Review of Literature
Hair, Hanson, Wolfe, and Pollak (2015) investigated the relationship patterns of brain development with poverty and academic performance. The investigation was a longitudinal cohort study that contained 823 magnetic resonance imaging scans of children and adolescents between the ages 4-22. The research took place in November 2001 and ended in August 2016. The magnetic resonance imaging scans were provided by the National Institutes of Health Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study of Normal Brain Development. In total there were six centers where the data was collected from the community including income, race, and ethnicity based on the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. The magnetic scans were used as measurements
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The current literature supports the hypothesis that poverty does affect children’s development and education. Some studies presented the issues clearer than others and were more direct in displaying the impact poverty has on a child’s education. Some of the studies were more open to the selection of participants such as Hair et. al, 2015 who did not state the race of their participants. The socioeconomic status of a child’s family is vital and can be dependent on race or ethnicity. The research conducted would have been more efficient if the participant's demographics were accounted …show more content…
Poverty is a struggle faced by families based on one’s socioeconomic status, educational attainment, and income. Different races and ethnic groups tend to face different levels of poverty. As of today, more children are living in poverty and facing the hardships of poverty. Developmental Psychologist and researchers have investigated children who live in poverty and recorded the changes that poverty made on a child’s development and how it affected their academic achievement.
Developmental Psychologists such as Urie Bronfenbrenner and Maslow both have widely influenced developmental psychology with their theories. Urie Bronfebrenner’s bioecological model represents the bidirectional theory on how poverty can affect a child’s academic achievement. Besides, Maslow motivation theory “the hierarchy needs,” states that a child’s needs must be met for them to succeed in anything. Research has proven that there is more to poverty and it affects on a child. Poverty is a broader issue than what most see it be; more than a physical state of one
As mentioned by Ruane and Cerulo in Second Thoughts, harsh realities of poverty affect children’s lives in profound ways. Children lack any power in improving their circumstances and depend on adults to gain access to basic necessities. Access to proper healthcare, education, and basic nutrition continues to be an obstacle for children. Poverty impedes children’s aptitude to learn and contributes to poor overall health and mental health. Perhaps most important, poverty becomes a cyclical nature that is difficult to overcome. Children who experience poverty when they are young tend to experience persistent poverty over the course of their entire lives. According to the Child Welfare League of America, the national poverty rate for children
Many kids in the United States have been affected by poverty at some point in their lives. In fact, one in five children have been affected by poverty. A survey was done within the last year by the Scholastic company that interviewed a group of the State Teachers of the Year and asked them what they thought were some of the effects of poverty. Some popular answers were that it affects the way you perform in school greatly and that we need more anti-poverty programs to help out with these children. Poverty affects the success of students in many ways. These include not having the academic achievement that more advantaged kids did, not having experiences other kids did, and not having the early development they needed.
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
A child living in poverty will not have the same access to a good education, a balanced diet and opportunities to play as a child with a well-provided background. Their diet and housing may mean that the child becomes ill often because of nutritional issues and living in cold, damp conditions. As a result, the child will lack energy and concentration for development. The deprived child’s chances of a good education appear slim and don’t have the opportunity to use books, equipment or the internet. Lack of encouragement and motivation from parents because of their situation is a factor that can affect child development also; as their opportunities are limited, the child’s holistic development is very likely to be
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
The second study I used focused more on the significance of the timing a duration of poverty for a child from birth until third grade and the effect held on the child’s development and was titled “Duration and Developmental Timing of Poverty and Children's Cognitive and Social Development from Birth Through Third Grade”. Allhusen et al. examined the effects of different amounts of poverty by comparing children from families that were never poor, poor during the child’s infancy, poor after infancy, and always poor. In this study, poverty is defined as living 200% below the federal poverty threshold (Allhusen et al, 2005). Children in poverty scored lower on cognitive and pre- academic tests, lower competence, and exhibited a higher level of behavior problems (Allhusen et al, 2005).
Moreover, longitudinal designs allow for an assessment of how the timing (early vs. late) and duration (transient vs. persistent) of poverty may differentially affect children's outcomes. When possible, this discussion presents finding from studies that used standardized tests of school readiness, achievement, and cognitive ability, and controlled for key family and child characteristics, in its review of the impact of poverty on children's educational outcomes.
Therefore, children who live in these poor neighborhoods are less likely to participate in school events. Poverty effects the intellectual, emotional and physical development of children. Wood discusses that children living in poverty have a harder time focusing in class and do not do as well in school. Wood uses facts stating that students who are growing up in a poor environment have lower IQ
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 the book, “Teaching with Poverty in Mind: What Being Poor Does to Kids’ Brains and What Schools Can Do About It,” the author, Eric Jensen, states, “The one that says that children of poverty will necessarily do poorly in school–should not be automatic. Although it has statistical support, it does not have to be true,” (112). Jensen’s book relates closely to the class, Early Childhood Development, and events in 2017.
Children are faced with many consequences due to growing up in poverty. Most children who live in poverty go to poor unsuitable schools, live in unexceptable housing, and grow up around more violence and crime than any other parent would wish for their child. As soon as the child is born into poverty, they begin to feel the effects of it. They tend to have low birth weight and contain a higher risk of dying during infancy. We watched a video in class that showed that poverty could take a toll on the child’s learning capabilities, and health status. There were stories of children with hyperactivity problems, chronic ear infections which caused hearing loss, and even children who were not receiving the proper amount of nutrients to be able to grow and function correctly. The first years of a child’s life are the most crucial because most of the development of the brain occurs then.
Question 2: Discuss the effects of poverty on children’s cognitive and social development and the extent to which effects might extend into adulthood
The lack of effort and performance children from low income families demonstrate is an incontrovertible issue. The effects that environment can have on adolescents can be devastating if the environment is inadequate to promote positive child development and success. Children experiencing poverty and neglect are more susceptible to lower performance in school and delayed development, resulting from “...many aspects of a child’s environment that can adversely affect maximum brain functioning. Two significant and negative environmental factors are poverty and neglect. Research substantiates the negative effects poverty can have on a child’s brain including development, learning and academic performance ”(Loughan,Perna). Loughan and Perna
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
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