Economic Stress in the Family and Children's Emotional and Behavioral Problems

This study examines the relationship between two measures of economic stress-welfare status and perceived financial stress-and children's emotional and behavioral problems. Longitudinal data from the National Survey of Children are used to test two hypotheses. The first hypothesis predicts that economic stress will adversely affect children's emotional and behavioral problems. Levels of depressive symptoms, impulsive behavior, and antisocial behavior are found to be higher among children who experienced either form of economic stress at least once between 1976 and 1981 compared to those who were unaffected by economic stress. The second hypothesis predicts that the presence of economic stress at both data collection points will have a more adverse impact than economic stress experienced at only one time point. Results provide only limited support for the persistence hypothesis. Research is needed to identify the specific processes by which economic stress affects children's well-being. Early community surveys consistently demonstrated that adults in the lower socioeconomic status (SES) groups had higher levels of psychological distress than adults in other SES categories (Dohrenwend and Dohrenwend, 1969; Langer and Michael, 1963; Leighton, Harding, Macklin, MacMillan, Leighton, 1963; Myers, Lindenthal, Pepper, and Ostrander, 1974; Srole, Langer, Michael, Opler, and Rennie, 1962). These studies provided indirect evidence that economic factors can have pernicious consequences for the mental health of adults. Brenner's (1973) ecological analyses of the relationship between economic indicators and measures of mental health found increased rates of suicide, new admissions to psychiatric institutions, and alcohol-related diseases during periods of economic decline. Despite methodological problems with ecological studies (Marshall and Funch, 1979), Brenner's research provided the impetus for studies on the effects of economic variables, particularly unemployment, on mental health (Boor, 1980; Catalano and Dooley, 1977; Cohn, 1978; Feather and Barber, 1983; Gore, 1978; Kasl and Cobb, 1979; Oliver and Pomicter, 1981; Shepherd and Barraclough, 1980). Research on the health consequences of chronic stress also suggests that chronic economic factors are a source of ongoing stress (Pearlin, MenNational Research Center on Asian American Mental Health, UCLA, Franz Hall, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1563.