Adversity and children experiencing family homelessness: Implications for health

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Health
• Childhood Adversity
• Health Disparities

Background:

• Family homelessness is associated with significant stress and health needs in children.
• Understanding the stress-health connection can help mitigate health disparities.
• Children in emergency housing are a vulnerable population requiring focused health research.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the relationship between stressful life events and health conditions in children in family emergency housing.
• To investigate the association between early life adversity and healthcare utilization, including emergency room visits and hospitalizations.
• To determine if childhood stress contributes to existing health disparities.

Main Methods:

• Two cohorts of kindergarten-aged children (2006-07, n=104; 2008-09, n=138) in family emergency housing were studied.
• Parental reports were collected on children's stressful life events, health problems, emergency room use, and hospitalizations.
• Data from the two cohorts were analyzed separately to identify trends.

Main Results:

• A greater number of stressful life events correlated with more reported health problems in both cohorts.
• Stressful life events were not significantly linked to emergency room utilization.
• A relationship was found between stressful life events and hospitalizations in the 2006-07 cohort.

Conclusions:

• Early childhood stress is demonstrably linked to adverse health outcomes in children experiencing homelessness.
• Findings support the hypothesis that early adversity exacerbates income and racial disparities in child health.
• Interventions addressing childhood stress in vulnerable populations are crucial for improving health equity.