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Influence of nature on child development
Socioeconomic status in mental health
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My life in West Virginia has done much in shaping my personal development. It’s easy to be taken about by West Virginia’s natural beauty and welcoming small towns. One might picture an idyllic life with mountains and fields to roam, streams to fish in or sit quietly by, a life of peaceful tranquility. West Virginia, however, is a land of contradiction. While it does abound in natural beauty and abundant resources, the reality for people who live here is quite a different actuality. Poverty, drug abuse, and growing crime are a malignancy eating away at the heart and soul of West Virginia. Ranked the third poorest state in the nation, the scars of poverty are seen as closed businesses, dilapidated homes, and rampant unemployment. Having the
The socioeconomic gradient that exists in civilizations with low levels of societal equity has increasingly been implicated as a major contributor to the health status of individual citizens. Thus, it is unsurprising that the neighborhood or place in which a person lives, works, and plays is also a significant social determinant of health. The consequences of one’s environment can range from diminished mental health and increased stress all the way to the development of chronic disease and early mortality. The documentary Rich Hill successfully encapsulates the problems associated with living in poverty by examining the lives of three families from an impoverished area of Missouri. The filmmakers delve into the intricate interpersonal, family,
Appalachia is no longer the land of severe poverty that it was three decades ago, now the poverty rate of one in 15 is close to the national average. The number of adults who have received a high school diploma has also jumped from one out of three to two out of three; and the infant death rate has been cut in half. Comparing the 391 counties in the Appalachian Regional Commission with counties outside the region that were similar to Appalachian counties in the 1960s, researchers found that Appalachian counties grew significantly faster than their counterparts. Specifically, overall income in Appalachia grew 48 percent faster; per capita income grew 17 percent faster; and population grew five percent faster.
A suburban life is a paradise full of shopping, colorful gardens, and well-groomed homes. Despite all these benefits, a suburban life is an isolated life. People living in suburbs are rarely exposed to miseries in society. One of these conflicts is homelessness. When living in an environment surrounded by homes, individuals often have difficulty imagining not being able to sleep in a warm bed, eat a proper meal or even receive necessary medical attention. This grim situation is depicted in the writings of Jeannette Walls. In the autobiography The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls accurately portrays homelessness by explaining its causes, its impact upon daily life, and its effect on victimized families.
In his final remarks regarding his study, Philippe Bourgois states, “The painful symptoms of inner-city apartheid will continue to produce record numbers of substance abusers, violent criminals, and emotionally disabled and angry youths if nothing is done to reverse the trends in the United States since the late 1960s around rising relative poverty rates and escalating ethnic and class segregation.” Bourgois uses the sociological imagination to connect the problems faced by the drug dealers of East Harlem to those that span nationwide among minorities living in similar inner-city areas. He suggests that policies need to be changed across America to ensure that the quality of life for individual living in inner-city areas, like the drug dealers in East Harlem, will improve.
And with that comes a life of anguish and the only thing they can do is turn to “crime.” To them the benefits of committing a crime outweigh the consequences. Hanna Rosin, author of “American Murder Mystery,” also agrees: “as part of a nationwide experiment to free the poor from the destructive effects of concentrated poverty.” Rosin sees how destructive living in poverty can be for people. Rosin isn’t the only one who thinks poverty is destructive, she quotes HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros: “’ these enclaves of poverty,’ where ‘drug dealers control the stairwells, where children can’t go outside to play, where mothers put their
Jackie Robinson once said,” Yes, here is my homeground here and in all the Negro communities through the land. Here I stand.” Jackie overcame many barriers. One barrier he overcame was leaving the people he cared about to play in the Major League. I had a similar barrier that I overcame. I moved from Boone to Winston Salem. I started kindergarten and moved in the middle of seventh grade at my old school. The school I went to was pre-k through eighth grade. Since I started there, I wanted to finish there. I always thought I would but plans change. We all have to deal with change.
Many folks go their whole lives without having to move. For them it is easy; they know the same people, have loads of friends, and never have to move away from their families. As with me, I was in a different situation. I grew up my entire life, all eighteen years of it, in a small town called Yorktown, Virginia. In my attempt to reach out for a better life style, my girlfriend and I decided we were going to move to Shreveport, Louisiana. Through this course of action, I realized that not two places in this country are exactly alike. I struggled with things at first, but I found some comforts of home here as well.
Just a few degrees… we stared at the tilted ground in the searing sun, our sweat dripping onto the parched earth. After eight hours, slaving away at the path, our masterpiece was complete. We successfully carved a bike pump track from the carnage of a dying forest. However, our overseer saw our masterpiece as dangerously sloped. Our spirits sank as he promised another day of sweltering labor.
It is no secret that, within the last decade, America has faced an economic crisis of historic proportions. Though the nation appears to be in a state of recovery from the greatest recession since the Great Depression, there are still major issues to address; namely poverty. Poverty today has hit more homes than ever, especially in places such as Eastern North Carolina. According to the 2010 Bureau of Economic Analysis, North Carolina ranked as the ninth wealthiest state with gross domestic production worth $424.9 billion.[2] North Carolina is among the top states for agricultural output, which consists of poultry, tobacco, hogs, cattle, sweet potatoes, and soybeans. A U.S. Census Bureau’s Survey, however, states that North Carolina’s poverty rate spiked to 18 percent, surpassing the official national poverty level of 15.2 percent (1). While those percentages may seem considerably small, it equates to 1.7 million people without adequate housing, health care, education or employment. This ranks North Carolina as the 12th highest poverty state in the nation. Moreover, the federal government reports that at least 20 percent of the residents of 10 Eastern North Carolina counties have consistently reported living in poverty for the past 30 years. These counties of “persistent poverty” include Bertie, Bladen, Columbus, Halifax, Martin, Northampton, Pitt, Robeson, Tyrell and Washington County.
Most of us have grown up in this town. We have known each other for many years, gone through the school system and interacted with the community. We have been labeled by the press as inhabitants of "Cranktown" and "Methville," but the community has rallied to fight the problem. This same community is the true spirit of where we come from and who we are. It is the same community that sees generations of change and is always willing to stretch its hands out to help those in need and to honor those deserving. We live in a unique community, though we may not realize it, a...
In The Working Poor: Invisible in America, David K. Shipler tells the story of a handful of people he has interviewed and followed through their struggles with poverty over the course of six years. David Shipler is an accomplished writer and consultant on social issues. His knowledge, experience, and extensive field work is authoritative and trustworthy. Shipler describes a vicious cycle of low paying jobs, health issues, abuse, addiction, and other factors that all combine to create a mountain of adversity that is virtually impossible to overcome. The American dream and promise of prosperity through hard work fails to deliver to the 35 million people in America who make up the working poor. Since there is neither one problem nor one solution to poverty, Shipler connects all of the issues together to show how they escalate each other. Poor children are abused, drugs and gangs run rampant in the poor neighborhoods, low wage dead end jobs, immigrants are exploited, high interest loans and credit cards entice people in times of crisis and unhealthy diets and lack of health care cause a multitude of problems. The only way that we can begin to see positive change is through a community approach joining the poverty stricken individuals, community, businesses, and government to band together to make a commitment to improve all areas that need help.
By the side of the Elk River in Charleston West Virginia lies a community within a community. This is not your ordinary idea topic when you come to think of a community beside a river. It’s not a community of birds, or snakes, but of people. "We're not animals," said Ronald McKeever. "We are just people that are down on our luck." These people have made tents their homes, and tarps the roof over their head and none of have a permanent home. In the summer the river bank next to Spring Street Bridge was home to about twenty five homeless people (Molenda). Only between six and eight people reside there now (Molenda). Some of those people are just like one time comers, just passing through Charleston, but out of the four remaining from the summer, two are on their way to having apartments (Molenda). “Basically, the other people that have been staying down there really just haven’t wanted assistance with housing,” Strickland verbalized. One resident expressed to Strickland he has a place to depart if he so chooses and needs it. Workers haven’t been able to
Social control can either be informal (parents etc.) or formal (police etc.) and without these controls, juveniles become more susceptible to delinquency (Shaw,McKay,1942). In the city of Erie, there are a lot of neighborhoods in which are breaking down, especially the one around the Boys and Girls club. On my last day at the Boys and Girls club, a young girl was jumped just a few blocks down from the center; she was just walking home. The city of Erie itself has pocket communities of poverty which are in close proximity to communities which are more prosperous. From others who I had talked to at the club, those who worked their often had to deal with parents who did not care, were not around, or were negative influences in the child’s life. A few of the older kids at the Boys and Girls club had been involved with gangs, drug abuse and selling, and have been effected in some way by the violence in the low income neighborhoods they lived in. Staff had notified me that sometimes the programs in which the schools or juvenile
One day in the 1740's, in the winter in Pennsylvania Colony… I'm Charles Schley, The picture above is my house. I'm in the upper class and work as a lawyer. I live with my two daughters and my mother. My two daughters are workers around the house and my mother sews. She is working on scarves and warm clothes for us.
One of the most enjoyable things in life are road trips, particularly to the Colorado mountains. Getting to spend time with your family and friends, while being in a beautiful place, is irreplaceable. The fifteen-hour road trip may feel never-ending, but gazing at the mountains from afar makes life’s problems seem a little smaller and causes worries to become a thing of the past. Coming in contact with nature, untouched, is a surreal experience. My family trip to the Colorado mountains last summer was inspiring.