A Panel Study on the Relationship between Poverty and Child Development

빈곤과 아동발달의 관계에 대한 종단 분석

This study analyzes the effect of poverty on child development outcomes including academic achievement, self-esteem, depression/anxiety, attention problems, aggression, and delinquency. The poverty experiences among elementary school children are longitudinally observed during 3 years between the 4th grade and the 6th grade. When development outcomes are compared among persistently poor children, transitory poor children, and non-poor children, academic achievement is found to be significantly different. The analyses of the relationships between the poverty status and developmental trajectories show that academic achievement among non-poor children has improved over time, while the level of poor children's achievement has decreased. The result also shows that problematic behaviors such as attention problems, aggression, delinquency has improved over time among all the children. Yet, the gap between poor and non-poor children has not decreased. The multivariate analyses indicate that the effect of poverty remains statistically significant only for academic achievement after children's individual and familial characteristics are controlled. Past experiences of poverty in addition to the current poverty affect academic achievement and persistent poverty has a stronger effect than transitory poverty on academic achievement, although the findings are not consistent across all the estimated models.

본 연구는 초등학교 4학년에서 6학년에 이르는 3개년에 걸쳐 종단적으로 관찰된 빈곤경험이 학업성취, 자아존중감, 우울 불안, 주의집중 문제, 공격성, 비행에 미치는 영향을 분석하였다. 아동의 빈곤경험을 지속빈곤, 일시빈곤, 비빈곤으로 나눠 발달산물을 비교한 결과, 학업성취에서 빈곤아동과 비빈곤아동 사이의 격차가 두드러지고 통계적으로 유의한 차이를 보였다. 빈곤경험과 발달궤적의 관계를 분석한 결과, 학업성취에서는 비빈곤아동은 시간이 갈수록 성취수준이 향상되는 긍정적 변화방향을 보이나 빈곤아동은 성취수준이 낮아지는 부정적인 변화방향을 보였다. 또 주의집중 문제, 공격성, 비행의 발달궤적 변화에서는 빈곤아동은 비빈곤아동에 비해 다소 낮은 수준을 보였다. 아동의 개인적, 가족적 특성을 통제한 결과 빈곤의 영향은 학업성취에 대해서만 통계적으로 유의하였다.