WI23-08: COVID-19 Health Disparities and the Economic Security of Families with Children

File(s)
Date
2023Author
Hair, Nicole
Urban, Carly
Publisher
Center for Financial Security
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted low-income families and racial and ethnic minority communities. This project will use new data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) to contribute to our understanding of the causes and consequences of COVID-19 health disparities. Focusing on children and their caregivers, will compare groups of families with disparate COVID-19 experiences. First, we will consider the structural and social inequities that may underlie COVID-19 health disparities. Next, we will evaluate the impact of a parent or caregiver’s COVID-19-related illness, hospitalization, or disability on measures of economic security. Finally, we will explore the extent to which the pandemic has exacerbated preexisting disparities in underserved communities. Our sample will include families that participated in both the 2019 and 2021 waves of the PSID. The panel structure will allow us to compare outcomes both across groups and within the same group over time.
This study is closely aligned with the SSA’s interest in the structural barriers that may contribute to disparities by race and ethnicity and, particularly, the impact of COVID-19 on the economic security of persons from underserved communities. The proposed research will help us to better understand how lingering post-COVID health problems affect the economic security and well-being of families. Prospective findings could inform predictions about the need for SSDI and SSI benefits, including children’s benefits when COVID-19 illness leads to a parent or caregiver’s disability as well as changes in the distribution of SSDI or SSI applications across racial/ethnic and socioeconomic groups.
Subject
COVID-19
Long COVID
Health Disparities
Economic Security
I14
I18
J21
I31
H51
Permanent Link
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1793/84734Type
Working Paper
Description
The social, economic, and health disruptions caused by the pandemic may have been particularly harmful
to economically vulnerable families with children. This study leverages new data from the Panel Study of
Income Dynamics to advance scientific understanding of the causes and consequences of COVID-19
health disparities. Focusing on children and their caregivers, we consider the structural and social inequities that underlie adult COVID-19 health disparities; evaluate the impact of a parent or caregiver’s COVID-19-related illness, hospitalization, or disability on family economic security; and explore the extent to which the pandemic has exacerbated preexisting disparities for underserved communities.
Citation
Hair, Nicole and Carly Urban. 2023. "COVID-19 Health Disparities and the Economic Security of Families with Children." FY2023 Research Projects. Retirement and Disability Research Center. https://cfsrdrc.wisc.edu/project/wi23-08.