I recall a study that concluded the risk of falling into poverty / homelessness increases dramatically after experiencing 5 (or 7?) traumatic life events, such as
etc (a threshold effect). That's about as clear a memory as I can form, and search engines don't help. Anybody know about this study? It might have been from New Zealand.
This effect was identified in a report by the New Zealand Ministry of Social Development (Jensen et al., 2006). It specifically indicated that individuals experiencing eight or more "life shocks" (negative life events) experienced significantly more negative socioeconomic outcomes.
This effect is referenced on Wikipedia's Cycle of Poverty page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycle_of_poverty), which links to a news story on the report (Berry, 2006) and the report itself.
A summary of the report's findings were later published in an academic journal (Jensen et al., 2007).
Berry, R. (2006, July 12). "Life shocks" tip people into hardship. The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved from: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10390891
Jensen, J., Krishnan, V., Hodgson, R., Sathiyandra, S., Templeton,
R., Jones, D., ... & Beynon, P. (2006). New Zealand Living Standards
2004 Ngā Āhuatanga Noho o Aotearoa. Wellington: Ministry of Social Development. Retrieved from:
http://media.nzherald.co.nz/webcontent/document/pdf/living-standards-2004.pdf
Jensen, J., Sathiyandra, S., & Matangi-Want, M. (2007). The 2004 New Zealand Living Standards Survey: What does it signal about the importance of multiple disadvantage?. Social Policy Journal of New Zealand, 30, 110-144.
