First Poverty Spells and Suicide

This article will examine information on the problem of becoming suddenly in need and how it affects the middle class in Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas and the rest of the world. I will show how it has been studied by the U.S. Census Bureau and make references to various dissertations, position papers, speeches and local agencies’ information on the subject.

Poverty of information on Poverty Spells

I began seeking articles about poverty spells, particularly the first spell. I expected to find a wealth of information, but instead found precious little on the first poverty spell. While very out of date one of the first articles on poverty spells was an NBER Working Paper Series; “Slipping into and Out of Poverty: The Dynamics of Spells”; by Mary Jo Bane and David T. Ellwood; Working Paper #1199; National Bureau of Economic Research; 1050 Massachusetts Avenue; Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138; September, 1983; hereafter referred to as Bane and Ellwood.

Bane and Ellwood mention “ever-poor (or the newly poor)” on the first page of their paper. I take this to mean people who ever become poor. Bane and Ellwood define a poverty spell “as beginning in the first year that income was below the poverty line after having been above it, and as ending when income was above the poverty line after having been below (p.10). The concept of “ever-poor” shows up again on page 11 when Bane and Ellwood talk about their method of reducing multiple spells among the ever-poor by eliminating “short (one year) spells of poverty” (p.11).

This is where Bane and Ellwood’s work becomes a study that does not aid in my research. In later research I will present states that many poverty spells are of less than a year in length. Bane and Ellwood use statistics that were yearly instead of monthly. When Bane and Ellwood eliminate one year spells of poverty, they throw out the data that I am seeking. But I believe they were on the right track and had they been doing their research in the new millennium, they would have been a premier source for this article. In their abstract they make this observation: “The methodology also allows us to estimate the extent to which poverty spell beginnings and endings are associated with changes in income or changes in family structure. Less than 40 percent of poverty spell beginnings seem to be caused by a drop in the heads (sic) earnings, while 60 percent of the endings occur when the head’s earnings increase.”

Hyun Joo Oh targets first poverty spells

The only article I found that specifically targets the first poverty spell as such was by Hyun Joo Oh (2001) “An Exploration of the Influence of Household Poverty Spells on Mortality Risk”; Journal of Marriage and Family 63 (1), 224-234. doi:10.1111/j.1741-2001.00224.x. With apology to Hyun Joo Oh, I will refer to him as HJO rather than use the wrong part of his name as his last.

HJO mentions in his abstract that two of his findings include “(a) poverty significantly increases mortality risk, controlling for age, gender and race; (b) the first spell is especially potent…” HJO used data that was longitudinal and contained socioeconomic and demographic data of a nationally representative sample. The source of his data was PSID. I think the most important point HJO makes has to do with the mortality rate of those in their first poverty spell, although those in most danger are single males, as you shall see.

HJO states that his definition of a poverty spell is a “measure of exposure, signifying a period of time lived in disadvantageous circumstances. Most poverty spells, 75%, last for 1 year or less (Naifeh, 1998) (p. 224).” The risk of mortality is related to the number of spells of poverty the family experiences and how the family adapts strategies to deal with the spell. In doing his research HJO came upon a study using the PSID by McDonough et al. (1997) who assessed the effects of “a decrease in income of 50% or greater on mortality from one year to the next. They found the mortality risk of individuals whose household income was in the middle-income range, $20,000 to $70,000, are most harmed by the drop in income compared with their lower income counterparts (p.225).” HJO postulates that it’s possible that these middle-income families do not possess the skills that develop out of having previous experiences with poverty spells.

According to HJO:

The processes that elevate mortality risk as poverty persists or returns may get a kick start at the beginning of the first spell, because events that are unforeseen and unusual, such as a first transition into poverty, can be perceived as catastrophic (Figley, 1983). A poverty spell may be especially traumatic in cases in which poverty has never been experienced and the most effective ways of coping are unknown and even unimaginable (Figley, p. 14). Consequently, an unanticipated poverty spell may herald a particularly difficult period in the life course of the household and its members, introducing economic uncertainty, frailty and instability into their daily lives. Financial or employment instability bears negative consequences for a range of health outcomes (Catalano, 1991) and potentially the risk of mortality as well (225).

What then happens to members of the household is a destabilizing of everyday life. Members can then try to cope with stress by giving up regular exercise and proper eating habits, experimenting with drugs, nicotine and alcohol, or experiencing unfavorable psychosocial outcomes like anxiety, psychological distress, negative attitudes and marital strain. On the other hand some families with strong female members actually strengthen their ties in times of trial. They use a spouse’s time out of work to bring the family together, build ties to people outside the household, seek assistance from religious institutions and community organizations and involve others in their aid.

An example of this was seen in the Oprah Winfrey show where the husband committed suicide over his first poverty spell. Suze Orman, a financial advisor, had the wife Sylvia get together with her extended family and ask for assistance. Suze had Sylvia tell her family members exactly what she needed as far as babysitting while she looked for work and then after she got a job, help with food and meals and money that was not in the form of loans (so that family members would not become angry loan sharks) (Oprah.com February 13, 2008).

HJO misses the mark

HJO did not include people in a poverty spell of less than one year, which is where I think he misjudged the information. In his results HJO learned that those most likely to die included older African American single men with only some or all of grade school and unemployed. He discovered that most individuals in his sample only experienced poverty once, but in that one spell an individual’s life expectancy dropped from those who never experienced poverty living an average of 10.6 years to those in a single bout of poverty having an average of only 2.9 years of additional life. In other words a first spell raises the odds of dying by 1.7 times, in comparison to those who never were in poverty. Furthermore, each year spent in poverty significantly raises the odds of dying by 1.1 times. African American men have a higher likelihood of dying than European Americans. Men are almost twice as likely as women to die.

One of the most important statements HJO makes is that families and communities “must be aware of the particular needs of families experiencing poverty for the first time (p.232).” This is an important fact in keeping people from committing suicide or slipping through the cracks.