Economic (in)security across childhood in the Growing Up in New Zealand cohort: Income poverty, material hardship, and problem debt and its effect on child and parental wellbeing
For this study, researchers used Growing Up in New Zealand (GUiNZ) data to examine experiences of income poverty, material hardship, and problem debt during childhood. This report considers the following questions: how to experiences of income poverty and material hardship cluster together across early-to-middle childhood; which families are more likely to experience different economic in(security) trajectories; are these economic (in)security trajectories associated with parents’ and children’s wellbeing; and how are different trajectories associated with ‘problem debt’ and does this debt have an independent and/or moderating effect on parental and children’s wellbeing?
Key findings identify that:
- A majority of children in the GUiNZ study grow up not experiencing income poverty nor material hardship
- Experience of income poverty and material hardship are diverse across childhood and are associated in different ways with wellbeing
- High and persistent material hardship was more strongly associated with parent wellbeing than child wellbeing after controlling for characteristics as measured at the initial survey waves as well as longitudinal measures of family structure, parental employment, and parental disability
- Problem debt was associated with poorer child and parental outcomes above and beyond experiences of income poverty and material hardship after controlling for characteristics as measured at the initial GUiNZ survey waves
- There are important inequities in the experience of economic security
- Policies that lift incomes and bridge economic shocks could support families into economic security
