Human Behaviour in the Social Environment

Increasing minimum wage to ensure working parents are earning enough to meet the basic needs of their family, while improving access to safe and affordable housing and food can help reduce some of the negative health effects of child poverty (Sharma & Ford-Jones, 2015). Increasing the child tax benefit and gearing it to income can help ensure those with young children, who are in need, are getting the assistance they require (Collin, 2007). To address the impact poverty can have on a child’s readiness to learn, and therefore their success in school, and later in the employment market, the government needs to increase access to

Enormous amounts of research have linked socioeconomic status to mental health, especially in children and adolescents. Low poverty levels have been specifically identified as a key causal factor in developing mental health problems in children. There has been much discussion over the different theories as to why this is the case, but only two of these theories seem to hold a lot of evidence. Certain interventions and preventative measures can be employed in order to improve an individual’s mental health by altering socioeconomic status and they have proven to be successful. Low socioeconomic status has a profound impact on mental health in children; however, if the appropriate interventions and preventative measures are used, mental health outcomes can be drastically improved.

Some scholars believe that the negative impact poverty has on health of children is the reason for, continuing physical pressure and persistent childhood hunger can a result for a child to have a challenge in education and eventually lead a child to be less successful in the school. A 2016 research presented the idea that the childhood poverty reduces one’s life outlook within adulthood. Definitely, in most cases, it happened even without the family’s living situation or income. While related to their financially- stable equals, poor children in the United States of America are more suitable to present diminished well -being as well as numerous development issue (Arrighi and Maume 138). These facts were revealed by checking different areas, involving physical well-being, cognitive issues, school performance consequences, psychological and behavioral consequences. Therefore, the child poverty places

Social work has long recognized the relationship between the behavior of an individual and the environment in which the individual interacts (Hutchison, 2008). Human behavior theories offer a framework to organize, interpret and understand this relationship (Hutchison, 2008). For this case study, the following three theories will be examined for relevancy: Life cycle theory, role theory and resiliency theory.

2012); in other words, they live in households with incomes below the federal poverty line. To know this is important because poverty is considered a critical risk factor for many mental, emotional and behavioral disorders of children and youth (Yoshikawa, et al. 2012). According to Minujin, et al. (2005), “UNICEF defines child poverty as the deprivation of social services. To expand a little more on this, the concept is that children living in poverty are those who are deprived from the material, spiritual and emotional resources needed to survive, develop and thrive, leaving them unable to enjoy their rights, achieve their full potential or participate as full and equal members of society (Minujin, et al. 2005). More importantly many studies have associated poverty with a range of negative outcomes for children in all social, emotional and cognitive areas of development (Yoshikawa, et al. 2012); however, the question that Yoshikawa et al. (2012) in their article is can we certify that poverty “causes” negative outcomes? Their immediate response was skeptic; however, I think that poverty might not be the cause of mental health illnesses but it does influence the development of it and sets children under the radar for treatment and accessing services. Furthermore, the impact of poverty and social disadvantage on children’s health is further evidence that poverty is a serious risk factor for mental illness (Gyamfi, 2004). In his article, Gyamfi (2004)

When mentioning family, the nation’s economic crisis has deeply affected the lives of millions of Americans. Families and their children experience poverty when they are unable to achieve a minimum, decent standard of living that allows them to participate fully in mainstream society. Economic hardship and other types of deprivation can have profound effects on children's development and their prospects for the future. Low family income can hinder children's cognitive development and their ability to learn. It can contribute to behavioral, social, and emotional problems. And it can cause and worsen poor child health as

In addition, public policies are conceptualized as potentially targeting any of these sets of factors (selection factors, dimensions of poverty, mediating mechanisms, or child outcomes).” (Yoshikawa et al., 2012) In other words, they designed a framework that can be used to observe and review the selection process and mechanisms that affect the mental, emotional and behavioral health of poor children in hopes of providing approaches that can help decrease existing poverty and avert future

When analyzing children growing up in poverty a lot of factors come into play such as their physical, psychological and emotional development. To grow up in poverty can have long term effect on a child. What should be emphasized in analyzing the effects of poverty on children is how it has caused many children around the world to suffer from physical disorders, malnutrition, and even diminishes their capacities to function in society. Poverty has played a major role in the functioning of families and the level of social and emotional competency that children are able to reach. Children in poverty stricken families are exposed to greater and emotional risks and stress level factors. They are even capable of understanding and dealing with

In ecological theory, these systems are nested with the child at the core, embedded within his/her immediate family environment. The system with the closest proximity to the child is the microsystem; this includes the child and family, peers, neighborhood and school. A critical impact on development occurs within the immediate environment of the child due to proximal

Guo, G., & Harris, K. M. (2000). The mechanisms mediating the effects of poverty on children’s

“High rates of child poverty are a cause for concern, as low family income has been associated with a range of negative health, education, justice, labour market and social outcomes. Negative health outcomes include low birth weight, infant mortality, poorer mental health and cognitive development, and hospital admissions from a variety of causes” (Craig, Reddington, Wicken, Oben & Simpson, 2013, pg. 24).

Poverty can lead to serious effects. Children who grow up in poverty are likely to have frequent health problems than the children who grow in better financial circumstances. For example, infants who are born into poverty have a low birth weight, and they grow up with mental or physical disabilities. Not only are they sick, but they are most likely to die before their first birthday. Children who are raised in poverty might miss school often because of their illnesses, and they have a much higher accident rate than the other children. Nearly a billion of the world’s population can’t read nor write. Poor families experience stress much more than a normal family does. They are more likely to be exposed to negative events such as illness, job loss, death of a family member, and depression. Homelessness is another effect of poverty. Homeless children are less likely to receive proper nutrition, protection and they experience more health problems. Around 1.4 million children die each year from lack of access to safe and clean water and proper nutrition. Homeless women experience a high rate of low birth weight infants as well as miscarriages. Families who do not have homes receive much more stress than other families. They also have disruption in school, work, friendships, and family relationships. There are other effects of poverty such as drug abuse and addiction, child and woman abuse, debts pressure, and increase in crimes.

Children in poverty is a typical social issue occurring in society today. “More than 16 million children in the United States – 22% of all children – live in families with incomes below the federal poverty level” (“National Center For Children In Poverty,” n.d.). The federal poverty level measures the amount of income a family takes in per year. It varies depending on the number of people in a family. For a nuclear family (two parents and two children) the federal poverty level is around twenty-four thousand dollars in a year (“Health Care.gov,” n.d.). The average American makes around forty-six thousand dollars a year. The parents of the children in poverty make at least twenty-two thousand dollars below the average. Their families are extremely poor. Also, not just one child is facing this hardship, sixteen million children are part of families below the federal poverty line, just in America. “About 22% of children in the U.S. lived below the poverty line in 2013, compared with 18% in 2008” (Calfas, 2015). Unfortunately, the rate of poverty affecting children has gone up through the years. More and more children will face poverty during day to day life. Children can be affected by poverty in many ways. “Poverty can impede children’s ability to learn and contribute to social, emotional, and behavioral problems. Poverty also can contribute to poor

Poverty is a considerable social problem; with a significant impact on those who suffer within. Growing up in poverty “reduces a child’s chance of growing up to be a healthy, well-adjusted, and contributing adult in our society” (Crosson-Tower, 2014, p. 59). Poverty is families having to struggle to afford necessities. Poverty does not know where your next meal is coming from or having to choose between paying rent and seeing a health care provider. The impact of poverty affects one’s ability through physical, social, emotional, and educational health. Even though individual overcome poverty it still extends across cultural, racial, ethnic, and geographical borders. Children represent the largest group of poverty in the United States. “Growing up in poverty places a child at a profound disadvantage and substantially lowers the chances that the child will mature into a well-adjusted, productive, and contributing

Eamon presents Bronfenbrenner’s process-person-context-time model, to explain the effects that poverty has on the socioemotional development of children (Eamon, 2001). This model is broken up into five sectors, each sector having its own relationship with the individual. An individual’s immediate surroundings are labeled microsystems. Microsystems are typically comprised of home environments, schools, peers, and immediate community. The interactions that occur within a microsystem tend to be between the developing child and a teacher or the developing child and a peer, etc. These interactions help mold the way the child develops. In a home environment; there are various stressors, some discrete and others chronic. Discrete life events can interrupt the usual flow of an individual’s life and require major adjustments