Divergent trajectories: three dimensions of child poverty during the Great Recession in Ireland
While research has investigated the effects of the Great Recession on the Irish economy using economic indicators or cross-sectional household-level data, this research note applies group-based multitrajectory modelling to provide a more nuanced approach. Using nationally representative, longitudinal data from the Growing Up in Ireland study, we analyse patterns in three common measures of economic well-being (financial strain; disposable income; material deprivation) across Irish households in the period leading up to, during and after the Great Recession, and subsequently, break down the characteristics for each group of trajectories. We identify six distinct trajectory clusters, which all indicate declining income and increasing financial strain from the start to the height of the economic depression. However, trajectory groupings show that experiences were far from uniform, with previous economic well-being and demographic characteristics shaping the household experience. Implications for future research are discussed.
-
Central Statistics Office (2019) Ireland’s UN SDGs 2019: report on indicators for Goal 1 No Poverty, https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-sdg1/irelandsunsdgs2019-reportonindicatorsforgoal1nopoverty/poverty/.
-
Central Statistics Office (2021) Seasonally adjusted monthly unemployment, https://ws.cso.ie/public/api.restful/PxStat.Data.Cube_API.ReadDataset/MUM01/XLSX/2007/en[version April 2022].
-
Flouri, E., Midouhas, E., Joshi, H. and Tzavidis, N. (2015) Emotional and behavioural resilience to multiple risk exposure in early life: the role of parenting, European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 24(7): 745–55. doi: 10.1007/s00787-014-0619-7
-
Kiernan, K.E. and Huerta, M.C. (2008) Economic deprivation, maternal depression, parenting and children’s cognitive and emotional development in early childhood, British Journal of Sociology, 59(4): 783–806. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-4446.2008.00219.x
-
Layte, R. (2022) Does family economic strain reduce child educational achievement? A longitudinal assessment using the great recession in Ireland, European Sociological Review, 38(3): 408–24. doi: 10.1093/esr/jcab049
-
Layte, R. and McCrory, C. (2018) Fiscal crises and personal troubles: the great recession in Ireland and family processes, Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 53(9): 987–1001. doi: 10.1007/s00127-018-1551-9
-
Lister, R. (2021) Poverty, 2nd edn, Cambridge: Polity Press.
-
Maître, B., Russell, H. and Smyth, E. (2021) The Dynamics of Child Poverty in Ireland: Evidence from the Growing Up in Ireland Survey, Research Series Paper 121, Dublin: Economic and Social Research Institute, doi: 10.26504/rs121.
-
Nagin, D.S. and Odgers, C.L. (2010) Group-based trajectory modeling in clinical research, Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 6: 109–38. doi: 10.1146/annurev.clinpsy.121208.131413
-
Nagin, D.S., Jones, B.L., Passos, V.L. and Tremblay, R.E. (2018) Group-based multi-trajectory modeling, Statistical Methods in Medical Research, 27(7): 2015–23. doi: 10.1177/0962280216673085
-
Nolan, B. and Maître, B. (2017) Children of the Celtic Tiger during the economic crisis: Ireland, in B. Cantillon, Y. Chzhen, S. Handa and B. Nolan (eds) Children of Austerity: Impact of the Great Recession on Child Poverty in Rich Countries, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp 146–69.
-
Reinhard, E., Layte, R., McCrory, C., Panico, L. and Avendano, M. (2018) The great recession and the health of young children: a fixed-effects analysis in Ireland, American Journal of Epidemiology, 187(7): 1438–48. doi: 10.1093/aje/kwy001
-
Russell, H., Whelan, C.T. and Maître, B. (2013) Economic vulnerability and severity of debt problems: an analysis of the Irish EU-SILC 2008, European Sociological Review, 29(4): 695–706. doi: 10.1093/esr/jcs048
-
Schenck-Fontaine, A. and Panico, L. (2019) Many kinds of poverty: three dimensions of economic hardship, their combinations, and children’s behavior problems, Demography, 56(6): 2279–305. doi: 10.1007/s13524-019-00833-y
-
Townsend, P. (1979) Poverty in the United Kingdom: A Survey of Household Resources and Standards of Living, Harmondsworth: Penguin.
-
Watson, D., Whelan, C.T. Maître, B. and Williams, J. (2015) Family economic vulnerability and the great recession: an analysis of the first two waves of the Growing Up in Ireland study, Longitudinal and Life Course Studies, 6(3): 230–44. doi: 10.14301/llcs.v6i3.331
-
Watson, D., Whelan, C.T., Maître, B. and Williams, J. (2016) Socio-economic variation in the impact of the Irish recession on the experience of economic stress among families, Economic and Social Review, 47(4): 477–98.
-
Whelan, C.T. and Maître, B. (2010) Welfare regime and social class variation in poverty and economic vulnerability in Europe: an analysis of EU-SILC, Journal of European Social Policy, 20(4): 316–32. doi: 10.1177/0958928710374378
-
Whelan, C.T. and Maître, B. (2014) The great recession and the changing distribution of economic vulnerability by social class: the Irish case, Journal of European Social Policy, 24(5): 470–85. doi: 10.1177/0958928714545444
-
Whelan, C.T., Nolan, B. and Maître, B. (2018) Economic stress and the great recession in Ireland: the erosion of social class advantage, Economic and Social Review, 49(3): 259–86.
-
Willitts, M. (2006) Measuring Child Poverty Using Material Deprivation: Possible Approaches, DWP Working Paper 28, London: Department for Work and Pensions.
Supplementary Materials
- Supplementary_AppendixS1.pdf (PDF 123 KB)
| May 2022 onwards | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 280 | 280 | 241 |
| Full Text Views | 6 | 6 | 1 |
| PDF Downloads | 6 | 6 | 1 |
We are a leading social science publisher
committed to making a difference.
Bristol University Press and
Policy Press
bristoluniversitypress.co.uk