Literature on the effects of low socioeconomic status (SES) on one’s psychological well-being is well established. Prior studies show that low-SES not only impacts individuals’ mental well-being, but also affects their children’s developmental trajectories. This paper reviews one of these numerous studies and further discusses the influences of parental SES on one’s life outcomes, as well as intergenerational mobility and achievement gap through a developmental perspective.
In particular, the study reviewed in this paper is a sequential research study which was conducted by Santiago, Wadsworth and Stump (2011). It examines how low-SES, living in disadvantaged neighborhoods, experience poverty-related stress associated with psychological
…show more content…
Additionally, the results of this study show that children/adolescents have a lower levels of withdrawal symptoms compared to adult participants. In addition, it also reveals that low-SES is associated aggressive, attention deficit, delinquent behaviors for children/adolescents.
On the other hand, this research emphasizes how one’s family background and the surrounding neighborhood as specific contexts that impact individuals psychologically. In my opinion, higher SES families may live in wealthier communities that have better educational resources and environment. At this point, human development tend to be context specific instead of universal. As what we learned in class, poverty brings negative impacts to children, which is the biggest risk for parenting as well. More specifically, parents/caregivers bring direct influences to their children, and the neighborhood is one of the vital factors that impact children simultaneously. (Cole’s lecture, April & May 2017). As specific contexts, currently, some people are having abundant wealth and social capital, whereas the rest lack of social and financial resources they need. There are various ways to success and obtain psychological well-being, but growing up with more financial sources and living with parents who are highly educated always makes individual to become successful and easier to promote social and emotional competence when compared to individuals from
Regardless of social class most parents wish for their children to be happy, healthy, and successful; however, parents disagree on the best way to raise their children to be all of those things, which is when social class determines the parents’ child rearing method. Whether a child comes from a working class or middle class family affects the child’s development and socialization; and consequently the child’s future.
The type of social environment that you are born into will affect the rest of your life. Our Kids by Robert Putnam describes the lives of 20 kids around the United States and the type of social environment they had growing up. The main topic of Our Kids is how socioeconomic status relates to upward mobility and unequal opportunity in society. Previously, people from all socioeconomic classes were experiencing upward mobility during the Golden Age of Capitalism, but nowadays only the upper-middle class and the rich are experiencing upward mobility.
The impact of poverty on families can affect a child's growth and development. “Poverty and the Effects on parents and Children,” Nagel states, “Families in poverty, when parents are working, are influenced by the kind of occupations in which the parents work. Kohn has found that lower-class parents look at their children's behavior with a focus on its immediate consequences and its external characteristics, whereas middle-class parents explore their children's motives and the attitudes expressed by their behavior.” Growing up with negative and disciplinary parents, it can impact a child's moral and emotional growth through life. Children grow up by the examples and actions of their progenitor, and if they have meager parents then they may grow up to be just like them. “Another study conducted by the U.S. Department of Education found that for every year a child spends in poverty, there is the chance that the child will fall behind grade level by age 18.” Pupils that live in poverty that don't get
To start, little is actually known about the importance and effect of timing of poverty on children’s psychological development. Economic deprivation during different phases and time frames of childhood can also alter the outcome of the child. Studies that have been done about children's early cognitive and physical development suggest that family income in the first five years of life has the most
Neighborhoods with higher poverty, ethnic diversity, and population instability are associated with higher rates of crime and delinquency. All of these things contribute to the breakdown of social cohesion and informal social control (O’Brien, 2006), creating an unlikely environment for early childhood development and optimal outcome.
The purpose of this article is to bring awareness that low income leads to complicated issues. Specific data from the U.S. Department of Labor’s National Longitudinal study of Youth examined households living in poverty, for a relationship between the minimum wage and psychological behaviors. Using a cross sectional analysis, the author explored the gap between the US and other country’s income levels. The findings show that although the US is high ranking in income levels, it is also ranked high in the poverty level. Additional, findings indicate that there is a relationship between families living in poverty and psychological behaviors, including a higher level of depression and other behavioral issues. The author found that children living in poverty are at higher risk of developing physical and psychological disorders, than children not living in poverty. This article pointed out the correlation between the minimum wage and psychological disorders. While the study did not include a longitudinal study of children in other countries, it did address an important area of research in psychological behaviors due to income inequality. The author made a compelling case that families living in poverty are more inclined to develop behavioral issues, than those families
Wealth and Income Inequality in America The United States of America was founded upon the ideals of freedom and equal opportunity for all individuals. Many people strive to achieve the American Dream by enhancing their socioeconomic status. Today, many people argue that these rightful values are no longer relevant due to the growing income and wealth disparity between different social classes. Income and wealth are two social issues that are commonly misinterpreted; although the two concepts are related, the overall concepts are a little bit different.
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 conclusion, not all children raised in low income homes or poor neighborhoods will experience some sort of brain or even behavior change, nor will they drop out of school. One thing is certain, poverty gets in deeper to our children’s body, brain and soul a known issue tied to behavior problems due to low
Childhood Development is very influenced by SES (Socioeconomic status) when dealing with the success of a child. SES can affect ones psychological health, physical health & well-being, and as well- education. Kids typically with higher SES have outcomes like self-control, optimism, and self-esteem, while kids with lower SES tend to have higher rates of attempted suicide, smoking, and engage of heavy drinking (Newacheck, Hung, Park, Brindis, &
Annette Lareau’s research with poor and middle class families revealed many interesting observations regarding a child’s ability to succeed and how educational differences lead to parents raising their children differently. Essentially, she discovered that the different ways families socialize their children affect them later in life. Socialization can be defined as the process by which individuals internalize the values, beliefs, and norms of a given society and learn to function as a member of that society. Lareau’s research focused on poor and middle class families. It is important to note that Lareau defines poor/working class families as units where the parents don’t have a college degree.
Socioeconomic status (SES) is one of the most widely studied constructs in the social sciences. Several ways of measuring SES have been proposed, but most include some quantification of family income, parental education, and occupational status. Research shows that SES is associated with a wide variety of health, cognitive, and socioemotional outcomes in children, with effects beginning prior to birth and continuing into adulthood. A variety of mechanisms linking SES to child well-being have been proposed, with most involving differences in access to material and social resources. For children, SES impacts well-being at multiple levels.
About one in five children in the United States has the misfortune of living in a family whose income is below the official poverty threshold (Borman and Reimers 454). Poverty has harmful effects on a child’s academic outcomes, general health, development, and school readiness. The impact of poverty has on a child depends on many factors for instance community features ( crime rate in neighborhood and school characteristics) and the individuals present in the child’s life like their parents, neighbors, or relatives. It is clear that schools and outside environmental factors contribute to whether a child is successful or not in their academic life. A child’s family, neighborhood, and type of school effects that are related with poverty
The impact of economic hardship on family processes can affect the socioemotional functioning of children living in poverty or in dire need of financial assistance. Referring to several paper, African-American children in particular are at primary risk no matter what time period because they experience disproportionate shares of the burden of poverty and economic loss and are at substantially higher risk than white children of experiencing socioemotional problems. Poverty can hamper effective parenting and increase exposure to negative life events. In addition, poverty is seen as the major link between economic hardship and parenting which can lead to negative behaviour. This is a result of psychological distress caused by undesirable chronic conditions; a direct reason why economic hardship can shackle teens to failure in becoming a contributing member of society. This can lead to a cycle of poverty, crime, death, increasing racial and income inequality, and several other problems that can affect a country as a whole(McLoyd 1).
Social, economic status (SES) is normally measured as a combination of income, education, and occupation. It is often conceptualized as a social class or standing of a person or a group. When looked through a lens of social class, power, privilege, and control are stressed. Besides, an analysis of analysis of SES as a continuous or gradient variable shows inequalities in the access up to distribution of resources. SES is necessary for all realms social and behavior science, including education, practice, research, and advocacy. Low SES together with its correlates, like poverty, lower education, and poor health, ultimately has an effect to the entire society, more so, the children. Children globally face one of the highest poverty rates within the industrialized world. The existing inequalities in the distribution of wealth, resources and the quality of life are on the increase globally. Society gains from more focus on the socioeconomic inequities’ foundation and the efforts to minimize the big gaps in socioeconomic status internationally. Behavioral together with the social science professionals have the tools that are required to study and establish strategies that can eliminate these disparities at both societal and individual levels.