EFFECTS OF POVERTY ON HOME-ENVIRONMENT - AN ANALYSIS OF 3-YEAR OUTCOME DATA FOR LOW-BIRTH-WEIGHT PREMATURE-INFANTS

Investigated the relationship between poverty and parenting in a sampl e of low birth weight (less than or equal to 2,500 grams) premature (L BWPT) infants (gestation less than or equal to 37 weeks) who were cont rol subjects in the Infant Health and Development Program. When classi fied using federal poverty levels, poor families scored lower on the H OME inventory (used to measure the caregiving environment) than nonpoo r families. A regression model including poverty, race, site, and repr esentative environmental, maternal, and child variables accounted for 60% of variance in total HOME scores. Poverty and maternal IQ had sign ificant and independent effects on HOME scores, whereas maternal distr ess accounted for little of the variance. In a LBWPT sample, our resul ts find a strong relationship between parenting and poverty, suggest a modest role for maternal psychological distress in this relationship, and indicate that the influence of poverty likely extends beyond comm only measured environmental, maternal, and child factors.