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Child poverty impacts
Ambiguous definition of poverty
Ambiguous definition of poverty
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A Global Issue: Child Poverty
Child Poverty has been an ongoing issue throughout the world for decades. The problem of child poverty affects every part of the world. Poverty has pervasive consequences that can last a lifetime. In this paper I will discuss poverty and how it impacts the lives of children and include the lasting influence of child poverty in adulthood.
Because poverty is based on a discretionary concept of what is sufficient to sustain a person developed by many different people, several controversies occur in the definition of poverty. Much controversy arises in determining whether poverty should be defined either through economic means or in terms of a social disadvantage. The economic definition of poverty is typically based on income measures.
How poverty is defined can be different based on standards of living determined by the government of a particular region. There is no monetary value assigned to poverty levels globally. Because each geographical region has a unique set of living conditions poverty cannot be determined in a systematic way.
Unicef has calculated t...
Poverty has many influences on children under the age of 16. The research fined out that in recent year, an increasing number of children become poor, live under the poverty condition- childhood poverty lasted 10 years or more. So, what does the poverty exactly mean to children? According to Brook-Gunn and Duncan, The kids who live in the poverty condition have the low quality of schools; more likely to have domestic violence and become homeless; less access to friends, services, etc. (Brooks-Gunn et all, 1997) That points out the disadvantage and how the family income influence youngsters overall childhood, since under the poverty condition, they children do not have enough money to support for their necessary needs, they will more likely to have low self-confidence and hard to blend in with their peers. Poverty has impact on children’s achievement in several different ways. Payne (2003) maintained that the poverty could affect children achievement though emotional, mental, financial, and role models (Payne, 2003). Thus, the children from low-income family are more likely to have self-destructive behavior, lack of control emotional response and lack of necessary intellectual, that is really important for the students under the age of 16. Nevertheless, the children who suffer from poverty are usually have low birth weight and low cognitive ability
There are many different ways to measure poverty that are used in today’s world. Two of the main measures used is the absolute measure and the relative measure. In the United States a poverty line is created to determine poverty, but this is a very outdated measure. Poverty is currently defined as a deficiency of income due to economic reasons or other such reasons.
Poverty is difficult to define exactly, as it has different meanings to different people depending on what country they live in, what culture they belong to, and how much income they earn. All these factors and more will change the way poverty is defined by an individual or organization (Seabrook, 2007, p.35). Adam Smith the classical economist had this view of poverty “poverty is a lack of those necessities that the custom of the country renders it indecent for creditable people, even of the lowest order, to be without” (Richmond and Saloojee, 2005, p.33). Another popular view of poverty is that of Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen who said the poor “cannot participate adequately in communal activities, or be free of public shame from failure to satisfy conventions” (Richmond and ...
Poverty is defined as the state in which income of an individual is insufficient to provide basic necessities, such as food, shelter, or clothing. On the basis of insufficiency, poverty is broadly classified into two types, namely, absolute poverty and relative poverty (Steinour, 2016). Absolute poverty occurs when the insufficiency is so severe that it is life threatening. For example, cases where an individual is unable to afford basic amenities like medicines, a safe home, food, that could lead to the death of that individual is said to be absolute poverty. On the other hand, relative poverty is the type of poverty where the insufficiency is substantially greater than that of most others in the society (Steinour, 2016).
Poverty is both a personal issue and a public issue. A community is as strong as its inhabitants (“A Community”). We often think of childhood discipline in the respect that it takes a village. To further elaborate, it takes a village to influence a strong, prosperous community. However, many people may feel as if it is not their duty to help the poor, that individuals are responsible for their own lot in life. Of course, this should not be the only way of viewing poverty. Surely, the various reasons for poverty also influence the solutions to improving poverty. Moreover, just because someone is living in poverty does not mean that said individual caused the situation or is not trying to correct the situation. In essence, situations sometimes occur that may impart poverty upon individuals, creating circumstances that are out of control for these individuals. With that being said, it is more important than ever to realize that poverty is a public and personal issue that can affect anyone and at any time. Even so, how one deals with the issue usually determines the outcome. Several programs offer assistance when one is affected by poverty, but it is also the individual’s responsibility to seek out these programs and help themselves in overcoming poverty. Ultimately, poverty is a situation that personally affects the entire public community.
It has been reported that 151,600 people die each day, fifteen percent of this are due to poverty-related cases and most of them are children below 5 years of age (Central Intelligence Agency, 2013). Poverty is said to exist when people lack the means to satisfy their basic needs (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2013). In this context, Ford (2013) explained that poverty is a multidimensional index that can provide a more distinct picture. Supported by Bell (2013), poverty is composed of various dimensions, subjectively present when individual’s actual income does not meet one’s expectations. The cause are numerous, including lack of individual accountability, bad government strategy, exploitation by the general public and business with supremacy and influence or some combination of these and other factor (Abramsky, 2011).
Mahatma Grandhi, leader of Indian nationalism in British-ruled India, stated “There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread” (www.goodreads.com). Poverty is a problem which has always existed in many societies. It is a rampant problem from poor countries to affluent countries, so it will never be an out-of-date subject to discuss. The state of having low income has a devastating impact on adults. Similarly, the effects of poverty on children can last throughout their life. Although there are many distinct arguments about impacts of growing up in poverty on children, the three main effects are poor health, impaired development, and low-level of education achievement.
Merriam-Webster’s (n.d.) definition of poverty is “the state of being poor; a lack of something”. As an overall concept this designation may suffice, however, it does not provide the ability to statistically measure such a condition among the population. Without a consensus on how to describe poverty, a standard measurement cannot be devised. Instead, two additional definitions, which are used frequently, are the poverty guidelines from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the poverty threshold from the U.S. Census Bureau. Both measurements have their limitations, however, they do provide a baseline in which comparisons can be made from historical data and the information can assist in preparing for potential
Poverty is the lack of necessities like the basic food, shelter, medical care, and safety that are generally thought necessary to human (Bradshaw, 2006). Poverty is where people have unreasonably low living standards compared with others and experience hardship in everyday life (McClelland, 2000). The measurement for poverty is the “at risk of poverty line” that is derived from the net disposable household income which includes the income of all household members after taxes and social contributions, divided by the weighted factor of all household members, called “equivalent net disposable household income” (Buttler, 2013). Poverty line is the minimum acceptable standard of the welfare indicator that separates the poor from the non-poor (Albert and Collado, 2004). If household income falls below a specific income level then, the household is called poor (van Praag and Ferrer-i-Carbonell, 2005). But poverty still is a complex and multidimensional phenomenon (Santarelli, 2013). As Makoka and Kaplan (2005) stated that poverty is determined in different ways by different institutions and the indicators of poverty differ as well. Hagenaars and De vos (1998) divided the definition of poverty into three categories: absolute definitions, relative definitions and subjective definition.
When analyzing children growing up in poverty a lot of factors come into play such as their physical, psychological and emotional development. To grow up in poverty can have long term effect on a child. What should be emphasized in analyzing the effects of poverty on children is how it has caused many children around the world to suffer from physical disorders, malnutrition, and even diminishes their capacities to function in society. Poverty has played a major role in the functioning of families and the level of social and emotional competency that children are able to reach. Children in poverty stricken families are exposed to greater and emotional risks and stress level factors.
As we have seen so far, social inequality and exclusion is a vital part in the process of understanding poverty. The state of a few sections of society has a long drawn relation to the social norms that have been imposed upon them centuries ago. Other areas such as education, employment and healthcare are also constituent reasons of a wider definition of poverty.
Income poverty is the condition of not having enough income to meet fundamental requirements for food, shelter, and clothing. Since kids are dependent on others, they enter or avoid poverty depending on their family’s economic circumstances. Children are often unlikely to change their family’s conditions by themselves, until they approach adulthood. Poverty is a growing problem that affects the lives of millions of children each day, but together we can help lessen the impact.
Children who have been exposed to a bitter, poverty stricken environment, according to statistic, will be stuck in that same rut, and will have to work twice as hard to receive the same attention and respect as those who are in a middle class family. Growing up in poverty is very difficult for anyone to do, but for children being raised in such conditions, it can be something that the child may never overcome in their lifetime. Watching your parents, and in way too many cases parent struggle to provide for you will tend to have long lasting effects on children. No child should ever have to wonder where the next meal is coming from, or how their parents are going to pay bills. Constantly stressing over how their necessities will continue to be met is hard on adults, but it is especially difficult for a child.
Poverty is generally defined as a state of deprivation in well-being. The conventional perspective connects well-being basically to control over commodities, so the poor are individuals who do not have sufficient income or consumption to place them above some adequate bare minimum threshold (Lyman et al, 2004). Poverty is also tied to a particular type of consumption, for instance people may be considered health poor, house poor or food poor. The poverty dimensions can often be determined directly. For instance it can be measured by assessing malnutrition or levels of literacy (Alla...
Poverty is an issue dealt with throughout the world, but we are not all aware of its conditions. Poverty is a very serious problem around the world. Poverty is defined as the equality of poorness and impoverishment -- (the state of having little or no money and few or no material possessions). A question to ask ourselves is: “Should poverty be defined strictly in terms of monetary income, as opposed to some qualitative formula which takes into consideration styles of life as well as material possessions?” (Sheppard 13) Because there are so many different ways we can express the term poverty, maybe there should be a certain way we can determine poverty worldwide?