Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Poverty impact on child development
Poverty impact on child development
Poverty and how it affects health
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
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. The early stages of a child’s lifespan is the most crucial part of their overall development. “Brain and biological development during this time is influenced by an infant's environment”(Statistics …show more content…
The strong connection between living situations and the influences that can cause developmental issues in a child can cause great influences in the type of education that is received which is a great determining factor in the type of opportunities and future that will be achieved by a person. Furthermore, Homelessness is also a strong outcome of poverty, in comparison to people that are in poverty, but live in a home. Homeless children do not have access to adequate nutrition and medical care therefore causing even more health problems. Homeless women “experience higher rates of low‐birth‐weight babies, miscarriages, and infant mortality”(Cliffnotes,2015). Homelessness makes it extremely difficult to obtain a job due to the many under developments; mental and social that are obtained due to this life making poverty a never ending cycle, extremely difficult to
Environment says a lot about identity, past, and future. Primary environment has the most effect on shaping a child. According to a US National Library of Medicine research study, ”The physical environment and child development: An international review” it says, “What we do know suggests that the physical environment experienced by children impacts their cognitive and socioemotional development across the lifespan, from the prenatal period through adulthood.” In children this is especially important because a child develops most between the ages of two and five. There are three key elements that contribute to a healthy physical for young children, an adequate standard of living (mainly sufficient food, clothing, and housing), healthcare, and safety from injury, violence, and environmental hazards. In The Other Wes Moore, Wes(a) had
Homelessness is primarily a poverty issue. The persistence of poverty in the United States reflects more than just an aggregation of individual failings. Structural factors, such as the way we understand and define poverty, the inherent features of our economic system that produce income inequality, social inequities and our policy responses to these problems shape current trends. Economic changes have had the strongest association with trends in overall rates, regardless of how poverty is measured. Poverty rate is high amongst minority groups, children and female-headed households (Iceland, 2003). According to professor Iceland’s research, rates of extreme poverty are higher among children and African-Americans and lower for whites, Asians and the elderly. Among families with children, married couples were less likely to be poor (6.9 %) than single parent male (17.5%) and single parent female (35.3%).
It is logical that there are numerous health, nutritional, developmental, and psychological problems that are associated with being homeless as a youth. Health problems start even before birth if a mother is homeless and pregnant then her baby is more likely to be born with a lower birth weight than compared to normal children (Rafferty, Y., & Shinn, M., 1991). Children who are born into homelessness have higher death rates (1991). This could be due to the lack of prenatal care for homeless pregnant women. Furthermore, homeless children are more likely to have “upper respiratory infections, minor skin ailments ear disorders chronic physical disorders and gastrointestinal disorders” (Rafferty, Y., & Shinn,
According to the Children Defense Fund 1 in 13 children will live in extreme poverty in the United States and a family of four is extremely poor if their income is below 10,000 or half of the official poverty line. (http://www.childrensdefense.org/child-research-data-publications/data/state-data-repository/census/census-2007-child-poverty-data.pdf,). Despite being wealthy the U.S. . has the highest rate of child poverty among all the other countries. Poor children are more likely to go hungry and are less likely to be read to during their early years. They are less likely to have health insurance and needed care. Poor children are more likely to start school behind their affluent peers and are less likely to graduate high school. They are more likely to grow up as poor adults and become involved in the criminal justice system. A family of four's annual income must be lower than 23,000 to reach child poverty. (http://www.childrensdefense.org/child-research-data-publications/state-of-americas-children/documents/2014-SOAC_child-poverty.pdf(). Children in single parent homes were four times more likely to be poor than children in two adult families. Almost 70 percent of all children live with two parents.(http://www.childrensdefense.org/child-research-data-publications/data/state-data.) The south has the highest child poverty rate with 1 in 4 children compared to 1 in 5 children in the rest of the country. Growing up in child poverty can be a major effect on a healthy development for a child. Poverty and stress about finances can have an effect on children's cognitive development and their ability to learn. It can contribute to behavioral problems, social and emotional problems, and poor health. Living in poverty affects how a chil...
“Homeless is more than being without a home. It is tied into education needs, food, security; health issues both mental and physical, employment issues, etc. Don’t forget the whole picture.” (“Boxed In” 2005 pg. 108)
In underdeveloped countries there are a number of reasons why children don’t stay in school and not only because of family income. In underdeveloped countries hardships children have to face that don’t allow them to be successful in the pursuit of their education range from difficulties of getting to school, to paying tutoring for additional support to pass test’s to well as the actual cost of the schooling necessary. Even when the tuition of the education these children in underdeveloped countries receive is free, other expenses do get in the way. Other expenses would be things such as expenses for the child’s lunch, as well as their uniforms and even examination fees. Not only are these the issues children face in underdeveloped countries but they also face having to leave school to provide income for their families even if they really do want to continue their education. Why would they do such a thing? Children often fail to develop basic literacy and numeracy because their parents actually take them out of school so they can work and be able to provide income for their family households. So i believe that it’s safe to say that in
In today 's society, there is 1 in 7 people living in poverty which is costing Canadian citizens’ money as they are paying for taxes. There are many standpoints in which people examine the ways poverty affect society such as Marx’s conflict theory. Marx’s conflict theory goes over how social stratification being inevitable and how there is a class consciousness within people in the working class. Another way that poverty is scrutinized is by feminization. Feminization is the theory that will be explored throughout this essay. Poverty will be analyzed in this essay to determine the significance of poverty on the society and the implications that are produced.
Poverty is an outcome of the mode of production and plays a large role in relation to production. Therefore, according to Marx, it is a contributor to the economic base. People who are living at poverty level struggles to meet the living necessities due to capitalist exchange values on productions. What I mean by this that people in poverty cannot afford to buy enough food, clothes, and most importantly a safe home for their kids. This is due to the fact that most people living in poverty are being paid minimum wages that does not meet the exchange values of commodities. People in poverty are the laborers in the capitalist world, they a commodity as well. Using Marx’s theory, people in poverty are the proletariats since they are the actual
The poverty within family not only impacts on the living conditions within that family, but also on a child’s education. For example children with inadequate capital backgrounds are likely to get absent from school with transient living, poor health and living conditions.
In the developing stages of a child, psychological factors play a huge role in th...
Development is something happens across the lifespan, from infancy to old age. The constant debate within developmental psychology is what influences a person’s development more: their environment (nurture) or their genes (nature). Although it is easier to pick a side, it is important that one realize that both areas affect a person’s development. This paper will focus on the how both environment and genes work together to influence an infant’s development.
Homelessness is a problem virtually every society suffers from. There are many things that cause people to become homeless, such as unemployment, relationship problems, and being evicted from ones domicile either by a landlord, friend or even a family member. However, with every cause there must be an effect. Some of the effects of one becoming homeless, besides the obvious change of lifestyle, are various health problems which often times may lead to death.
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.
The most prominent reason children who are homeless cannot receive adequate healthcare is because of their finances. Homeless children most often do not have health insurance, and cannot afford to go see the doctor. Homeless children do not receive preventive shots that are required or recommended to help them stay health. Children who are homeless are nearly twice as likely to suffer from a chronic physical illness than children who are not homeless (The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 506, Human Rights around the World (Nov., 1989), pp. 141-151). Children’s mental and physical health can also be a direct reflection of their mothers. “Homeless mothers often had psychologically and economically impoverished childhoods, where they were abused as children and battered as adults. Low self-esteem and self-efficacy became translated, for many, into substance abuse, family violence, and other acute and chronic health problems. Given the limited support that children from homeless families receive outside the family, the emotional and physical health of the mother directly affects the health of the children.” (Wiley, David C., and Danny J. Ballard). Sometimes, the poor physical health children have is not a result of living on the street, rather a result of their mothers giving birth while being homeless. Mothers that give birth to their children while homeless, often are not receiving the adequate amount of treatment or observation that is recommended and are not taking any of their prenatal vitamins. This is already putting the child at risk for early mortality, chronic health problems, and other disabilities. The children who do survive, live in homeless shelters or on the streets, and that is not sanitary. The children who live in the streets may sleep in sewers, where there are rat droppings, and millions of different types of bacteria. They are forced to clean
Child growth and development is a process that consists of some building blocks, which are components that combine in an infinite number of ways (Cherry, n.d.). As a result of the variations of building blocks in a child’s development, educators, psychologists, and philosophers have been constantly engaged in the debate of nature versus nurture debate. Many researchers agree that child development is a complex interaction between his/her genetic background (nature) and his/her environment (nurture). In essence, some developmental aspects are strongly affected by biology whereas other aspects are influenced by environmental factors. From the onset of an individu...