Growing income inequality over the last three decades (Duncan & Murnane, 2011) along with stagnation in wages and employment opportunities have increased the likelihood that children born into poverty will experience persistent exposure over the life course (Chetty, Hendren, Kline, Saez, & Turner, 2014). There is evidence that income volatility has also increased, particularly among lower-income families least able to absorb downward income shocks (Hardy & Ziliak, 2014). Finally, poverty is seldom a unique feature of families; it is often associated with other disadvantages such as low parental education and single parenthood which may serve to compound the adverse effects of poverty on children’s mental health (Evans, Li, & Whipple, 2013). Internalizing behaviors such as emotional problems and externalizing behaviors such as conduct problems are among the most common health concerns experienced by children and youth worldwide (Gore et al., 2011). The environment of poverty exposes children to various adversities that contribute to their externalizing and internalizing behaviors (Evans et al., 2013). Yet, more research is needed to better understand the extent to which stable and changing patterns of poverty exposure from birth elevate children’s risk for externalizing and internalizing behaviors over the early life course, whether other disadvantages such as low maternal education and single parenthood exacerbate the risk associated with specific patterns of poverty exposure, and whether this risk is stronger for externalizing or internalizing behaviors. We classify children from birth to age 14 into five patterns of poverty exposure: always or never poor – stable patterns; a single transition into or out of poverty, or fluctuations in and out of poverty – changing patterns. We then model children’s mental health trajectories as a function of their poverty classifications and two important covariates: low maternal education and single parenthood. The three primary objectives of this study are to: (1) compare the mental health trajectories of children exposed to five patterns of poverty; (2) determine if associations between child mental health trajectories and patterns of poverty exposure vary as a function of low maternal education or single parenthood (statistical interactions); and (3) assess the extent to which the associations between child mental health trajectories and poverty exposures, low maternal education and single parenthood differ for two types of mental health outcomes: externalizing and internalizing behaviors.