Poverty And Child Development Essay

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

Canada,2011). Poverty greatly affects what type of influential environment a child will be exposed to during early development, such as living situations and education. living situations often associated with poverty typically demonstrate violence, substance abuse and high crime rates which can negatively impact a child “causing difficulties developing proper emotions to cope with their extremely stressful environments”(Child trends.org,2015). The lasting impact of insufficient housing on a child is immediate and long term. Poor or overcrowded housing can cause impacts on a child due to a higher chance of exposure to household violence, neglect and abuse that causes “Up to 25 percent higher risk of severe ill-health and disability during childhood and early adulthood”(British Medical Association,2003). low-income families often do not provide the stimulation a child requires for school readiness and does not teach the social skills a child requires. “Typical problems are parental inconsistency frequent changes of primary caregivers, lack of supervision and poor role modelling”(Kagan,2007). Children experiencing insufficient and dangerous living situations are at risk for sickness,mental disability as well as receiving inadequate opportunities in life.
Children living in impoverished neighborhoods typically attend schools that are unable to provide the same level of resources as more wealthy schools such as technological luxuries, or simpler things such as paper and pencils. the lack of supplies in poorer schools gives these children a disadvantage in their education, causing a sense of inadequacy compared to children that have the luxury of attending more wealthy schools, these socioeconomic differences “reflect status related to inequalities in educational outcomes”(Ross,2005). Due to more opportunity being presented to people of higher status, the radiation of inadequacy based on socioeconomic status can cause a child being educated in a poorer school to develop the mindset of being inadequate to someone of higher economic status, and believing that they do not deserve the same opportunity.
Due to children growing up in unsuitable environments, they are at high risk of developing learning disorders, antisocial behaviour and experience social exclusion which can cause them to become “aggressive and acquire less self-control and nuance when reacting to stressful events,as well as lacking the skill to constructively deal with conflicts”(Chung,2004). The development of these issues can hinder the child's ability to receive a proper education because they are unable to focus in the classroom and often do not perform at the same level as their classmates.”By the age of three, poorer children are estimated to be nine months behind children from wealthier backgrounds, By the end of primary school, students receiving free school meals are estimated to be about three terms behind their peers”(Shelton,2013). The evident educational disadvantage children with impoverished backgrounds experience due to exposure to violence in early years of development and the common inability to attend school persistently in order to provide for their families.
“the Human Development Early Child Care Research Network has shown that children in chronically impoverished families have lower cognitive and academic performance and more behavioural problems than children who are not exposed to poverty, partially explained by a lack of stimulating behaviors and home experiences among low-income families”(Child Dev,2005).

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

escape.
Many people experiencing poverty have a lack of self worth due to their inability to provide, and low socioeconomic status. “Research suggests that reconnecting impoverished individuals with a sense of self-worth reduces the powerful stigma and psychological barriers that cause difficulty for low-income individuals to make good decisions or access assistance services that can help them get back on their feet”(Zhao,2013). Self worth is most influential as a child when experiencing poverty due to the obvious differences in socioeconomic status compared to classmates, this lowers a child's self-esteem and can disencourage them to compete because they become aware of their disadvantages from a young age
The strong effects that poverty has on human growth and development is evident in many aspects of society, and clearly impacts children’s early development, mentally and socially. The mental and social implications that are related to poverty through exposure to unsuitable environments where substance abuse, violence and crime are are evident causes high risk for development of health issues, and learning disabilities ultimately affecting an individual's self worth, education, as well as opportunity