TRAJECTORIES OF POVERTY AND CHILDRENS MENTAL-HEALTH

Using data from three waves of the Children of the National Longitudin al Surveys of Youth data set (1986, 1988, 1990), we examine the dynami c relationship between children's family histories of poverty and thei r developmental trajectories of mental health. Children who were poor in 1986 or who had prior histories of poverty had higher levels of dep ression and antisocial behavior in that year. Furthermore, subsequent poverty histories were also related to children's mental health trajec tories. The number of years that children were poor between 1986 and 1 990 correlates significantly with changes in children's antisocial beh avior during those years. Finally, rates of increase in antisocial beh avior were substantially higher for children with histories of persist ent poverty during those years than for transiently poor or nonpoor ch ildren. These results demonstrate the accelerating behavioral disadvan tages faced by persistently poor children.