supporting Healthy Marriages study, we simultaneously modeled husbands' and wives' marital satisfaction and identified two classes of couples, labeled the Relatively satisfied class and Husbands' moderate intercept, wives' low, and increasing satisfaction class. Husbands consistently reported better marital satisfaction than their wives regardless of class membership. Wives' perceptions of interpersonal processes during experiences of financial stress predicted class membership. Dissolution rates also differed between classes. We conclude by providing practical implications for working with socioeconomically disadvantaged families.

Systematic review: Effects of sustained nurse home visiting programs for disadvantaged mothers and children.

To systematically evaluate published experimental studies of sustained nurse home visiting (SNHV) programs. This review summarizes the evidence and identifies gaps in the literature to inform practice, policy, and future research. Restricted systematic review with narrative summary. Databases searched were Medline, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. Year of publication was originally restricted from 2008 to the date of search (13 February 2018, with supplementary searches conducted to identify more recent publications (up to 2019). Several reputable evidence clearinghouses were also searched. Studies were included if they used a randomized or cluster-randomized controlled trial to evaluate a home visiting program that: (a) targeted disadvantaged mothers; (b) commenced during pregnancy or prior to the child's first birthday; (c) had an intended duration of at least 12months from the time of enrolment; and (d) was substantively delivered by nurses or midwives. Meta-analyses and reviews of studies meeting these criteria were also included. A quality appraisal was conducted for all studies. Of 1,393 total articles, 30 met inclusion criteria. Seven specific SNHV programs were identified. Each demonstrated evidence of a positive statistical effect on at least one child or maternal outcome. Sustained nurse home visiting programs benefit disadvantaged families, though effects vary across outcomes and subgroups. Further research is needed to discern the critical components of effective programs. As SNHV programs have gained policy appeal, the need to evaluate the evidence-base supporting such interventions has become imperative. The findings of this review will assist policy-makers and practitioners in high-income countries to make evidence-informed decisions about which programs are best suited to addressing specific maternal and child outcomes for disadvantaged families. This should in turn ameliorate some of the inequalities in child development that have significant social and economic costs.

Burdens, Resilience, and Mutual Support: A Comparative Study of Families in China and South Korea Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic

As the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic disrupts established daily routines, it underlines the role that families play in redefining social order and reorganizing people’s economic and social lives. In this paper, we investigate methods that Chinese and South Korean families have adopted to cope with the rapid changes brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. We emphasize families’ responses to sudden changes in three domains: education and home schooling, economic downturn and unemployment, and mental health challenges. By integrating online education and remote working into a new form of family life and sharing economic and emotional risks among members, families shape social order during a period of unprecedented uncertainty. We highlight the fact that family members experience intensified work-family or school-family conflicts. Disadvantaged families are the most severely affected, as they are at high risk of job loss and lack proper protections. The absence of institutional protections and interventions has created further economic and emotional hardships for these vulnerable families. Informal and nonregular workers require more stable labor market conditions for the well-being of their families. Future research may include a systematic data collection and analysis of disadvantaged families, as this would offer a better understanding of the challenges and untenable choices that families face during times of crisis.

Prevention of suicide among the growing generation

The article provides information about the problem of suicide and the anxiety about its spread in society and in educational institutions in recent years. Along with the joy of new discoveries, news, achievements in the field of science and the technical process, difficulties, complex problems, and stressful situations also entered into all spheres of life of modern mankind. As a result, over the past decade, adolescents at the psychological level have become more frequent cases of anxiety, anxiety, failure, inflatedness, fear, feelings of negative perception, inappropriate behavior of children, isolation, lack of information from children and lack of awareness of parents in the difficulties of their children. Unreadiness of children for independent solution of problems in life, especially among children of dysfunctional families, has generated mental efforts in the public. This affected the psyche of adolescent children, especially among disadvantaged families, which led to unreasonable anxiety about their perspective in this complex life. Along with the characteristic of this problem, the article highlights measures to prevent it among adolescents.