Poverty Essay

Poverty is a human condition characterized by the sustained or chronic deprivation of the re-sources, capabilities, choices, security and power necessary for the enjoyment of an adequate standard of living and other civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights. It can also be described as a condition where people 's basic needs for food, clothing, and shelter are not being met like having little or no money, goods, or means of support.

Poverty is divided into three levels, extreme poverty, moderate poverty and relative poverty. Ex-treme poverty occurs when families cannot get their basic needs for survival. They may be frequently hungry, lack safe drinking water, cannot afford education for their children, may lack shelter and have

For instance, as the country shifts from a manufacturing to a service economy, wages have been dramati-cally lowered for the average nonprofessional worker. In addition, the feminization of poverty has been exacerbated by persistent disparities in salaries for men and women, as well as the disproportionate eco-nomic burden that single mothers face in raising children alone.

Poverty affects the youth in different ways whereby it has put them at risk for academic and so-cial problems as well as poor health and well-being, which can have adverse effects on educational achievement. Besides the youth, the effects of poverty are often reflected in a multitude of the vulnerable groups such as, children, women, elderly, disabled, refugees, migrants, homeless and all those others at

In developing coun-tries, poverty is associated with inadequate shelter, unsafe water and inadequate nutrition, leading to in-creased rates of infectious diseases, including malaria and diarrheal illnesses. The Children 's Defense Fund found that most students who start school later than their peers can never close the readiness gap and have other consequences including low achievement test scores, grade retention, special education placement, truancy, drop out, and unhealthy or delinquent behaviors (Children 's Defense Fund, 2015). This creates a huge gap which divides the youth according to their social classes, a problem which contin-ues into adulthood. Person engaged in misconduct who were above the legal/customary age of culpability but still not considered responsible as adults could be dealt with by authorities of the state (Hartjen, 2008). It then continues to affect the future generations as once poverty strikes a youth further affects his/her future family and the trend continues.

The youth living in poverty are at greater risk of behavioral and emotional problems. Some behav-ioral problems may include impulsiveness, difficulty getting along with peers thus leading to social isola-tion, aggression, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and conduct disorder. Some emotional problems may include feelings of anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem. Poverty also creates stress and developmental