Material hardship and the physical health of school-aged children in low-income households.
OBJECTIVE
We examined the relationship between material hardship reported by low-income caregivers and caregivers' assessments of their children's overall health.


METHODS
We used logistic regression techniques to analyze data from 1073 children aged 5 through 11 years whose caregivers participated in multiple waves of the Illinois Families Study.


RESULTS
Caregivers' reports of food hardship were strongly associated with their assessments of their children's health. Other sources of self-reported material hardship were also associated with caregivers' assessments of their children's health, but the effects disappeared when we controlled for caregiver physical health status and mental health status. Proximal measures of material hardship better explained low-income children's health than traditional socioeconomic measures. There were no statistically significant cumulative effects of material hardships above and beyond individual hardship effects.


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings highlight the importance of developing and supporting programs and policies that ensure access to better-quality food, higher quantities of food, and better living conditions for low-income children, as well as health promotion and prevention efforts targeted toward their primary caregivers as ways to reduce health disparities for this population.
Yoo
Joan P
JP
School of Social Work, University of North Carolina, 325 Pittsboro St, CB#3550, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3550, USA. yoo.joan@gmail.com
Slack
Kristen S
KS
Holl
Jane L
JL
D017028:Caregivers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002648:Child; D002669:Child Welfare; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D005523:Food Supply / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007087:Illinois; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011203:Poverty / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012111:Residence Characteristics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012574:Schools / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data