To better understand the intersection of different forms of economic insecurity and their impact on parents’ and children’s wellbeing, we ask:
1) How do levels of household income, material hardship, and problem debt cluster together in households with children;
2) Which families are most likely to experience, and what events increase the likelihood of experiencing, these different economic (in)security ‘clusters’;
3) Are these ‘clusters’ associated with parents’ and children’s mental health and wellbeing; and,
4) Are there sources of resilience—such as housing security, social support, cultural connectedness, and school engagement—that provide a ‘buffer’ against any negative association between these clusters and parents’ and children’s wellbeing?

Data to answer these questions come from Growing Up in New Zealand, with latent class analysis used to generate ‘clusters’ of income, material hardship, and problem debt experiences. Multivariate regressions will examine the predictors of these economic insecurity experiences and their association with wellbeing.

The anticipated output is a research report, with the report turned into academic journal articles.