Growing up in economic hardship: The relationship between childhood social assistance recipiency and early adulthood obstacles

Abstract

Despite the vast body of literature investigating the effects of childhood economic conditions, few studies have investigated the significance of the timing and extent of economic hardship experienced during childhood. This study utilised the 1987 Finnish Birth Cohort, which includes all 59,476 children born in Finland in 1987, to explore the impact of the timing of childhood economic hardship on subsequent well-being, with a special emphasis on gender differences during three developmental stages. We examined the relationship between the timing and extent of childhood economic hardship and the following four subsequent adolescence and early adulthood outcomes: the cohort members’ criminal convictions, early school leaving, psychiatric diagnoses, and social assistance (SA) recipiency in adulthood. We found a strong association between heavy receipt of SA during secondary school and the cohort members’ early adulthood receipt of SA. Furthermore, early childhood economic hardship seemed to be especially detrimental for girls.