Children, COVID-19, and its Consequences

This pilot will  analyze how COVID-19 is affecting familial economic precarity and child well-being in a sample of families in Durham, NC, Pittsburgh,  PA, Seattle, WA and New Brunswick, NJ. Economic precarity is defined as a multi-dimensional concept that includes income and wealth scarcity, economic hardship, food insecurity, parental unemployment, lack of health insurance, and residential instability. Data collection in four sites across the country vary substantially by severity of infection, policy and economic context, and sociodemographic make-up. The goals of the pilot  include: describing  the magnitude and scope of economic precarity experienced by families with children during the COVID-19 pandemic; investigating the  implications of economic precarity for family functioning and child health and well-being, particularly educational achievement; analyzing how COVID-19 exacerbates class and racial/ethnic disparities in economic circumstances and parental and child well-being; and analyzing how  site-level variation in economic and educational policies are associated with child well-being. Survey data will assess familial levels of economic precarity, parent-partner interactions, parental physical and mental health and parenting stress. Measured children’s outcomes including parent reports of children’s psychosocial development; grades, standardized test scores, and school disciplinary measures drawn from school records.