Family Risk Classes Predict Longitudinal Parent and Child Outcomes: Understanding the Implications of Poverty-Related Adversity

Experiencing poverty and associated risk factors can be detrimental to families’ mental health and well-being. However, it is unclear whether experiencing specific types or patterns of adversity leads to distinct outcomes. Guided by the Family Stress Model, the objective of this study was to (a) identify unique family risk classes based on exposure to various combinations of poverty-related adversity and (b) examine whether the family risk classes differed in their levels of parental coping strategies, couple relationship quality, parenting practices, and child behavior problems. The sample included 301 mother–father–child triads (602 adults and 301 children) with a combined income ≤ 200% of the federal poverty level from diverse racial backgrounds: 26% White, 20% Black, 15% Hispanic/Latiné, 35% Interracial, and 3% Other. Measures were based on a combination of both mother and father reports and were assessed at multiple timepoints. Using latent class analysis, we identified four unique family risk classes: Low Adversity (low on most poverty-related adversities except job instability; 15%), Mothers At Risk (high mother victimization; 11%), Economic Stress, Depressive Parents (moderate economic distress and parental depressive symptoms; 41%), and Extreme Adversity (high on most adversities; 33%). These risk classes reported numerous differences in longitudinal family outcomes. This study provides critical information about which combinations of risk are most harmful to family health and well-being and can inform the development of preventive interventions tailored to each family’s risk exposure patterns.