Poverty Exposure Research Articles

Distribution and determinants of early marriage and motherhood: a multilevel and geospatial analysis of 707 districts in India

BackgroundEarly marriage and motherhood have long been prevalent in India, with 44.5% of women aged 20–24 reporting marriage before 18 in NFHS 3 (2005–2006), dropping to 26.8% in NFHS 4 (2015–2016). Early motherhood has also seen a significant decline, with first births by age 18 decreasing from 34.3% in NFHS I to 8.2% in NFHS V. Despite these improvements, significant regional disparities persist due to social, normative, and legal factors. This study investigates the spatial heterogeneity of early marriage and motherhood across Indian districts, offering a multilevel analysis that reveals critical local variations often obscured at broader levels. Understanding these patterns is crucial for targeted policy interventions and addressing the root causes of early marriage and motherhood.MethodsUtilizing data from the fifth round of National Family Health Survey, this study employs multilevel logistic regression and geospatial analysis to assess the determinants and spatial distribution of early marriage and early motherhood among ever-married women in India. The analysis incorporates individual, household, and community-level variables, complemented by spatial analysis techniques, including Empirical Bayes Bivariate Moran’s I values and LISA cluster maps, to identify regional patterns and hotspots.ResultsThis study revealed that educational attainment emerged as a critical determinant, with uneducated women significantly more likely to marry early. Socioeconomic factors, such as poverty and limited mass media exposure, also heightened the risk of early marriage and motherhood. Caste and religion were significantly associated with these events, with marginalized groups facing higher prevalence. Spatial analysis revealed significant geographic disparities, with central and eastern regions showing higher concentrations of early marriage and motherhood. District-level characteristics and the influence of neighboring districts were also significant, highlighting the importance of localized interventions.ConclusionsThe findings underscore the critical role of education, economic empowerment, and media literacy in mitigating early marriage and motherhood risks. The study calls for multi-sectoral interventions in geographical hotspots to break the cycle of early family formation and promote reproductive health. Policies enhancing educational opportunities, addressing economic disadvantages, and considering district-specific factors are essential. Comprehensive strategies are necessary to empower women, foster reproductive health, and address the multifaceted nature of early marriage and motherhood in India.

Childhood poverty, social support, immigration background and adolescent health and life satisfaction: A population-based longitudinal study.

This study examined whether poverty (neighborhood and household) was associated with future health or life satisfaction outcomes and whether the association operated through social support (adult support at home, adult support at school, peer belonging), or differed by the immigration background (nonimmigrant family or immigrant family) of the family. This study utilized a retrospective, longitudinal, population-based cohort that included self-reported survey data from the Middle Years Development Instrument (MDI) completed by children at age 9 and age 12, linked to administrative records. Participants included 5906 children in British Columbia, Canada. Neighborhood and household poverty were observed at age 8. Social support from adults and peers was self-reported at age 9. Outcomes (overall health; life satisfaction) were self-reported at age 12. Adjusted multi-level multiple linear regression analyses and parallel mediation analyses were utilized. The interaction between poverty exposure and immigration background was also examined. Exposure to either poverty type was associated with lower levels of life satisfaction and overall health at age 12, though household poverty appeared to be associated with lower outcomes in comparison to neighborhood poverty. The indirect effects of poverty on outcomes appeared to operate primarily through adult support at home and peer belonging. Children in immigrant families had a larger negative association between neighborhood poverty and life satisfaction. Household poverty had a larger negative association to outcomes in comparison to neighborhood poverty. The association of poverty to outcomes differed by immigration background and operated partially through adult support at home and peer belonging.

Poverty, race, ethnicity, and survival in pediatric nonmetastatic osteosarcoma: a Children's Oncology Group report.

Children living in poverty and those of marginalized race or ethnicity experience inferior disease outcomes across many cancers. Whether survival disparities exist in osteosarcoma is poorly defined. We investigated the association between race, ethnicity, and proxied poverty exposures and event-free and overall survival for children with nonmetastatic osteosarcoma receiving care on a cooperative group trial. We conducted a retrospective cohort study of US patients with nonmetastatic, osteosarcoma aged 5-21 years enrolled on the Children's Oncology Group trial AOST0331. Race and ethnicity were categorized to reflect historically marginalized populations, as Hispanic, non-Hispanic Black, non-Hispanic Other, and non-Hispanic White. Poverty was proxied at the household and neighborhood levels. Overall survival and event-free survival functions of time from trial enrollment were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Hypotheses of associations between risks for event-free survival, death, and postrelapse death with race and ethnicity were assessed using log-rank tests. Among 758 patients, 25.6% were household-poverty and 28.5% neighborhood-poverty exposed. Of the patients, 21% of children identified as Hispanic, 15.4% non-Hispanic Black, 5.3% non-Hispanic Other, and 54.0% non-Hispanic White. Neither household or neighborhood poverty nor race and ethnicity were statistically significantly associated with risks for event-free survival or death. Postrelapse risk for death differed statistically significantly across race and ethnicity with non-Hispanic Black patients at greatest risk (4-year postrelapse survival 35.7% Hispanic vs 13.0% non-Hispanic Black vs 43.8% non-Hispanic Other vs 38.9% non-Hispanic White; P = .0046). Neither proxied poverty exposures or race and ethnicity were associated with event-free survival or overall survival, suggesting equitable outcomes following frontline osteosarcoma trial-delivered therapy. Non-Hispanic Black children experienced statistically significant inferior postrelapse survival. Investigation of mechanisms underlying postrelapse disparities are paramount.

Inequality in environmental risk exposure and procedural justice in the Matanza-Riachuelo River Basin

ABSTRACT Using a capabilities-based perspective on socioenvironmental justice, this paper aims to contribute to the understanding of the interconnection between social equity and care for the earth in the case of the Matanza-Riachuelo – the most industrialized and contaminated river basin in Argentina. First, it uses a spatial regression model to analyse the correlation between multidimensional poverty and potential exposure to three types of environmental risks: environmental hazards of productive establishments, open-air waste dumps, and proximity to contaminated rivers and streams. Second, it analyses inequities in the processes of resettlement of households living in conditions of extreme environmental risk in informal settlements. It shows that higher poverty areas face greater risk of exposure to open-air waste dumps but lower risk of exposure to industrial and commercial environmental hazards. It also demonstrates how enhanced participation of households in decision-making on resettlement contributed to improved outcomes.

Further complications to poverty of place: daily poverty dynamics across space

AbstractIt is well established that living in a high‐poverty area often leads to lower levels of well‐being for residents. While these deleterious effects of place‐based poverty are well‐documented, the conceptual mechanisms linking poverty of place to negative outcomes remain debated, and the our understanding of the spatial patterning of poverty remains underdeveloped. In this paper, we problematize simple conceptualizations of the negative impacts of poverty exposure by illustrating the dynamic patterns poverty displays across cities on a daily basis. The vast majority of prior research on poverty of place has relied upon data anchored to place of residence. Thus, poverty rates broadly reflect poverty as it exists at night. This bias toward nighttime statistics leaves us with an incomplete understanding of spatial inequalities because daytime poverty rates can differ markedly from nighttime poverty rates due to work‐related commuting patterns. Here, we use novel data from the Census Transportation Planning Products to fully illustrate diurnal patterns in poverty at the census tract level in metropolitan America. Through a combination of descriptive, spatial, and statistical analyses, we show that the majority of census tracts experience changes in poverty throughout the day. Through a series of regression models, we also show that diurnal patterns in poverty are unevenly distributed along the lines of suburbanization, race, economic status, age composition, and industrial structure. Overall, our findings provide analytic insights into properly documenting poverty across space, while further problematizing lingering culture of poverty frameworks.

The mediating role of child delay of gratification in the link between early and prolonged poverty exposure and adolescent allostatic load

Early and prolonged exposure to poverty disrupts biological processes associated with the body’s stress response system, leading to long-term negative health outcomes, including obesity, autoimmune disorders, and cardiovascular disease. Allostatic load (AL), a composite measure of chronic stress on the body, is a robust predictor of subsequent health outcomes. However, developmental research examining the associations of early poverty exposure with AL in adolescence, as well as the underlying mechanisms of influence is limited. Early poverty exposure also impedes healthy development of child self-regulation, which may increase risk for high AL in adolescence, but this mechanistic pathway has not yet been tested. We used data from the national Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD) to examine the longitudinal associations between prolonged poverty exposure in early childhood (0–3 years) and AL in adolescence (age 15). We also tested the mediating role of child delay of gratification, a behavioral measure of self-regulation (at age 54 months), in the potential association between early poverty exposure and adolescent AL. Accounting for model covariates (i.e., child biological sex and race-ethnicity) and individual differences in child delay of gratification, early and prolonged poverty exposure was significantly associated with higher AL at age 15. The indirect effect through child delay of gratification was not significant, but the individual pathways of the indirect effect were significant, and the overall direct association of early poverty exposure with adolescent AL was significant. Our findings show that prolonged exposure to poverty in early childhood (0–3 years) can have significant negative associations with both child delay of gratification (at 54 months) and AL (at age 15). Given that the detrimental impacts of poverty exposure can be detected at an early age, targeted prevention efforts (e.g., anti-poverty programs such as cash assistance programs) may be able to offset some of the risks of early poverty exposure on self-regulation and AL.

Does the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program Expand Access to Opportunity Neighborhoods? Tracking Movements of Low-Income Tenants in California

The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program can potentially help expand access to neighborhoods with low poverty and economic opportunities for low-income households. Prior studies described that LIHTC units are in neighborhoods with relatively high poverty, but with improvements in recent years. Beyond cross-sectional analyses, scholars have not extensively looked at the movements of tenants. It remains unclear whether the program creates opportunities for low-income households to move into better neighborhoods than they previously lived in or reinforces segregation by encouraging moves to similarly or more disadvantaged neighborhoods. Using an extensive consumer database, I am tracking the movements of households who move into new LIHTC properties in California. The experimental findings show that residents experience, on average, increases in poverty exposure by up to six percentage points over other moved low-income renters. Tenants see lower levels of neighborhood amenities than at their previous addresses. The construction of LIHTC housing can increase the chance of households moving into minority-concentrated areas.

Inequitable Poverty Exposures: A Subspecialty Opportunity to Address Disparities.

Inequitable Poverty Exposures: A Subspecialty Opportunity to Address Disparities.

Higher Exposure of Poorer People to Emerging Weather Whiplash in a Warmer World

AbstractThe emergence of abrupt shift from drought to downpour has attracted widespread attention in recent years, with particularly disastrous consequences in low‐income regions. However, the spatiotemporal evolution and poverty exposure to such drought‐to‐downpour events remain poorly understood. Here, we investigate the connection between poverty and drought‐to‐downpour events based on three data products and climate models on a global scale. We find that the drought‐to‐downpour events increased by 24%–48% in the poorest 20% of the world's population from 1980 to 2010. The drought‐to‐downpour events do not appear to be occurring more frequently in most regions globally, just affecting regions with higher poverty rates more frequently, especially in African countries. The exposure inequality remains under future socioeconomic pathways, with a nearly fivefold increase in the exposure for the poorer populations. Poverty exposure to more frequent drought‐to‐downpour events demands greater support for climate adaptation in low‐income countries to reduce poverty and inequality.

Contributors to concentrated poverty of Blacks and Hispanics in metropolitan America, 1980–2020

ABSTRACT A longstanding debate asks why African Americans have been disproportionately concentrated in poor neighborhoods. All sides agree that a key contributor is the high level of poverty among Blacks, but they differ on other sources. Has the exodus of a growing Black middle class from the inner city (raising income segregation among Blacks) left the Black poor more isolated? Does persistent high racial segregation hold both middle class and poor Blacks in neighborhoods that are depressed by the high rate of Black poverty? Is poverty in Black neighborhoods mainly due to the presence of poor Black households or poor non-Black neighbors? This study addresses these questions with data for 1980–2020, and extends the analysis also to the case of Hispanic poverty exposure. Longitudinal models and detailed analysis of neighborhood composition by race and income show that the group’s own income composition is the most important predictor of poverty exposure. This effect is compounded by high racial segregation. Within-group income segregation adds to poverty concentration for Blacks but not for Hispanics. Blacks and Hispanics of all income levels live in poorer neighborhoods mainly because of the large share of their Black and Hispanic low-income neighbors, while their white neighbors tend to have higher incomes than they do.

Association Between Neighborhood Deprivation and Child Cognition in Clinically Referred Youth.

When socioeconomic status is measured at the individual and/or family level, it has long been associated with cognition in children. However, the association between neighborhood deprivation, an index of community-level socioeconomic status, and child cognition is not fully understood. The goal of this study was to investigate (1) the relationship between neighborhood deprivation and child cognitive functioning and (2) whether child age moderates the relationship between cognitive functioning and neighborhood deprivation. This study included 9878 children, ages 3 through 17 years (M = 10.4 yrs, SD = 3.4 yrs). Data were gathered from children referred for and evaluated at an urban, outpatient neuropsychology assessment clinic between 2006 and 2022, located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Neighborhood socioeconomic status was measured at the census block level using the Area Deprivation Index composite. There was a 20-point median difference in overall intelligence between the neighborhoods with the lowest and highest levels of deprivation. Overall intelligence and verbal comprehension, compared with working memory, fluid reasoning, and processing speed, demonstrated the strongest negative association with neighborhood deprivation (all p < 0.05). Older children had lower overall intelligence scores compared with younger children in neighborhoods with high levels of deprivation ( p < 0.01), suggesting a cumulative influence of poverty exposure. This study demonstrates the stark disparities in child cognitive functioning across levels of neighborhood deprivation. Findings support the importance of access to early interventions and services that promote intellectual growth and verbal capacity among children who live in neighborhoods with great deprivation.

Complexity of teen mothers and its implications on family wellbeing in Rwanda

In an attempt to understand the complexity of teen parents and associated consequences, the present study was conducted. It examines the connection between teen parents and family well-being in five selected Districts of Rwanda. Data were collected from 226 respondents randomly selected. Respondents included 176 teen mothers, 30 parents of teen mothers and 20 local leaders. Data were collected through questionnaires and interviews. Quantitative data were presented in percentages while content analysis was used for qualitative data. The results revealed that teen mothers are exposed to various social and economic problems. Rejected and depressed, 61.4% of pregnant teens thought about abortion and were restricted by lack of financial means while 9% thought about suicide which affects the physical and mental health of both teens and their children. Furthermore, 80.4% of teen mothers were not given the opportunity to resume their studies after delivering which amplifies their poverty exposure and their children as well. Parents/guardians need to be supportive through good communication so as to know what their children are going through and advise them accordingly. Moreover, they should bear with them in case a pregnancy occurs so that they may not feel depressed and think of abortion or suicide. They should not chase them from home since it increases their exposure to repeated pregnancies. There is a need of sensitizing the community about strategies that can reduce teen mothers’ rates as well as appropriate action in case teens get impregnated.

The biological embedding of adversity and inequity: Examining the physiological impacts of discrimination and poverty on ethnically and economically minoritized youths

Structural and social inequities have long been recognized as major contributors to mental and physical health problems. The biological embedding hypothesis, or the idea of “stress getting under the skin,” suggests that these adverse effects are conveyed through neurobiological mechanisms. Yet, we are in the early stages of empirical examination of the diverse and complex ways in which inequities can affect psychophysiological development. In this presentation, I will review recent and new research by my colleagues, students and I that utilizes the California Families Project, an ongoing longitudinal study of a large sample of Mexican-origin families in California that began when target youths were in Grade 5 and has followed these youths into emerging adulthood. Although adolescence often is considered a period of prime physical health, these studies document the associations of multiple structural and social determinants of health, including family poverty, peer discrimination, school violence, neighborhood conditions, and pollutant exposure, with the functioning of multiple neurobiological systems, including the brain, adrenocortical system, autonomic nervous system, and immune system. Collectively, this evidence reveals that the pervasive and pernicious influences of structural and social inequities on neurobiological development are evident within adolescence, which may portend and convey risk for a breadth of health problems across adulthood.

‘No one size fits all’: Diverse impacts of Temporary Protected Status on Haitians and Hondurans

We examine how Temporary Protected Status (TPS) has impacted the individual labor market outcomes and educational attainment of Haitian and Honduran beneficiaries, as well as their households’ earnings, poverty exposure, and food stamp receipt. We find evidence of TPS assisting Haitian migrants in all those respects, but not Honduran migrants. Differences in households’ linguistic assimilation could be partially responsible for the distinct program impact across nationalities.

Exposure to neighborhood poverty from adolescence through emerging adulthood and sleep duration in US adults.

Does exposure to neighborhood poverty from adolescence to early adulthood have differential influence on sleep duration across racial/ethnic groups? We used data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health that consisted of 6756 Non-Hispanic (NH) White respondents, 2471 NH Black respondents, and 2000 Hispanic respondents and multinomial logistic models to predict respondent reported sleep duration based on exposure to neighborhood poverty during adolescence and adulthood. Results indicated that neighborhood poverty exposure was related to short sleep duration among NH White respondents only. We discuss these results in relation to coping, resilience, and White psychology.

Environmental exposures are important risk factors for advanced liver fibrosis in African American adults

The prevalence and aetiology of liver fibrosis vary over time and impact racial/ethnic groups unevenly. This study measured time trends and identified factors associated with advanced liver fibrosis in the United States. Standardised methods were used to analyse data on 47,422 participants (≥20 years old) in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1999-2018). Advanced liver fibrosis was defined as Fibrosis-4 ≥2.67 and/or Forns index ≥6.9 and elevated alanine aminotransferase. The estimated number of people with advanced liver fibrosis increased from 1.3 million (95% CI 0.8-1.9) to 3.5 million (95% CI 2.8-4.2), a nearly threefold increase. Prevalence was higher in non-Hispanic Black and Mexican American persons than in non-Hispanic White persons. In multivariable logistic regression analysis, cadmium was an independent risk factor in all racial/ethnic groups. Smoking and current excessive alcohol use were risk factors in most. Importantly, compared with non-Hispanic White persons, non-Hispanic Black persons had a distinctive set of risk factors that included poverty (odds ratio [OR] 2.09; 95% CI 1.44-3.03) and susceptibility to lead exposure (OR 3.25; 95% CI 1.95-5.43) but did not include diabetes (OR 0.88; 95% CI 0.61-1.27; p=0.52). Non-Hispanic Black persons were more likely to have high exposure to lead, cadmium, polychlorinated biphenyls, and poverty than non-Hispanic White persons. The number of people with advanced liver fibrosis has increased, creating a need to expand the liver care workforce. The risk factors for advanced fibrosis vary by race/ethnicity. These differences provide useful information for designing screening programmes. Poverty and toxic exposures were associated with the high prevalence of advanced liver fibrosis in non-Hispanic Black persons and need to be addressed. Because liver disease often produces few warning signs, simple and inexpensive screening tests that can be performed by non-specialists are needed to allow timely diagnosis and linkage to care. This study shows that non-Hispanic Black persons have a distinctive set of risk factors that need to be taken into account when designing liver disease screening programs. Exposure to exogenous toxins may be especially important risk factors for advanced liver fibrosis in non-Hispanic Black persons.

Poverty from fetal life onward and child brain morphology

Poverty is a risk factor for impaired child development, an association possibly mediated by brain morphology. Previous studies lacked prospective poverty assessments during pregnancy and did not stratify by majority/minority status. We investigated the association of household poverty from fetal life forward with brain morphological differences at age 10 years, in 2166 mother–child dyads. Overall, the results showed no associations between any poverty exposure early in life and brain volumes. However, there was the evidence of timing effects: children exposed to poverty in utero had smaller amygdala volumes (B = − 0.18, 95%CI − 0.30; − 0.07, pFDR-adjusted = 0.009). There were also differences in associations by majority/minority status (cerebral white matter: p for interaction = 0.04). Dutch children exposed to childhood poverty showed smaller cerebral white matter volumes than their control (B = − 0.26, 95%CI − 0.45; − 0.06, pFDR-adjusted = 0.035). This association was not observed in the minority population (B = − 0.05, 95%CI − 0.23; 0.12, pFDR-adjusted = 0.542). The smaller cerebral white matter volume mediated the association between childhood poverty and poorer school performance in Dutch children. Our findings point to the importance of poverty exposure in the fetal period and suggest different mechanisms and vulnerabilities across majority/minority groups.

Environmental enteric dysfunction: gut and microbiota adaptation in pregnancy and infancy.

Environmental enteric dysfunction (EED) is a subclinical syndrome of intestinal inflammation, malabsorption and barrier disruption that is highly prevalent in low- and middle-income countries in which poverty, food insecurity and frequent exposure to enteric pathogens impair growth, immunity and neurodevelopment in children. In this Review, we discuss advances in our understanding of EED, intestinal adaptation and the gut microbiome over the 'first 1,000 days' of life, spanning pregnancy and early childhood. Data on maternal EED are emerging, and they mirror earlier findings of increased risks for preterm birth and fetal growth restriction in mothers with either active inflammatory bowel disease or coeliac disease. The intense metabolic demands of pregnancy and lactation drive gut adaptation, including dramatic changes in the composition, function and mother-to-child transmission of the gut microbiota. We urgently need to elucidate the mechanisms by which EED undermines these critical processes so that we can improve global strategies to prevent and reverse intergenerational cycles of undernutrition.

Exposure to Childhood Poverty and Racial Differences in Economic Opportunity in Young Adulthood.

Young adults in the United States, especially young Black adults, experience high poverty rates relative to other age groups. Prior research has largely attributed racial disparities in young adult poverty to differential attainment of benchmarks related to education, employment, and family formation. This study investigates that mechanism alongside racial differences in childhood poverty exposure. Analyses of Panel Study of Income Dynamics data reveal that racial differences in childhood poverty are more consequential than differential attainment of education, employment, and family formation benchmarks in shaping racial differences in young adult poverty. Whereas benchmark attainment reduces an individual's likelihood of poverty, racial differences in benchmark attainment do not meaningfully explain Black-White poverty gaps for three reasons. First, childhood poverty is negatively associated with benchmark attainment, generating strong selection effects into the behavioral characteristics associated with lower poverty. Second, benchmark attainment does not equalize poverty rates among Black and White men. Third, Black children experience four times the poverty rate of White children, and childhood poverty has lingering negative consequences for young adult poverty. Although equalizing benchmark attainment would reduce Black-White gaps in young adult poverty, equalizing childhood poverty exposure would have twice the reduction effect.

The evaluation of students’ progression in lower secondary education in Brazil: Exploring the path for equity

Improving the access to and quality of compulsory education among children is one of the most promising measures to tackle poverty in the medium-long run. This study examines the individual sociodemographic and educational attributes related to the probability of students’ progression through lower secondary public education in Brazil. Based on the longitudinal design track of a cohort of Brazilian 5th grade public-school students, multilevel logistic regression models are applied to merged databases of the Educational Census and Prova Brasil, which have a national coverage. The response variable is whether the pupil was steadily promoted from the 5th to 9th grade, or not. The predicting variables include students’ prior achievement in reading and mathematics, early experience of grade repetition, preschool attendance, and several sociodemographic attributes such as gender, self-declared race/skin color, socioeconomic status, and proxies of being exposed to extreme poverty. A distinctive aspect of this study is the use of big identifiable data collected by the institute in charge of Brazilian educational evaluation. Our findings show that lower secondary education completion in due time is strongly associated with prior achievement, and that the main effect of students’ socioeconomic status is modest, having a moderator effect with maths. Estimates obtained also give emphasis to the cumulative effect of early grade repetition, preschool attendance, and extreme poverty exposure. Gender and race/ethnicity gaps are shown. Moreover, the students’ progression varies randomly across schools, municipalities, and states; this provides an opportunity for compelling insights into school and higher levels of public policy design, implementation, and evaluation. Results highlight the role of preschool and primary education in the path for equity. Policy and practice implications to reduce the educational equity gap are discussed.