Problems caused by poverty in children
Of course, there are differences between being poor in the developing country and being poor in the developed country, but there are some key factors about poverty that are common despite the location and the quality of the country’s development. Therefore, I will start by discussing general effects of poverty on child development.
Poverty increases a child’s vulnerability to both biological and psychological risks that can highly affect their developmental opportunities. As researches and statistics show, children in low-income neighborhoods are more likely to experience behavioral problems that negatively impact their cognitive development and mental health problems than children in affluent families.
…show more content…
Maternal education, marital status and the number of children in a family are all important for a child’s performance. In poor individuals there is a higher percentage of adolescent childbearing, which has a negative effect on both children and parents. One of the consequences is low birth weight among adolescent mothers (this is more frequent in young poor mothers than older mothers). Also the children of adolescent mothers score lower on standardized tests of language and have problems in intellectual functioning in the preschool years and elementary school. The reason for this is inadequate education and an unintellectual environment for the development of the children. These children are often victims of child abuse and neglect. (Huston 1991) A mother’s discussion of financial matters and personal problems with their children, and a higher demand of children’s involvement in household maintenance puts a greater responsibility on the child. Commands without explanation and little reward for the good behavior, combined with a little communicate also fosters melancholy in the child. A parent’s behavior is not only fully their fault, because “low income reduces parents’ ability to be good parents, not because poor families have less money to invest in their children, but because low income decreases the quality of nonmonetary investments, such as parents’ interactions with their children. This in return hurts children’s chances for success.” (Mayer 1997) Parental-stress in return affects children’s outcomes and cause psychological problems, such as high attention deficit from parent to children and hyperactivity disorder in
Allhusen, V., Belsky, J., Booth-LaForce, C., Bradley, R., Brownell, C. A., Burchinal, M., & ... Weinraub, M. (2005). Duration and Developmental Timing of Poverty and Children's Cognitive and Social Development from Birth Through Third Grade. Child Development, 76(4), 795-810. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2005.00878.x
“Recent research consistently reports that persistent poverty has more detrimental effects on IQ, school achievement, and socio-emotional functioning than transitory poverty, with children experiencing both types of poverty doing less well than never-poor children. Higher rates of perinatal complications, reduced access to resources that buffers the negative effects of perinatal complications, increased exposure to lead, and less home-based cognitive stimulation partly account for diminished cognitive functioning in poor children. These factors, along with lower teacher expectancies and poorer academic readiness skills, also appear to contribute to lower levels of school achievement among poor children. The link between socioeconomic
Poverty can truly affect a child's level of education. “Research suggested that living in poverty in the early childhood years can lead to lower rates of school completion” (National Center for Education Statistics).With a child being in poverty, they might not be able to pay for the services that come with education, thus causing them to cease education. “Further, growing up in poverty can negatively affect a child's physical health as well as his or her working memory, due to chronic psychological stress of living in poverty” (National Center for Education
“The deleterious effects of poverty on child development have been well established in psychosocial research, with poverty identified as being among the most powerful risk factors for poor developmental outcomes. Children exposed to poverty have poorer cognitive outcomes and school performance, and they are at higher risk for antisocial behaviors and mental disorders” (Luby J, et al., 2013). Being exposed to poverty at a very young age can significantly impact every aspect of development from cognitive problems, behavioral problems, social and emotional functioning, and school performance (Hanson et al., 2013). Living in poverty children experience a lot of stress due to the family’s inability to provide effectively. Most impoverished
Poverty is “the inability to acquire enough money to meet basic needs including food, clothing and shelter” (Gosselin,2009). This social disadvantage limits one’s ability to receive a quality education and it is a constant problem throughout the world accompanied with“deleterious impacts on almost all aspects of family life and outcomes for children”(Ravallion,1992). Poverty is a main factor that affects normal human growth and development in a variety of ways, primarily impacting children’s early development, social behaviour, health, and self worth.
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.
“Causes of child and family poverty are numerous, complex and intertwined (Albanese, P. 2010). Poverty is when children do not have enough of the basic needs that everyone should have, the basic needs are; food, shelter and water. They should also have the ability to go to school and have an education.
Lee, J.S. (2011). The effects of persistent poverty on children’s physical, socio-emotional, and learning outcomes. Child Indicators Research, 4, 725-747.
Society think that kids are so precious and incent but, later on their developing minds, kids can attract negative personality traits by their surroundings/ neighborhoods that can get them in trouble in the future. However, poverty plays a bigger role in a child development stage. According to usnews.org, researcher believed that “poverty appears to be associated with smaller brain volumes in areas involved in emotions processing memory” (usnews.org). In 2010, 12.5 percent of Americans is considering poor or live below the poverty line. Since then, more than 30 million children across the United States are growing up in poverty according to do something.org. Joan Luby ran this experiment a former St. Louis- based University. Joan ultimate
Poverty is an ever-growing problem throughout our modern world, with millions living in its extremes. There are many consequences of poverty and the way they affect children and family life is absolutely detrimental. Poverty can be simply defined as “the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions” (Encyclopedia Britannica 2014). There are two distinct variations of poverty – absolute poverty and relative poverty, which will be further discussed throughout this essay. The total number of people worldwide who live on less than $2.50 (the bare minimum of the poverty line) is 3 billion (Global Issues, The Human Development Report, 2012). According to many, there are a varied number of consequences for those who live in poverty, especially children and families. The effects of poverty have proven to have detrimental effects on child development and the nature of family life. Saunders (2005) reiterates these factors of poverty in his book “The Consequences of Poverty”. This essay will state the many aspects of poverty and the detrimental effects its holds within child development, family life and the health of indiviudals.
Growing up in poverty also leads to low levels of education, and most of poor children can't complete high school, and get their diploma. Children of poverty can't go to college, of their choice because their parents cannot afford it. They have not access to the best everything such as: the best of schools, teachers, and cloths. Children living in poverty are at risk for dropping out of school. Children are in high risk for becoming involved in crimes, so they could be locked up in jail. Many children may quit school because of a lack of transportation to school. All of those reasons could effects on children future, and their future families. They can't have a good job with high income to make money to support their families. Growing up in
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.
Poverty is a situation or way of life that arises as a result of the inability to access resources to meet basic human needs physical and psychological that affect the level and quality of life of people, such as food, housing, education, health care or access to potable water. Child poverty is not a present problem that children suffer. The scarcities that they live at an early age can have serious consequences in their entire life in their learning development. In other words, the vital conditions that they have can mark their adult healthy life, their capacity to get a career, their personality or their social relationships. Poverty takes a big toll to the health of people, but when it happens to children it is bigger impact. Overall, poor people are less likely to
Poverty is one of the worst forms of violence. It makes people feel hopeless and useless, but it also enables them to try and do the best they can. If the way of life fails children, then it will fail all of us since children are the most selfless creatures. They don’t need much but sometimes life can be cruel and bring poverty, which in turn makes their life pretty difficult. Poor children are most affected regarding health hazards such as diseases, malnutrition, underweight, stunting and also emotional problems. If nothing is done for them, then everything starts falling apart, because their life will have problems from the very beginning.
The effects of poverty can affect a parent’s mental health that can directly impact children. Mental health problems that parents in poverty face can be related to the stress of not having enough money to care for the children. Other mental health problems, like depression, can als...