Poverty, race/ethnicity, and psychiatric disorder: A study of rural children

Objectives. This study examined the effect of poverty on the prevalence of psychiatric disorder in rural Black and White children. Methods. A representative sample of 541 Black children and 379 White childr en aged 9 to 17 was drawn from 4 predominantly rural counties. Structured i nterviews With parents and children collected information on psychiatric di sorders, absolute and relative poverty, and risk factors for psychiatric di sorder. Results. Three-month prevalence of psychiatric disorder was similar to that found in other community samples (20%). Federal criteria for poverty were met by 18% of the White and 52% of the Black families. Black and White chil dren were exposed to equal numbers of risk factors overall, but the associa tion between poverty and psychopathology was stronger for White children (o dds ratio [OR] = 2.1; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.1, 4.2) than for Bla ck children (OR = 1.5; 95% CI = 0.9, 2.6). Family history of mental illness , poor parenting, and residential instability mediated this association in both groups. Conclusions. In this rural sample, poverty was only weakly associated with child psychiatric disorders. Risk factors for both racial/ethnic groups wer e family mental illness, multiple moves, lack of parental warmth, lax super vision, and harsh punishment.