title: Tracking exposure to child poverty during the first 10 years of life in a Quebec birth cohort.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Early childhood poverty is associated with adult chronic diseases. The objectives of this study were to examine patterns of exposure to poverty during the first 10 years of life in the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development (QLSCD) cohort according to three measures of poverty and to explore family characteristics associated with different poverty exposures.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data from 1,334 participants from the QLSCD were collected annually at home from ages 5 months through 10 years. Household income (previous 12 months) and sources of income were recorded at each data round. Poverty status was operationalized as 1) living below the low income cut-off of Statistics Canada, 2) receiving social welfare and 3) being in the lowest quintile of socio-economic status. We plotted trends in the prevalence of child poverty over time. We used latent class growth modelling to identify subgroups with similar poverty trajectories. Duration of poverty according to each measure was computed separately for early childhood, middle childhood, and the entire 10 years of life.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Four trajectories of poverty were identified: stable poor, decreasing likelihood, increasing likelihood, and never poor. The three measures of poverty do not cover the same population, yet the characteristics of those identified as poor are similar. Children of non-European, immigrant mothers were most likely to be poor, and there was a higher likelihood of children from single-parent families to live in chronic poverty during the first 10 years.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A large proportion of children are exposed to poverty before 10 years of age. More effective public policies could reduce child poverty.
authors.affiliation: Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Université de Montréal, QC. louise.seguin@umontreal.ca
authors.forename: Louise
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Séguin
authors.forename: Beatrice
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Nikiema
authors.forename: Lise
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gauvin
authors.forename: Marie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lambert
authors.forename: Mai
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Thanh Tu
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kakinami
authors.forename: Gilles
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Paradis
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005191:Family Characteristics; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D007223:Infant; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D011203:Poverty / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends; D011792:Quebec; D012307:Risk Factors; D012923:Social Class; D012946:Social Welfare / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
keywords: Birth cohort; Child health; Child low SES; Child poverty; Longitudinal study; Trajectories