Observational studyEuropean psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists2025
Can cash transfers protect mental health? Evidence from an observational cohort of children and adolescents living in adverse contexts in Brazil.
Observational study in European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Families' Public and Private Safety Nets and Child Mental Health Outcomes Among Families Involved with Child Protective Services.Child & adolescent social work journal : C & A · 2026Article
- Cash Transfers and Psychiatric Hospitalization for At-Risk Populations in Brazil.JAMA network open · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundYouth exposed to poverty and adversities like violence are at higher risk of mental health problems (MHP), but whether antipoverty interventions can reduce this risk remains unclear. We examined the association between participation in the Brazilian Cash Transfer Program (BFP) and mental health of children/adolescents exposed to different levels of adversity.
methodsObservational study using nearest-neighbor propensity score matching to compare BFP participants and non-participants from the Itaboraí study, a community-based cohort of 1,189 children/adolescents (6-15 years) assessed at two waves (meaninterval: 12.9 months).Measures included the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) externalizing, internalizing, and total problems scales; an adversity score derived from a confirmatory factor analysis on violence victimization at home (WorldSAFE), school (threat/maltreatment/being chased by peers) and community (Survey of Exposure to Community Violence), and stressful life events (UCLA Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Reaction Index); and BFP exposure for at least 12 months (yes/no). Latent change score models tested whether BFP participation predicted changes in CBCL T-scores, moderated by adversity levels.
resultsA total of 330 BFP participants were matched with 330 non-participants with similar sociodemographic characteristics. Decreases in total (b=-0.124, SE=0.034, p<0.001), externalizing (b=-0.122, SE=0.036, p=0.001), and internalizing problems (b=-0.141, SE=0.033, p<0.001) between baseline and follow-up were observed among BFP participants exposed to higher levels of adversity compared with non-participants.
conclusionsBFP participation was associated with reduced MHP only among children/adolescents facing high adversity, suggesting the program may help break the cycle between poverty and mental health problems-but benefits are concentrated among the most vulnerable.
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