Understanding child disadvantage

Exposure to disadvantage impacts on children’s social-emotional adjustment, physical functioning, and learning competencies.These early inequities lead to a range of serious problems in later life and carry significant costs for society, such as a greater burden for health and education services and lower productivity. As inequities in children’s health and development are unnecessary and preventable, their elimination is a global health priority.

This Research Snapshot showcases the findings from a study that aimed to test a child disadvantage framework with data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC).

The proposed framework of child disadvantage may help to identify policies and interventions capable of reducing the impact of disadvantage on children’s outcomes.