Overview

Abstract (English)

A wide body of multidisciplinary research has established the correlation between socio-economic status (SES) or income and children’s developmental and well-being outcomes. However, understanding how household income and SES affect child outcomes is crucial for designing effective public policy that reduces the disadvantage of growing up with low-SES and breaks the intergenerational transmission of poverty. A range of factors mediate the effects of low-SES, and low-income. Identifying these pathways of effect presents alternative policy approaches to income transfers for interventions to mitigate disadvantages. Additionally, there are clear policy implications of a differentiation between the effect of relatively fixed parental characteristics, such as educational level, and that of income, which is directly affected by government policy. This paper uses four cycles of data from the Canadian National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (2000-2008) to disentangle the different pathways of effect of income and parental background on child outcomes during three stages of childhood: preschool (age 0-5), middle (age 8-13), and high school (age 12-16). Drawing on theories of family stress and family investment, the analysis uses structural equation modeling to examine measures of children’s activities, parenting behavior, and family functioning as potential mediators of income and SES. Taking a multi-dimensional approach to measuring child well-being,age-appropriate measures of socio-emotional well-being, cognitive development, and behavior are used as outcomes. The paper discusses the implications for policy as well as lessons for future research, including the importance of multiple indicators of ‘child outcomes’ and differentiation between effects at different stages of childhood.

Abstract (French)

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