The overlap between health problems and experiences of material hardship While much has been written about the relationship between income and health and income and hardship, less has been written on the relationship between experiences of material hardship and health problems. However, like income, there are many ways by which experiences of hardship can cause or exacerbate health problems or vice versa. Health problems are significantly more common among New Yorkers facing material hardship than those who are not: roughly 1 in 3 (34%) New Yorkers facing material hardship have a work-limiting health condition. Figure 4.5 shows the rate of various health problems among New Yorkers depending on the level of hard- ship they experienced. Results show that 38% of those facing multiple forms of material hardship and 32% of those experiencing one form of hardship also have work-limiting health conditions. The prevalence of such conditions among those not facing hardship was much lower at roughly 19%. New Yorkers facing mul- tiple hardships are also much more likely to be in poor health than those facing one or no forms of material hardship (14%, 3%, and 2%, respectively). Serious psychological distress is also more common among those facing hardship, where 29% of New Yorkers with multiple hardships and 21% of those facing one hardship experience serious psychological distress, compared to 8% of New Yorkers not in hardship. These results clearly show that New Yorkers facing hardship are at high risk of health problems and suggest that alleviat- ing hardships may be one avenue to reduce health problems in the city, just as improving health may be a method for addressing hardship.
THE STATE OF POVERTY AND DISADVANTAGE IN NEW YORK CITY 39
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