Yue Su
San Jose State University
Poverty as a Critical Issue in Child Development
A myriad of governments across the globe are often faced with the problem of dealing with the issues facing children across the globe. Growing up in poverty impacts negatively affects the growth of children. Children from poor backgrounds are not in a position to associate well with other children from either middle or top class in the society. These children are a time bullied since they are unable to afford some things like toys which to them are basics.
No one can deny that poverty negatively impacts the life of a child. Research has proven that the development of a child mainly depends on the kind of life a child gets at a younger age. It is axiomatic to argue that a child who grows under poverty conditions is likely to have poor mental development. To have an imperative discussion of the paper, it is important to delineate the unembellished key concepts in the study which is ‘poverty’. It is defined as a condition whereby person’s basic needs like clothing, food and shelter are not being met. Poverty is divided into two the first being absolute poverty. It is often synonymous with destitution which happens when …show more content…
persons are not in a position to get the required resources so as to support the low levels of the physical health. Relative poverty takes place when persons fail to enjoy certain level of living standards which are proved by the government and this varies from one country to another. This is often on the upsurge and maybe tricky in eradicating. Environment human beings stay influences a lot the level of their mental development. The fullness in the development of mental capacity of a child depends a lot on the environment and the background of the child. The discussion in this paper will focus on the effects of poverty on the lives of children as they grow in the country.
Poverty has proven to be an institution in the world impacting the lives of millions of the populace. There has been an associated structural change in the economy characterized by high rate of mental health, skyrocketing rates of incarceration with the increased number of children being injected to poor health conditions. There have also been increased family breakdown systems. Poverty influences the development of the children especially when it comes to their mental maturity.
Various research that has been conducted across the under developing countries have indicated that children from these places tend to have low mental maturity. The same happens to those living in major slums like in Brazil, Soweto South Africa and Kibera in Nairobi; most of the children during their school year in these places undergo unquestionable frustrations. When they go to class, they seldom participate and understand things fully.
The discussion in this paper will focus on how poverty affects the mental development of a child and hope it influences their growth and development into old age. The environment affects the mental and physical development of human beings. The lives of children for instance are impacted great deal with the kind of people they often see in their surroundings. Some of the issues which have been discussed in the past include poverty, family squabbles, and single parenthood among others. The above variables in one way or another affects the moral upstanding of a child as he/she grows. There has been an associated structural change in the economy characterized by high rate of mental health, skyrocketing rates of incarceration with the increased number of children being injected to poor health conditions. There have also been increased family breakdown systems. The above variables influence the development of the children especially when it comes to their mental maturity (Nguyen, 1995).
As a result of chronic disorders, low socio economic results in the upsurge of children’s risk for a number of mental effects like depression and other behavioral risks like the use of substance. Mental illness has been one of the reasons to the increased spread of diseases, reduced longevity and homelessness. Low socio economic status results in the early sexual behavior which results into minor pregnancies and therefore the vicious poverty continuous. Poverty means that parents are not in a position to provide the basics to their children including paying hospital bills, therefore the continued health impairments results into poor childhood moral development. They risk involving themselves in substance abuse as a result of stress and a reason for solace. Poverty results in low birth weight, disability, growth retardation, asphyxia, premature birth among others (Nguyen 1995).
The socio economic status of a family influences the development and the life of a child in a number of ways.
This may run from the emotional, cognitive and physical problems. A child who is from poor social and economic background tends to have poor kind of socialization with other peers in the society. They tend to have a level of self esteem with the lack of self confidence. Because they do not have a good background they have been made to believe that those from higher standings in the community are better than them. In most cases they fear socializing with others and therefore they interact amongst themselves. Low socioeconomic development interferes with their physical lives in different
ways.
The children who are from low level families often lack exposure. They seldom get to know some of the basics in the society. This is because they are not in position to travel places to see and appreciate how other persons view things. Their level of reasoning is often localized and can likely fail to adopt solutions to address some problems which they face in the society.
There are a number of issues which a child can face as a result of low socio economic standing in the society. These issues often occur because the parents are not in a position to provide the basic necessities to their children. This results into the children not being free to socialize with other people. The first issue that is associated with low socio economic status is the size of the brain and the level of reasoning. Children’s who are from for instance, poor are not in a position to get good medical attention. Maltreated children are likely to have very low brain development as opposed to the children who are from upper family standards in the society. When there is a problem with the development of the brain it is likely that the child will perform poorly in class (Fall 2009).There is also a likelihood of a child suffering from mental disorders when not detected in time. When a Childs medical status is not checked in time then it is likely that the issue might come to haunt the child in future. The level of mental reasoning will be different with those of his peers in the society. There are a number of theories, which have been used to relate the effect of poverty on the mental development of a child. One such policy is the Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model. This theory holds that the development of a person is often influenced by various environmental systems. The theory asserts that the environment will live affect a lot the social development in a human being. The theory adopts five environmental systems which help in the explanation of the theory.
Micro-system- This includes the family peer’s schools one attend and the neighborhood. It is during this stage that a number of interactions with the social agents occur. These social agents include the peers, parents and teachers. The children are part of the construction of the social settings. Since this is the first level of interaction, it is worth noting that they will have poor social upbringing due to lack of basic amenities that helps in the social development of a child.
Meso-system- This is the existing connection between various Microsystems in the society. Some of the common examples include the experiences in the family and also church and school experiences (Powell, 1983). Exo-system- This level is concerned with the social system where an individual does not have any direct role. For example the experience of a husband is likely to influence the child or wife experience. In most cases the husbands are often involved in manual works and in most cases when they come home they are usually frustrated and therefore might affect the life of a child. Macro-system- This level describes the where the individuals live. It includes the culture which is delineated as the ways of the people. The cultural contexts include poverty, socioeconomic status and ethnicity (Brooks-Gunn, & Duncan, 1997).Chrono-system- This is the patterning of the various environmental events and the transition over the life of a person. Various past research work has indicated that the presented negative effects of an act like divorce on children as an example of transition usually reaches peak at the first two years of the divorce.
The socio economic status of a family influences the development and the life of a child in a number of ways. This may run from the emotional, cognitive and physical problems. A child who is from poor social and economic background tends to have poor kind of socialization with other peers in the society. They tend to have a level of self esteem with the lack of self confidence. Because they do not have a good background they have been made to believe that those from higher standings in the community are better than them. In most cases they fear socializing with others and therefore they interact amongst themselves. Low socioeconomic development interferes with their physical lives in different ways (Hill 1998).
It is absolutely no doubt that the development process of children is interfered with. They do not have full mental development as other members of the society. Most of the people living in these conditions stay in deplorable conditions and therefore they are not in a position to grow fully. There social statuses are very low as compared to others. They cannot afford the fundamentals, basic needs in the society (Huston 1991).
The development of child from a low socio economic background is likely can result into the person also being poor. What the economists refer to as vicious cycle of poverty. This happens because the parents are not in a position to provide the child quality education. The child is also unlikely to get quality health care. This will see the child always wallow in the den of poverty. If the child decides to break the bond then still the dependent level will make this person to remain poor. So many people will still depend on hi m so as to provide them with the basics they require (Duncan, 1988).
As a result of chronic disorders, poverty results in the upsurge of children’s risk for a number of mental effects like depression and other behavioral risks like the use of substance. Mental illness has been one of the reasons to the increased spread of diseases, reduced longevity and homelessness. Poverty results in the early sexual behavior which results into minor pregnancies and therefore the vicious poverty continuous. Poverty means that parents are not in a position to provide the basics to their children including paying hospital bills, therefore the continued health impairments results into poor childhood moral development. They risk involving themselves in substance abuse as a result of stress and a reason for solace. Poverty results in low birth weight, disability, growth retardation, asphyxia, premature birth among others (Fall 2009). There is the possibility of higher cardiovascular disease at adulthood. This often happens because most of these people are not in a position to access good meals and other necessities in the family. Given that most of the families are those who do not have the financial power to visit reasonable hospitals the children are likely to develop these conditions with nobody addressing them. In a number of developing countries, a myriad of people are not in a position to offer basic meals to their families.
Therefore, the children will be affected by a number of nutritious illnesses. When there is poor physical growth amongst the kids then it is likely that there will be problem with their mental development. A child develops mental well if there are in position to get proper medication and require balanced diet. Proper meals will mean frustration and therefore it will be unlikely that the children will be in a position to grow to the required level of maturity (Zeanah, 2009).
Living in poverty means a child s not in a position of getting the basics such as clothing and nutritious food. Poverty results into stress in the families that might cause permanent changes in the development of the brain. A myriad of parents living in poverty are likely to spend more time away from their children as they work to get meals and other basic provisions for them, The children are left alone and faced with mental health challenges as a result of the circumstances for example anxiety and depression. The stress, which the parents face, is likely to make them give les time to their children.
It should be noted that when the children are young there brain development relies on the existing relationship with other people in the society especially the primary relationship. Professional advises that healthy relationship is important in the growth of a child. If any child does not get the required support that is required then it is likely that his brain might not develop and the brain cells might even be killed through the surges of the stress hormone cortosol (Duncan 1988).
The other one is associated with low socio economic status is the size of the brain and the level of reasoning. Children’s who are from for instance, poor are not in a position to get good medical attention. Maltreated children are likely to have very low brain development as opposed to the children who are from upper family standards in the society. When there is a problem with the development of the brain it is likely that the child will perform poorly in class. From the description of the ideas, the question one raises is the possibility of developing a child into a full being. It is almost possible for a child to compete favorable with other members of the society. It is axiomatic to argue that most of the children who come from low class lack some of the critical stages which are required in the full development of an individual. For a number of years poverty has proven to be an institution in the country impacting the lives of millions of the populace. Most of poor children often suffer from behavioral and emotional problems. The emotional outcomes are usually categorized into two main dimensions. The first ne is the externalizing behavior which includes aggression, fighting, acting out, and acting out. The internalizing behaviors include social withdrawal, anxiety and depression. Poverty amongst children or in persons from different walks of like influences a lot the way the persons interact and relate with others. Frustration will likely to make them keep off and members of the society.
Review of Related Literature
Physical Health
Contrasted and non-abject youngsters, unfortunate youngsters in the United States encounter lessened physical health as measured by various markers of health status and results. In the 1988 National Health Interview Survey, folks reported that downtrodden youngsters were just two thirds as prone to be in fantastic health and generally twice as liable to be in reasonable or oppressed health as non-abject youngsters. These hefty contrasts in health status between oppressed and non-oppressed youngsters don 't reflect conformity for possibly jumbling (components, other than wages, that may be connected with living in neediness) nor do they recognize between long-or fleeting destitution and the timing of destitution. This area audits investigate on the relationship of neediness to some key measures of youngster health, flat life commencement weight and child mortality, development hindering, and lead harming. Generally, the center is on research that endeavors to modify for significant bewildering variables or alternately to address the impact of the span of neediness on tyke health conclusions.
Development Stunting
Even though plain ailing health and starvation are uncommon around underprivileged kids in the United States, shortages in kids ' healthful status are connected with destitution. As depicted all the more completely in the Child Indicators article in this diary issue, hindering (level tallness for age), a measure of nutritious status, is more common around downtrodden than non-unfortunate youngsters. Studies utilizing information from the NLSY show that differentials in tallness for age between oppressed and non-oppressed kids are more terrific when lifelong instead of single year measures of destitution are utilized within models to expect hindering. These differentials by destitution status are extensive even in models that factually control for numerous other family and tyke qualities connected with poverty.
Cognitive Abilities
Youngsters living underneath the destitution limit are 1.3 times as conceivable as non-unfortunate kids to experience studying handicaps and developmental postponements. Dependable measures of cognitive capacity and school accomplishment for junior youngsters in the Children of the NLSY and IHDP information sets have been utilized within various studies to analyze the relationship between cognitive capability and destitution in detail. This article investigates numerous studies that control for various conceivably essential family qualities and endeavors to recognize between the impacts of long-and transient destitution.
The poorer kids scored between 6 and 13 focuses lower on different government sanctioned tests of IQ, verbal capability, and accomplishment. These contrasts are extremely impressive from an instructive point of view and were available even in the wake of regulating for maternal age, conjugal status, training, and ethnicity. A 6-to 13-focus contrast may mean, for instance, the contrast between being set in a unique training class or not. Kids in families with salaries closer to, yet still beneath, the neediness line additionally did more terrible than kids in higher-salary families; however the contrasts were more diminutive. The most modest contrasts showed up for the most punctual (age two) measure of cognitive capability; be that as it may, the sizes of the impacts were comparative for youngsters from three to eight. These discoveries infer that the impacts of destitution on kids ' cognitive improvement happen early.
The study additionally discovered that span of destitution was a vital variable in the easier scores of underprivileged youngsters on measures of cognitive capacity. Youngsters who existed in determinedly unfortunate families (outlined in this study as abject over a four-year compass) had scores on the different appraisals six to nine focuses lower than youngsters who were never poor.
Zealous and Behavioral Outcomes
Oppressed kids experience enthusiastic and behavioral issues more often than do non-underprivileged kids. Gushing conclusions are frequently assembled along two measurements: externalizing conducts incorporating animosity, battling, and animating, and disguising conducts for example strain, social withdrawal, and despondency. Information noticing zealous conclusions are dependent upon parental and educator reports. This area surveys thinks about that recognize between the impacts of long-and fleeting neediness on gushing conclusions of kids at distinctive a really long time.
One investigation of level life commencement weight five-year olds utilizing the IHDP information set discovered that youngsters in determinedly underprivileged families had more disguising and externalizing conduct issues than kids who had never been abject. The investigation regulated for maternal instruction and family structure and demarcated lifelong destitution as pay underneath the neediness edge for each of four back to back years. Fleeting destitution (described as oppressed in no less than one of four years) was likewise connected with additional behavioral issues; however the impacts were not as hefty as those for constant destitution.
Conclusion
The ability of the children to develop mentally and physically is dictated going by the environments they stay in. The prerogative of the government is therefore to ensure that everyone is treated equally and so are slum dwellers. It is no doubt that poverty affects the lives of millions of people across the globe. Children grow in low level societies are likely to have poor mental development. It is the duty of each and every government to ensure that they provide better conditions that can ensure the proper mental development of a child. This is seldom the case in a myriad of countries in third developed countries across the globe. The governments in these countries have tried working around the clock to fight poverty especially amongst persons living in slums in the country.
References
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