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Canadian Journal of Public Health = Revue Canadienne de Santé Publique logoLink to Canadian Journal of Public Health = Revue Canadienne de Santé Publique
. 2012 Jul 1;103(4):e270–e276. doi: 10.1007/BF03404234

Tracking Exposure to Child Poverty During the First 10 Years of Life in a Quebec Birth Cohort

Louise Séguin 19,29,39,49,✉, Béatrice Nikiéma 29,49, Lise Gauvin 19,39,49,59, Marie Lambert 69, Mai Thanh Tu 19,29,49, Lisa Kakinami 79, Gilles Paradis 79,89
PMCID: PMC6974102  PMID: 23618640

Abstract

Objectives

Early childhood poverty is associated with adult chronic diseases. The objectives of this study were to examine patterns of exposure to poverty during the first 10 years of life in the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development (QLSCD) cohort according to three measures of poverty and to explore family characteristics associated with different poverty exposures.

Method

Data from 1,334 participants from the QLSCD were collected annually at home from ages 5 months through 10 years. Household income (previous 12 months) and sources of income were recorded at each data round. Poverty status was operationalized as 1) living below the low income cut-off of Statistics Canada, 2) receiving social welfare and 3) being in the lowest quintile of socio-economic status. We plotted trends in the prevalence of child poverty over time. We used latent class growth modelling to identify subgroups with similar poverty trajectories. Duration of poverty according to each measure was computed separately for early childhood, middle childhood, and the entire 10 years of life.

Results

Four trajectories of poverty were identified: stable poor, decreasing likelihood, increasing likelihood, and never poor. The three measures of poverty do not cover the same population, yet the characteristics of those identified as poor are similar. Children of non-European, immigrant mothers were most likely to be poor, and there was a higher likelihood of children from single-parent families to live in chronic poverty during the first 10 years.

Conclusion

A large proportion of children are exposed to poverty before 10 years of age. More effective public policies could reduce child poverty.

Key words: Child poverty, child low SES, child health, longitudinal study, birth cohort, trajectories

Footnotes

Acknowledgements of support: This study was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Grant Number 00309MOP-123079. Data were collected by the Institut de la Statistique du Québec, Direction Santé Québec. The IRSPUM and CRCHUM received infrastructure funding from the Fonds de la Recherche en Santé du Québec. LG holds a CIHR/CRPO Applied Public Health Chair on Neighbourhoods, Lifestyle, and Healthy Body Weight. GP holds a CIHR Applied Public Health Research Chair. MTT is funded by a postdoctoral CIHR fellowship (CIHR #181755) and by a Young Investigator Award from the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation. These funding agencies were not involved in the study design, data analyses, data interpretation or manuscript writing and submission processes.

Conflict of Interest: None to declare.

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