Understanding the Influence of Latino Diversity over Child Poverty in the United States

• Author: Lina Guzman,Renee Ryberg,Dana Thomson
• Published date: 01 July 2021
• DOI: 10.1177/00027162211048780
• Date: 01 July 2021
• Subject Matter: Economics

246 ANNALS, AAPSS, 696, July 2021

DOI: 10.1177/00027162211048780

Understanding

the Influence of

Latino Diversity

over Child

Poverty in the

United States

By

LINA GUZMAN,

DANA THOMSON,

and

RENEE RYBERG

1048780ANN THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMYINFLUENCE OF LATINO DIVERSITY OVER CHILD POVERTY

research-article2021

The U.S. Latino population is diverse in terms of coun-

tries of heritage, citizenship status, languages spoken,

generational status, and geographic settlement pat-

terns. The likelihood of Latino children living in pov-

erty is often associated with these features of Latino

diversity; we challenge that view with analyses showing

that the underlying economic conditions of families

across demographic groups explain much of the likeli-

hood that a child will experience poverty. We use data

from the American Community Survey to examine the

extent to which the associations between features of

diversity and poverty are explained by differences in

socioeconomic characteristics. We find that the rela-

tionship between parental heritage and child poverty is

largely explained by socioeconomic characteristics.

Parental citizenship and English language proficiency,

while partly attenuated by socioeconomic characteris-

tics, also have direct effects on the likelihood of a child

living in poverty, suggesting that programs and policies

may need to be tailored to support the economic well-

being of these particularly vulnerable subgroups.

Keywords: poverty; child poverty; features; Latino

diversity; economic well-being

Latino children will play an important role in

shaping America’s future collective well-

being as a substantial and rapidly growing por-

tion of the country’s workforce, taxpayers,

voters, parents, and leaders (Vespa, Armstrong,

and Medina 2020). While many Latino children

share a wide range of social-emotional, educa-

tional, and familial strengths (Murphey,

Guzman, and Torres 2014), a large proportion

also face several challenges—perhaps most sig-

nificantly, challenges associated with living in or

Lina Guzman is a vice president for strategy and spe-

cial initiatives and director of Child Trends’ Hispanic

Institute. Her research focuses on documenting the

experiences of diverse communities of Latinos living in

the United States to help inform policies and programs

aimed at supporting their family and economic well-

being.

Correspondence: lguzman@childtrends.org

INFLUENCE OF LATINO DIVERSITY OVER CHILD POVERTY 247

near poverty. Roughly one in four Latino children, in 2019, lived in families

whose income was below the federal poverty line,1 representing the largest group

of children in poverty—at 4.2 million—in the United States (KIDS COUNT

Data Center 2020a). Another five million Latino children live in families with low

income, between 100 and 199 percent of the federal poverty line (KIDS COUNT

Data Center 2020b).

Although children can be resilient to the adverse impacts of economic insuf-

ficiency (Ratcliffe and Kalish 2017), overwhelming evidence exists that, on aver-

age, children growing up in poverty fare less well than children who do not grow

up in poverty (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

[NASEM] 2019). Moreover, children who experience poverty at some point in

their life are considerably more likely to be poor as adults, underlining the role

of early life experiences for long-term economic mobility (Fass, Dinan, and

Aratani 2009). What is particularly striking about America’s rates of child poverty

is the substantial variation in risk across racial and ethnic groups. Latino and

Black children have rates of poverty that are between two and three times higher

than that of non-Hispanic white children (Semega etal. 2020).

In light of the size and growth of the Latino child population and their high

rates of poverty, it is important to better understand the factors—which may dif-

fer from those of other racial and ethnic groups (Gradín 2012)—that are associ-

ated with poverty among Latino families with children and can point to programs

and policies that have the potential to support their economic security and mobil-

ity. The U.S. Latino population is diverse, with wide variation in countries of

heritage, citizenship status, languages spoken, generational status, and geo-

graphic settlement in the United States (Contreras 2002). The association

between these features of Hispanic diversity and poverty, however, likely reflects

differences in access to the labor market and human capital (Landale and Lichter

1997), which, in turn, affects families’ capacity for economic mobility and the

opportunities available to their children. For example, variation in Latino experi-

ences in the United States may be explained, in part, by variation in socioeco-

nomic profiles that could reflect differing political and economic contexts in their

Dana Thomson is a senior research scientist at Child Trends. Her work investigates how early

trauma, adversity, and poverty-associated stressors impact families and the developing minds

of young children to inform the development, implementation, and refinement of programs and

services designed to achieve improved life outcomes for children.

Renee Ryberg is a research scientist at Child Trends. She is trained as a life-course sociologist

and demographer, and she conducts policy- and practice-relevant research to understand how

youth make the transition from adolescence to adulthood to help them flourish as adults. She

examines how pathways to adulthood vary by race/ethnicity.

NOTE: This work was supported, in part, by the National Research Center on Hispanic

Children & Families, which is supported by grant #90PH0028-01-00 from the Office of

Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department

of Health and Human Services. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do

not necessarily represent the official views of the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation,

Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The first two authors share equal authorship.