This Auckland University research group used data from a nationally representative youth health survey to examine indicators of socioeconomic deprivation and how these indicators vary by demographic characteristics of adolescents. The 2012 survey included 8500 secondary school students. Latent class analysis grouped students by household poverty based on 9 indicators of household socioeconomic deprivation: no car; no phone; no computer; their parent/s worry about not having enough money for food; more than 2 people sharing a bedroom; no holidays with their families; moving home more than twice that year; garages or living rooms used as bedrooms; and, no parent at home with employment. Three groups of students were identified: 80% of students had low levels of household poverty across all indicators; 15% experienced moderate poverty; and 5% experienced high levels of poverty. Depressive symptoms and cigarette smoking were 2–3 times higher in the poverty groups compared to students not experiencing poverty. The relationship was less clear between overweight/obesity and household socioeconomic deprivation after adjusting for covariates. Students experiencing household poverty reported higher levels of depressive symptoms and higher rates of cigarette smoking if they lived in more affluent neighbourhoods than if they lived in low (quintile 1) socioeconomic neighbourhoods.
