The long-term effects of childhood financial hardship mediated by physical abuse, shame, and stigma on depression in women

Journal title MALTRATTAMENTO E ABUSO ALL’INFANZIA
Author/s Ruth Spence, Stephen Nunn, Antonia Bifulco
Publishing Year 2019 Issue 2019/1
Language English Pages 18 P. 55-72 File size 241 KB
DOI 10.3280/MAL2019-001005
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

Below, you can see the article first page

If you want to buy this article in PDF format, you can do it, following the instructions to buy download credits

Article preview

FrancoAngeli is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), a not-for-profit association which run the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content.

Financial hardship has many long-term consequences for children. This study aims to explore whether it increases the risk for depression and financial hardship across the lifespan and the mechanisms through which it might do so. This includes associations with abuse and impacts such as stigma and shame. Path analysis was used to assess if childhood financial hardship predicted adult financial hardship and depression, if these associations were mediated by childhood feelings of shame, physical abuse and stigma and if stigma and physical abuse mediated the relationship between financial hardship and feelings of shame and the adult outcomes retrospectively in a community-based sample of women. Child/adolescent financial hardship predicted adult depression and was mediated by physical abuse, stigma and shame. Physical abuse and shame also mediated the relationship between child/adolescent and adult financial hardship. Targeting shameful feelings could be a key focus for interventions supporting families experiencing financial hardship and associated physical abuse of children.

Keywords: Depression, stigma, shame, financial hardship, parenting.

  1. Duncan, G. J., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (1997). Consequences of Growing Up Poor. New York: Russell Sage.
  2. Duncan, G. J., Kalil, A., & Ziol-Guest, K. M. (2013). Early childhood poverty and adult achievement, employment and health. Family Matters, 93, 27-35.
  3. Andrews, B. (1995). Bodily shame as a mediator between abusive experiences and depression. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 104(2), 277-285. DOI: 10.1037/0021-843X.104.2.277
  4. Andrews, B., & Hunter, E. (1997). Shame, early abuse, and course of depression in a clinical sample: A preliminary study. Cognition and Emotion, 11(4), 373-381. DOI: 10.1080/026999397379845
  5. Aslund, C., Leppert, J., Starrin, B., & Nilsson, K. W. (2009). Subjective social status and shaming experiences in relation to adolescent depression. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 163, 55-60.
  6. Belfield, C., Cribb, J., Hood, A., & Joyce, R. (2015). Living Standards, Poverty and Inequality in the UK: 2015. London: The Institute for Fiscal Studies.
  7. Bennett, D. S., Sullivan, M. W., & Lewis, M. (2005). Young children’s adjustment as a function of maltreatment, shame and anger. Child Maltreatment, 10, 311-323. DOI: 10.1177/1077559505278619
  8. Bennett, D. S., Sullivan, M. W., & Lewis, M. (2010). Neglected children, shame-proneness, and depressive symptoms. Child Maltreatment, 15, 305-314. DOI: 10.1177/1077559510379634
  9. Bifulco, A., Bernazzani, O., Moran, P. M., & Ball, C. (2000). Lifetime stressors and recurrent depression: Preliminary findings of the Adult Life Phase Interview (ALPHI). Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 35, 264-275.
  10. Bifulco, A., Brown, G. W., & Harris, T. O. (1994). Childhood Experience of Care and Abuse (CECA): A retrospective interview measure. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 35, 1419-1435.
  11. Bifulco, A., Brown, G. W., Lillie, A., & Jarvis, J. (1997). Memories of childhood neglect and abuse: Corroboration in a series of sisters. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 38, 365-374.
  12. Bifulco, A., & Moran, P. (1998). Wednesday’s Child: Research into women’s experience of neglect and abuse in childhood and adult depression. New York: Routledge.
  13. Bosma, H., Brandts, L., Simons, A., Groffen, D., & van den Akker, M. (2015). Low socioeconomic status and perceptions of social inadequacy and shame: Findings from the Dutch SMILE study. European Journal of Public Health, 25, 311-313.
  14. Boyce, C. J., Brown, G. D. A., & Moore, S. C. (2010). Money and happiness: Rank of income, not income, affects life satisfaction. Psychological Science, 21, 471-475. DOI: 10.1177/0956797610362671
  15. Chapman, D. P., Whitfield, C. L., Felitti, V. J., Dube, S. R., Edwards, V. J., & Anda, R. F. (2004). Adverse childhood experiences and the risk of depressive disorders in adulthood. Journal of Affective Disorder, 82, 217-225.
  16. Chase, E., & Walker, R. (2013). The co-construction of shame in the context of poverty: Beyond a threat to the social bond. Sociology, 47, 739-754. DOI: 10.1177/0038038512453796
  17. Clark-Kauffman, E., Duncan, G. J., & Morris, P. (2003). How welfare policies affect children and adolescent achievement. American Economic Review, 93, 299-303. DOI: 10.1257/000282803321947236
  18. Conger, R. D., & Elder, G. H. (1994). Families in troubled times: Adapting to change in rural America. New York: Aldine.
  19. Conrad-Hiebner, A., & Scanlon, E. (2015). The economic conditions of child physical abuse: A call for a national research, policy, and practice agenda. Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services, 96, 59-66. DOI: 10.1606/1044-3894.2015.96.8
  20. Department of Work and Pensions (2015). Households below average income: 1994/1995 to 2013/2014. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/households-below-average-income-19941995-to-20132014. Accessed 22 June 2015.
  21. De Rubeis, S., & Hollenstein, T. (2009). Individual differences in shame and depressive symptoms during early adolescence. Personality and Individual Differences, 46, 477-482.
  22. Doidge, J. C., Higgins, D. J., Delfabbro, P., Edwards, B., Vassallo, S., Toumbourou, J. W., & Segal, L. (2017). Economic predictors of child maltreatment in an Australian population-based birth cohort. Children and Youth Services Review, 72, 14-25.
  23. Drake, B., & Jonson-Reid, M. (2014). Poverty and Child Maltreatment. In J. E. Korbin & R. D. Krugman (Eds.) Handbook of Child Maltreatment (pp. 131-148). Dordrecht: Springer.
  24. Drake, B., & Pandey, S. (1996). Understanding the relationship between neighborhood poverty and specific types of child maltreatment. Child Abuse and Neglect, 20, 1003-1018. DOI: 10.1016/0145-2134(96)00091-9
  25. Duncan, G. J., & Magnuson, K. (2013). The long reach of early childhood poverty. In W. J. J. Yeung & M. T. Yap (Eds.) Economic Stress, Human Capital, and Families in Asia: Research and Policy Challenges, Quality of Life in Asia 4, (pp. 57-70). Dordrecht: Springer.
  26. Duncan, G. J., Ziol-Guest, K. M., & Kalil, A. (2010). Early-Childhood Poverty and Adult Attainment, Behavior, and Health. Child Development, 81, 306-325.
  27. Ellenbogen, S., Trocmé, N., Wekerle, C., & McLeod, K. (2015). An explanatory study of physical abuse-related shame, guilt, and blame in a sample of youth receiving child protective services: Links to maltreatment, anger and aggression. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 24, 532-551. DOI: 10.1080/10926771.2015.1029183
  28. Elovainio, M., Pulkki-Råback, L., Jokela, M., Kivimäki, M., Hintsanen, M. ecc. & Keltikangas-Järvinen, L. (2012). Socioeconomic status and the development of depressive symptoms from childhood to adulthood: A longitudinal analysis across 27 years of follow-up in the Young Finns study. Social Science and Medicine, 74, 923-929.
  29. Evans, W. N., & Garthwaite, C. L., (2010). Giving Mom a Break: The Impact of Higher EITC Payments on Maternal Health. National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper 16296.
  30. Finch, D. (2015). A Budget for Workers? The Impact of the Summer Budget on Work Incentives in Universal Credit. London: Resolution Foundation.
  31. First, M., Gibbon, M., Spitzer, R., & Williams, G. (1996). Users guide for SCID: Biometrics Research Division.
  32. Garthwaite, K. (2016). Stigma, shame and ‘people like us’: An ethnographic study of foodbank use in the UK. Journal of Poverty and Social Justice, 24, 277-289. DOI: 10.1332/175982716X14721954314922
  33. Gilman, S. E., Kawachi, I., Fitzmaurice, G. M., & Buka, S. L. (2002). Socioeconomic status in childhood and the lifetime risk of major depression. International Journal of Epidemiology, 31, 359-367.
  34. Heaven, P. C., Ciarrochi, J., & Leeson, P. (2009). The longitudinal links between shame and increasing hostility during adolescence. Personality and Individual Differences, 47, 841-844.
  35. Keene, A. C., & Epps, J. (2016). Childhood physical abuse and aggression: Shame and narcissistic vulnerability. Child Abuse and Neglect, 51, 276-283.
  36. Kelley, S. A., Brownell, C. A., & Campbell, S. B. (2000). Mastery motivation and self-evaluative affect in toddlers: Longitudinal relations with maternal behaviour. Child Development, 71, 1061-1071. DOI: 10.1111/1467-8624.00209
  37. Korenman, S., Miller, J., & Sjaastad, J. E. (1994). Long-term Poverty and Child Development in the United States: Results from the NLSY. Institute for Research on Poverty Discussion Paper No. 1044-94.
  38. Kim, S., Thibodeau, R., & Jorgensen, R. S. (2011). Shame, guilt and depressive symptoms: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 137, 68-96.
  39. Leary, M. R. (2004). Digging deeper: The fundamental nature of “self-conscious” emotions. Psychological Inquiry, 15, 129-131.
  40. Major, B., & O’Brien, L. T. (2005). The social psychology of stigma. Annual Review of Psychology, 56, 393-421.
  41. McLoyd, V. C. (1998). Socioeconomic disadvantage and child development. American Psychologist, 53, 185-204. DOI: 10.1037/0003-066X.53.2.185
  42. Mills, R. S. L., Arbeau, K. A., Lall, D. I. K., & De Jaeger, A. E. (2010). Parenting and child characteristics in the prediction of shame in early and middle childhood. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 56, 500-528.
  43. Muthén, L. K, & Muthén, B. O. (1998-2010). Mplus User’s Guide (Sixth ed.). Los Angeles: Muthén and Muthén.
  44. Natsuaki, M. N., Shaw, D. S., Neiderhiser, J. M., Ganiban, J. M., Harold, G. T., Reiss, D., & Leve, L. D. (2014). Raised by depressed parents: Is it an environmental risk? Clinical Child and Family Psychology, 17, 357-367.
  45. Pemberton, S., Fahmy, E., Sutton, E., & Bell, K. (2016). Navigating the stigmatised identities of poverty in austere times: Resisting and responding to narratives of personal failure. Critical Social Policy, 36, 21-37. DOI: 10.1177/0261018315601799
  46. Psychologists Against Austerity (2015, July 16). Psychological Impact of Austerity: A Briefing Paper. https://psychagainstausterity.wordpress.com/psychological-impact-of-austerity-briefing-paper/ Accessed 20 July 2015.
  47. Rantakeisu, U., Starrin, B., & Hagquist, C. (1999). Financial hardship and shame: A tentative model to understand the social and health effects of unemployment. British Journal of Social Work, 29, 877-901.
  48. Reutter, L. I., Stewart, M. J., Veenstra, G., Love, R., Raphael, D., & Makwarimba, E. (2009). “Who do they think we are, anyway?”: Perceptions of and responses to poverty stigma. Qualitative Health Research, 19, 297-311. DOI: 10.1177/1049732308330246
  49. Ridge, T. (2011). The everyday costs of poverty in childhood: A review of qualitative research exploring the lives and experiences of low-income children in the UK. Children and Society, 25, 73-84.
  50. Sidanius, J., & Pratto, F. (1999). Social Dominance: An Intergroup Theory of Social Hierarchy and Oppression. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  51. Starrin, B., Aslund, C., & Nilsson, K. W. (2009). Financial Stress, Shaming Experiences and Psychosocial Ill-Health: Studies into the Finances-Shame Model. Social Indicators Research, 91, 283-298.
  52. Stuewig, J., & McCloskey, L. A. (2005). The relation of child maltreatment to shame and guilt among adolescents: Psychological routes to depression and delinquency. Child Maltreatment, 10, 324-336. DOI: 10.1177/1077559505279308
  53. Sutton, E., Pemberton, S., Fahmy, E., & Tamiya, Y. (2014). Stigma, shame and the experience of poverty in Japan and the United Kingdom. Social Policy and Society, 13, 143-154. DOI: 10.1017/S1474746413000419
  54. Thomson Ross, L., Hood, C. O., & Short, S. D. (2016). Unpredictability and symptoms of depression and anxiety. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 371-385.
  55. Walker, R., Kyomuhendo, G., Chase, E., Choudhry, S., Gubrium, E. K., Yongmie, J., ecc. & Ming, Y. (2013). Poverty in global perspective: Is shame a common denominator? Journal of Social Policy, 42, 215-233. DOI: 10.1017/S0047279412000979
  56. Watson, A. C., & River, P. L. (2005). A social-cognitive model of personal responses to stigma. In P. Corrigan (Ed.) On the Stigma of Mental Illness: Practical Strategies for Research and Social Change. Washington DC: American Psychological Society. DOI: 10.1037/10887-006
  57. Whittaker, M. (2015). O, blessed revisions: fiscal windfall and what to do with it. London: Resolution Foundation.
  58. Williams, S. (1987). Goffman, interactionism and the management of stigma in everyday life. In G. Scambler (Ed.) Sociological theory and medical sociology. London: Tavistock.
  59. Wood, A. M., Boyce, C. J., Moore, S. C., & Brown, G. D. A. (2012). An evolutionary based social rank explanation of why low income predicts mental distress: A 17 year cohort study of 30,000 people. Journal of Affective Disorders, 136, 882-888.

  • Exploring trauma and attachment style over the lifespan using secondary data: A single case study of two sisters Deborah Bailey-Rodriguez, Nollaig Frost, in MALTRATTAMENTO E ABUSO ALL'INFANZIA 2/2019 pp.45
    DOI: 10.3280/MAL2019-002004
  • Impacts of childhood maltreatment in adulthood Antonia Bifulco, Nollaig Frost, in MALTRATTAMENTO E ABUSO ALL'INFANZIA 2/2019 pp.7
    DOI: 10.3280/MAL2019-002001
  • Historical child abuse and intergenerational transmission: Experiences of midlife women and their older-age mothers Antonia Bifulco, Catherine Jacobs, Elena Carraro, in MALTRATTAMENTO E ABUSO ALL'INFANZIA 3/2019 pp.23
    DOI: 10.3280/MAL2019-003003

Ruth Spence, Stephen Nunn, Antonia Bifulco, The long-term effects of childhood financial hardship mediated by physical abuse, shame, and stigma on depression in women in "MALTRATTAMENTO E ABUSO ALL’INFANZIA" 1/2019, pp 55-72, DOI: 10.3280/MAL2019-001005