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Objectives. 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. (Am J Public Health. 2009;99:829-836. doi;10.2105/AJPH.2007.119776) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from two waves of a panel study of families that currently receive or recently received cash welfare benefits, this article examines the relationship between food hardship and behavior problems for two different age groups (3-5 years and 6-12 years). Results show that food hardship is positively associated with externalizing behavior problems for the older children even after controlling for parental stress, warmth, and depression. Food hardship is positively associated with internalizing behavior problems for the older group of children, and with both externalizing and internalizing behavior problems for the younger group of children. These effects are mediated by parental characteristics. Results suggest that practitioners who work with children should screen for food hardship as a potential source of behavior problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives. We examined how maternal work and welfare receipt are associated with children receiving recommended pediatric preventive care services. Methods. We identified American Academy of Pediatrics-recommended preventive care visits from medical records of children in the 1999-2004 Illinois Families Study: Child Well-Being. We used Illinois administrative data to identify whether mothers received welfare or worked during the period the visit was recommended, and we analyzed the child visit data using random-intercept logistic regressions that adjusted for child, maternal, and visit-specific characteristics. Results. The 485 children (95%) meeting inclusion criteria made 41% of their recommended visits. Children were 60% more likely (adjusted odds ratios [AOR] = 1.60; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.27, 2.01) to make recommended visits when mothers received welfare but did not work compared with when mothers did not receive welfare and did not work. Children were 25% less likely (AOFU0.75; 95% CI = 0.60, 0.94) to make preventive care visits during periods when mothers received welfare and worked compared with welfare only periods. Conclusion. The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families maternal work requirement may be a barrier to receiving recommended preventive pediatric health care. (Am J Public Health. 2012;102:2274-2279). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use data from the 2002 wave of the National Survey of America’s Families to develop and validate discrete measures of material hardship that can be used to examine the difficulties that vulnerable populations such as people with disabilities have in making ends meet. Using latent class analysis, we estimate two measurement models: multidimensional and omnibus. The multidimensional model provides separate estimates for food, medical, and housing and utilities hardship. The omnibus model is a single model of 11 hardship indicators. Results show three distinct classes of food hardship, three classes of medical hardship, and two classes of housing/utilities hardship. The omnibus model reveals eight classes. Both the multidimensional and omnibus models are largely invariant between women with disabilities and women without disabilities, indicating that valid comparisons can be made between these populations using these classes of hardship. These classes can be utilized in further research on the hardship of women with disabilities to inform the development of policies targeted to alleviate the specific forms of hardship experienced by disabled women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]