Parental economic insecurity and child health.

We explore the effects of parental economic insecurity on their children's hyperactivity and anxiety. Our central argument is that even after controlling for current family income and employment status, parents may have legitimate feelings of economic insecurity, and these may be detrimental for their children. Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth indicate that the health of 2- to 5-year-old children is worse when parents report themselves to be "worried about having enough money to support the family." In particular, boys are more hyperactive and girls are more anxious when parents feel less economically secure. Changes in parenting styles appear to be channels through which parental economic insecurity affects their children.

"Why can't you sit still?"The effect of daily physical activity on childhood inattention/hyperactivity and the educational gender gap.

Despite the compelling evidence of the long-run consequences of childhood inattention/hyperactivity and harmful side effects of stimulant medication, relatively little is known about accessible non-pharmacological options to reduce inattentive/hyperactive behaviours. This study evaluates the effect of daily exercise on inattentive/hyperactive behaviours among young children by leveraging evidence from a quasi-experiment generated when 3 Canadian provinces adopted mandatory requirements for all students in grades 1 through 6 to participate in 20-30 min of daily physical activity at school between 1994 and 2009. By exploiting plausibly exogenous variations in the timing of implementation and duration of physical activity mandated as well as over 20,000 observations on a sample of nationally representative children, our difference-in-differences estimates indicate that brief bouts of daily exercise at school effectively reduce inattention/hyperactivity in children - with the beneficial effect enhanced by the duration of exercise mandated. Importantly, most of the exercise effect is concentrated on boys. Since boys' higher rates of inattention/hyperactivity contribute to the explanation for boys' lagging academic motivation and achievement, we argue that providing more scope for physical activity during the school day might be a feasible policy option not only for reducing inattentive/hyperactive behaviours, but also for helping to close the educational gender gap in the longer run.

The social complexities of disability: Discrimination, belonging and life satisfaction among Canadian youth.

Although disability has been on the psychological agenda for some time, there is limited empirical evidence on the life satisfaction of youth with a disability, especially the effect of discrimination and factors that might mitigate it. We address this critical gap by examining the complex social experiences of youth with a disability and the culminating effect on life satisfaction. We ask three questions: (1) Is having a disability associated with lower life satisfaction? (2) Do youth with a disability experience discrimination and, if so, how does this affect life satisfaction? (3) Can a sense of belonging mitigate the negative effect of discrimination? We address these questions using microdata from the Canadian Community Health Survey, which is nationally representative. Our sample consists of 11,997 adolescents, of whom 2193 have a disability. We find that life satisfaction is lower among youth with a disability. Moreover, many experience disability-related discrimination, which has a negative effect on life satisfaction. However, this is mitigated by a sense of belonging to the community. Specifically, youth with a disability do not report lower life satisfaction when high belonging is present, even if they experience discrimination. This is true for boys and girls. We conclude that belonging, even if it is not disability-related, is protective of well-being. This has important implications for policy whereby organizations that cultivate a sense of belonging may alleviate the harm sustained by youth who experience discrimination as a result of their disability.

Is all bullying the same?

BACKGROUND: We ask whether verbal abuse, threats of violence and physical assault among Canadian youth have the same determinants and whether these determinants are the same for boys and girls. If these are different, the catch-all term "bullying" may mis-specify analysis of what are really different types of behavior. METHODS: We analyze five cohorts of Canadian youth aged 12-15 from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY). There are 11475 observations in total. Pearson's correlation coefficients and six different multivariate strategies are used. RESULTS: There are many faces to bullying, in terms of its form and relative frequencies for boys versus girls. Although some characteristics of an adolescent are strong predictors of being subject to more than one type of bullying, some other characteristics are only correlated with specific types of bullying. CONCLUSIONS: The many faces of bullying, and their correlation with different factors, imply different policy interventions may be needed to address each issue effectively.

Families, time, and well-being in Canada.

We study changes in time and money available to families with children from 1971 to 2006. Increases in incomes at the top of the Canadian income distribution since the mid-1990s have taken place without any significant increases in total family hours of paid work. On the other hand, for families in the middle of the income distribution, family income has stagnated, despite the fact that parents jointly supply significantly higher hours of paid work. If both time and money are valuable resources for the production of well-being for family members, these findings suggest that inequality in well-being has increased even more than inequality of income.

Long-run consequences of parental paid work hours for child overweight status in Canada.

This paper explores the connection between the labour market and child overweight status in Canada. The labour market is a social institution which plays a critical role in determining how families live their day-to-day lives, for example, how much time and which parts of the day are available for cooking, eating and exercise. Using longitudinal data from the Statistics Canada National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, we find that a history of higher hours of paid work by mothers (but not fathers) is associated with a higher probability of being 'at risk of overweight'/overweight for children aged 6-11. The policy implication we draw from this work is that additional support to better enable parents to engage in paid work without penalty to their own health or that of their children is clearly warranted.

Chronic poverty and childhood asthma in the Maritimes versus the rest of Canada.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the role of higher long-term poverty rates in the Maritimes as an explanation for higher rates of asthma among children 2-7 years of age. METHODS: Using longitudinal data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY), logistic regressions examine associations between poverty duration and the probability of a child having been diagnosed with asthma, having a current asthma attack or experiencing wheezing in the past 12 months, controlling for other known determinants. RESULTS: NLSCY data indicate that 15.9% of Maritime children have been diagnosed with asthma, 8.7% have recently had an attack and 24.1% experienced wheezing, statistically higher levels than in the rest of Canada. Children in chronic poverty show rates that are over 30% higher than the Canadian averages. Although 19.9% of Maritime children have been chronically poor compared to 11.7% elsewhere, and although poverty is associated with a higher probability of asthma/wheezing, controlling for poverty status does not eliminate the regional difference in asthma rates. Including other controls with poverty status again does not fully explain the difference. CONCLUSION: While these findings do not completely explain why asthma prevalence rates are higher for Maritime children, they do indicate important pathways from poverty to childhood asthma. For example, chronically poor children are more likely to have had low birthweights and are less likely to have been breastfed, both of which are correlates of asthma. Such information can be useful for policy-makers. Pollutants and other environmental factors associated with asthma not included in the study may help further explain regional differences.

Social transfers and the health status of mothers in Norway and Canada.

The unconditional health status of lone mothers is worse than that of married mothers in Canada but not in Norway. Even controlling for demographic characteristics and health behaviours in Canada, the health status of lone mothers is worse. Only after we control for income does the differential in health status between married and lone mothers in Canada disappear. An important difference between the countries is that lone mothers are much less likely to be poor in Norway because they receive more generous social transfers. A simulation which involves 'giving Canadian mothers Norwegian transfers,' illustrates the possibility of significant gains in socioeconomic status and health of poor mothers in Canada.