Najman Jake M, Bor William, Ahmadabadi Zohre, Williams Gail M, Alati Rosa, Mamun Abdullah A, Scott James G, Clavarino Alexandra M
School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
School of Social Science, the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
PLoS One. 2018 Jan 23;13(1):e0190504. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0190504. eCollection 2018.
Children exposed to family poverty have been found to have higher morbidity and mortality rates, poorer mental health and cognitive outcomes and reduced life chances across a wide range of life domains. There is, however, very little known about the extent to which poverty is experienced by children over their early life course, particularly in community samples. This study tracks changes in family poverty and the main factors that predict family poverty (adverse life experiences) over a 30-year period since the birth of the study child.
Data are from a prospective, longitudinal, birth cohort study conducted in Brisbane, Australia. Consecutive families were recruited at the mothers' first obstetrical visit at one of two major obstetrical hospitals in Brisbane. Data are available for 2087 families with complete data at the 30-year follow-up. Poverty was measured using family income at each time point (adjusted for inflation).
Poverty affects about 20% of families at any time point. It is common for families to move in and out of poverty, as their circumstances are affected by such adversities as unemployment and marital breakdown. Over the period of the study about half the families in the study experienced poverty on at least one occasion. Only a very small minority of families experienced persistent poverty over the 30-year duration of the study. Logistic regressions with time lag show that family poverty predicts subsequent adversities and adverse events predict subsequent poverty.
Experiences of poverty and adversity are common and may vary greatly over the child's early life course. In assessing the health consequences of poverty, it is important to distinguish the timing and chronicity of early life course experiences of poverty and adversity.
研究发现，经历家庭贫困的儿童在发病率和死亡率方面更高，心理健康和认知结果较差，并且在广泛的生活领域中生活机会减少。然而，对于儿童在其早期生命历程中经历贫困的程度，尤其是在社区样本中，人们知之甚少。本研究追踪了自研究对象出生以来30年间家庭贫困状况的变化以及预测家庭贫困的主要因素（不良生活经历）。
数据来自于在澳大利亚布里斯班进行的一项前瞻性、纵向出生队列研究。在布里斯班两家主要产科医院之一，于母亲首次产科就诊时招募连续的家庭。在30年随访时有2087个家庭拥有完整数据。使用每个时间点的家庭收入（经通货膨胀调整）来衡量贫困。
在任何时间点，约20%的家庭受贫困影响。家庭因失业和婚姻破裂等逆境而进出贫困状态是常见的。在研究期间，约一半的家庭至少有一次经历贫困。在30年的研究期间，只有极少数家庭经历持续贫困。带时间滞后的逻辑回归表明，家庭贫困预示着随后的逆境，而不良事件预示着随后的贫困。
贫困和逆境经历很常见，并且在儿童早期生命历程中可能有很大差异。在评估贫困对健康的影响时，区分贫困和逆境的早期生命历程经历的时间和持续性很重要。
