Summarising and comparing the baseline (T1) sociodemographic and child health characteristics in households which experienced increased household financial strain (T1–T2) and their comparator groups
| Became income poor n=507 | Stayed non-poor n=7895 | p Value | Developed difficulty managing n=1127 | Did not report difficulty managing n=9142 | p Value | Felt ‘worse off” n=4681 | Felt ‘the same’ n=4533 | p Value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N(%)/avg (95% CI) | N(%)/avg (95% CI) | N (%)/avg (95% CI) | N(%)/avg (95% CI) | N(%)/avg (95% CI) | N(%)/avg (95% CI) | ||||
| Sociodemographics at T1 (7 years) | |||||||||
| Mean age of main respondent (years) | 31 (30.5 to 31.5) | 37.6 (37.5 to 37.7) | <0.01† | 35.6 (35.3 to 36.0) | 36.5 (36.4 to 36.6) | <0.01† | 36.9 (36.7 to 37.0) | 36.4 (36.2 to 36.6) | <0.01† |
| Mother degree level education+(at 9 months) | 4 (0.9%) | 2093 (23.5%) | <0.01 | 125 (8.4%) | 1934 (19.2%) | <0.01 | 760 (13.8%) | 768 (15.3%) | 0.4 |
| Anyone in the household employed | 430 (86%) | 7112 (88.8%) | <0.01 | 940 (83.2%) | 8096 (88.3%) | <0.01 | 3634 (85.2%) | 3683 (88.6%) | <0.01 |
| Lone parent household | 100 (17.4%) | 788 (10.9%) | <0.01 | 322 (31.6%) | 1455 (17.8%) | <0.01 | 848 (22.7%) | 786 (20.9%) | 0.16 |
| Median OECD equivalised income/year | £14 689 | £23 404 | <0.01‡ | £13 977 | £20 048 | <0.01‡ | £17 459 | £17 194 | 0.14‡ |
| (14 453 to £15 280) | (£23 114 to £23 620) | (£13 321 to £14 454) | (19 809 to £20 268) | (£17 258 to £17 761) | (£16 880 to £17 553) | ||||
| Mean number of children in household | 3.1 (3.0 to 3.2) | 2.3 (2.3 to 2.3) | <0.01† | 2.7 (2.7 to 2.8) | 2.5 (2.5 to 2.5) | <0.01† | 2.6 (2.6 to 2.6) | 2.6 (2.6 to 2.6) | 0.76† |
| Mother ethnicity white British/Irish | 298 (81.6%) | 6695 (91.2%) | <0.01 | 815 (84.3%) | 7145 (88.0%) | <0.01 | 3463 (86.3%) | 3203 (83.1%) | <0.01 |
| Child health outcomes at T1 (7 years) | |||||||||
| Overweight/obesity | 104 (21.7%) | 1524 (19.2%) | 0.28 | 251 (22.9%) | 1737 (18.8%) | <0.01 | 896 (21.1%) | 896 (20.5%) | 0.25 |
| Problematic behaviour (teacher scored) | 67 (26.9%) | 693 (13.4%) | <0.01 | 145 (24.0%) | 858 (15.2%) | <0.01 | 457 (18.6%) | 308 (15.3%) | 0.4 |
| Problematic behaviour (parent scored) | 116 (26.4%) | 687 (9.8%) | <0.01 | 179 (19.4%) | 997 (12.1%) | <0.01 | 590 (15.9%) | 511 (13.9%) | 0.04 |
| Fair/poor general health score | 29 (5.6%) | 149 (2.0%) | <0.01 | 57 (5.3%) | 210 (2.2%) | <0.01 | 158 (3.8%) | 117 (2.6%) | 0.02 |
| Long-standing illness | 108 (22.4%) | 1381 (17.6%) | 0.01 | 238 (21.8%) | 1610 (17.9%) | <0.01 | 838 (20.5%) | 750 (18.6%) | 0.04 |
| Bedwetting | 69 (13.7%) | 1145 (14.5%) | 0.65 | 172 (15.2%) | 1279 (14.4%) | 0.24 | 633 (15.2%) | 551 (13.7%) | 0.02 |
Missing data: age of main respondent: n=445, maternal level of education: n=213, household employment: n=474, lone parent household: n=445, household income: n=484, number of children in household: n=445, country of residence: n=445, maternal ethnicity: n=699, weight status: n=543, Strengths and Difficulty Questionnaire (teacher scored): n=2182, Strengths and Difficulty Questionnaire (parent scored): n=603, general health score: n=456, long-standing illness: n=457, bedwetting: n=458.
NB: all percentages are survey weighted to account for study design and attrition.
*p Values calculated using χ2.
†p Values calculated using t-test.
‡p Values calculated using Mann-Whitney U test.
OECD, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.