Policy Points Evidence suggests the 2021 temporary Child Tax Credit expansion reduced material hardship and improved parental mental health, but less is known about its effects on child well-being. Compared with the preexpansion period, advanced monthly payments were associated with short-term improvements in child behavioral health. However, these gains did not persist after payments ended, even with the lump-sum payment, likely reflecting stress and hardship tied to the policy's temporary nature, especially among lower-income and Black children. Policymakers may need to consider program design features, such as more frequent distribution of unconditional cash benefits, to better support child well-being. CONTEXT: In July 2021, to alleviate material hardship, Congress temporarily expanded the Child Tax Credit (CTC), one of the largest income transfer programs in the United States. Prior research has linked the expansion to improvements in material hardship, food insecurity, and parental mental health. This study is among the first to examine its association with child well-being. METHODS: We analyzed data from 1,028 children in the 2020-2021 waves of the Child Development Supplement of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, a national longitudinal data set. CTC exposure was defined based on benefit size calculated using eligibility rules. Outcomes included caregiver/self-rated child health, behavioral problems, and food security. We used individual fixed-effects models to estimate within-person changes in outcomes, comparing pre- and postexpansion periods while adjusting for time-invariant confounders. The 2021 PSID wave (November 2021-June 2022) included three CTC phases: 1) advanced monthly payments (November-December 2021), 2) expired monthly payments (January-April 2022), and 3) following the distribution of remaining lump sum (May-June 2022). Analyses were stratified by these phases to capture potential disparate impacts. We also conducted subgroup analyses by income and race/ethnicity. FINDINGS: During the monthly payment period, a $1,000 increase in CTC was associated with a 0.69-point reduction of behavioral problems in the overall sample (95% confidence interval [CI]: -1.31 to -0.067), corresponding to a 10% reduction from baseline. No associations were observed after monthly payments expired. Following the distribution of the lump sum, lower-income children had worse caregiver/self-rated health (-0.075, 95% CI: -0.14 to -0.010) and increased behavioral problems (0.95, 95% CI: 0.45-1.45) compared with higher-income children. Differences by race/ethnicity were also observed. CONCLUSIONS: More frequent distribution of unconditional cash benefits may improve child behavioral health. These findings inform ongoing state and federal poverty policymaking and contribute to theoretical knowledge on income and child health.
Guangyi Wang, Daniel F. Collin, Deborah A. Karasek et al.
Background: The study engaged parents and grandparents to define child health and well-being in their local context, develop domains, and provide input on appropriate measures. Methods: We employed an exploratory methodological approach that builds off a Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) methodology. Parents and grandparents defined child health and well-being using PhotoVoice methodology; outlined key domains together during focus group sessions; and reviewed measures identified by the research team for construct and face validity. Results: Ten parents and grandparents, living in an overburdened and under-resourced community in New York City, were recruited for this study. They defined child health and well-being in terms of three domains: Safety, Love, and Equity. The research team identified three candidate measures that have been developed with or widely used with children from a similar racial and ethnic background as the children from this community. Results showed adequate face validity for each of the three measures and for both English- and Spanish-speaking parents and grandparents. While overall the measures will address the domains they identified, there are some modifications to wording that will be needed before implementing the measures in the community. Conclusions: We found a paucity of child health and well-being measures developed explicitly for and validated with African American and Latinx young children living in low-income urban environments. Therefore, the field needs more validation studies and new measures designed with and for populations from different cultural backgrounds, particularly for younger children
Kimber Bogard, Victor Ortiz-Cortes, Shaneah Taylor et al.
Family responses to crises such as COVID-19 are driven by parents' experiences. Parental history of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) might play an important role in predicting resilience, coping capacity, and parenting practices during the COVID-19 pandemic response. The purpose of this review is to examine the impact of COVID-19 pandemic disruption on child health and well-being as influenced by the previous history of ACEs in the parents. Scopus, Google Scholar, PubMed, and PsychInfo were searched for peer-reviewed articles using the keywords "COVID-19", "Parents or Maternal Adverse Childhood Experiences", and "child health" or "child well-being". Data were extracted using a literature review matrix template. Title, abstract, and full article-level reviews were conducted by two reviewers. The association between COVID-19 disruption, negative parenting, and child behavioral and emotional problems was stronger for parents with younger children with a history of high ACE scores. Parents with high ACE scores were more likely to cope poorly with childcare duties and engage in child neglect, verbal abuse, and reduced feeding frequency, specifically during the COVID-19 pandemic. The review findings support the framework of inadequate resilience and coping skills of adults with a history of ACEs during periods of stress and unpredictability such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The negative effects of these parental stressors on a child's health and well-being are modifiable and could be mitigated by targeted interventions. Trauma-informed care should be adopted to contribute to optimum child health.
Tolu Arowolo, Barakat Adeola Animasahun, Kesha Baptiste-Roberts et al.
This study tests an ecological, relationship-based model of children's subjective well-being with 9- to 14-year-old children (n = 25,906) from 14 countries across Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, and South America. Children completed the Children's Worlds survey, a self-report measure of contextual and well-being indicators. Multilevel modeling was used to predict children's well-being (life satisfaction and self-image) at two levels, child (age, gender, home context, family relationships, peer relationships, school context, teacher relationships, and neighborhood quality), and country (gross domestic product and income inequality). Findings indicated that intercepts varied significantly across countries. The majority of variance in children's well-being was attributed to child-level rather than country-level factors. Country-level factors did not strongly predict well-being but marginally improved model fit.
Lisa A. Newland, Jarod T. Giger, Michael J Lawler et al.
Parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often report poor psychological well-being, including a high level of parenting stress and depressive symptoms. Little is known about the extent to which poor parent psychological well-being alters the emotional quality of the parent-child relationship in a context of child ASD. This study examined the association between actor (one's own) and partner (one's partner's) level of parenting stress and depressive symptoms and the emotional quality of the parent-child relationship using a Five Minute Speech Sample (FMSS) in 150 families of children with ASD, aged 5-12 years (85.7% male). Mothers and fathers were aged 38.69 (SD = 5.62) and 40.76 (SD = 6.19), respectively; 76% of mothers and 68% of fathers had a college degree. Structural equation modeling, using Analysis of Moment Structures software, was used to test Actor-Partner Interdependence Models. Results indicated that mother's level of parenting stress and depressive symptoms were associated with her own FMSS Warmth and Criticism toward the child with ASD 12 months later in negative and positive directions. Mother's level of parenting stress was also negatively associated with father's FMSS Warmth toward the child with ASD 12 months later. Finally, father's level of parenting stress was positively associated with his FMSS Criticism toward the child with ASD. Overall, findings indicate that the mother-child and father-child relationship are both impacted by parent psychological well-being in families of children with ASD; however, actor effects are stronger for mothers and partner effects were only found for fathers. Implications for interventions are discussed.
This study sought to understand the relationships between neighborhood poverty, family monetary well-being, and child maltreatment. The specific research questions were as follows: (1) Is neighborhood poverty at age 1 related to child physical abuse, psychological abuse, and neglect at age 5? (2) Are these relationships mediated by family monetary well-being? The study relied on data from three waves (child ages 1, 3, and 5) of the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a longitudinal birth-cohort study of 4,898 children from 20 large U.S. cities. Structural equation modeling was employed to examine mediational effects. The study found a lasting impact of neighborhood poverty on child neglect only, and this relationship was fully mediated by family monetary well-being. There was not a significant longitudinal relationship between neighborhood poverty and physical abuse or psychological abuse. Implications from the study suggest that neighborhood disadvantage impacts a families' economic well-being, and that individual-level economic supports may interrupt the pathway from neighborhood poverty to child neglect.
Limited research on parental well‐being by child age suggests that parents are better off with very young children despite intense time demands of caring for them. This study uses the American Time Use Survey Well‐Being Module (N = 18,124) to assess how parents feel in activities with children of different ages. Results show that parents are worse off with adolescent children relative to young children. Parents report the lowest levels of happiness with adolescents relative to younger children, and mothers report more stress and less meaning with adolescents. Controlling for contextual features of parenting including activity type, solo parenting, and restorative time does not fully account for the adolescent disadvantage in fathers' happiness or mothers' stress. This study highlights adolescence as a particularly difficult stage for parental well‐being and shows that mothers shoulder stress that fathers do not, even after accounting for differences in the context of their parenting activities.
Childhood lays the foundations for lifelong health and well-being. Children and youth have a fundamental right to have their needs met and to have their health and well-being considered a priority. Nova Scotia is one of the last provinces in Canada to create an independent body focused on asserting and protecting children’s rights. At present, legislation in support of an independent Child and Youth Commission (CYC) is being considered to monitor child rights and engage young people in conversations about the things that matter to them. On November 18, 2022, and in recognition of National Child Day, a “Fishbowl Conversation” panel presentation was convened, with the panel held in-person at Dalhousie University and an audience participating online. The panel engaged in a critical conversation about ongoing work in Nova Scotia aimed at addressing child rights and well-being, for the purpose of guiding the work of a CYC. This commentary article summarizes the recommendations from this panel, unifying the work from various reports and initiatives addressing child rights in the province.
Kristyn Anderson, Cecilia Carrea, Charlene Gagnon et al.
Abstract This theoretical article aims to recognize the potential of intersectionality theory for understanding well‐being during childhood and adolescence, particularly from a community psychology perspective. Following the tenets of intersectionality, the article analyses and proposes three relevant dimensions for community psychologists, researchers and professionals interested in studying and intervening in children's and adolescents' well‐being. Those dimensions consider (1) adultism as an intersecting power axis fundamental for understanding well‐being, (2) the acknowledgment of diversity in well‐being conceptions and experiences as a critical issue and (3) the need for advancing studies that involve praxis and engagement in transformative changes for child and adolescent well‐being.
