Socioeconomic Status In Adolescents

Between grades one through six, which is approximately 6 years of age to eleven years of age, children place priority and importance of popularity, which increases over the elementary school years, this reaches its peak in late middle school and in the early high school years. Studies show that children in grades one through four consider popularity more important than friendship. It was also found that early and middle adolescents generally place more emphasis on conforming and being part of a popular group than younger or older children do. The low-status group, which hope for acceptance into the high-status groups may get some attention, however, rarely do they obtain full acceptance. Erikson, Piaget, Vygotsky, Bandura, and Kohlberg all have theories that address the

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.

People that live in socially deprived areas are more likely to have mental illness, poverty, poor education and low socioeconomic status. This is mainly because of the conditions they have been brought up in and live in; if they lived in better conditions then they probably wouldn’t have health problems like this.

Social class is a division of a society based on social and economic status which can include levels of wealth, success, power of authority, and influence. Status is can be defined or grouped having common economic, cultural, or political interests.

Adolescents today face a myriad of stressors in their lives that can impact who they are and who they will become. Bio-psychosocial stressors appear to be more prevalent in minority adolescents who reside in lower socioeconomic households. Impoverished neighborhoods experience a great deal of financial difficulties, crime, and single parent homes. Adolescents growing up in these households often have lower grades in school and a lack of self confidence verses their counterparts. Below these stressors will be discussed in greater detail.

Socioeconomic Status is where a particular person or group of people stand in regards to social class. The main measurement that determines one's socioeconomic status is level of education, occupation and income. Although it may not be considered a factor in child development, socioeconomic status can actually play a huge role in determining what kind of adolescent a child develops into. It can influence a child’s morals, self-esteem, grades and many more aspects of a child's life. Socioeconomic status can play a role in determining where a person resides, the occupation they end up getting, their education and their income as well. So, although one’s socioeconomic status is technically made up of these aspects, one can be born into a low socioeconomic status which could result in them continuing to have one throughout their life. It is a cycle that one must break in order to change the outcome. Low socioeconomic status can result in child poverty. Child poverty over the years has risen and fallen but has remained consistently apparent in America. Child poverty can have detrimental effects on developing children and adolescents. It may influence the way they are raised, taught, cared for and many more aspects of the child's life which are important for successful development. Low socioeconomic status can determine how well children and adolescents develop and the type of person they develop into, including

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

Socioeconomic status influences health care quality and outcomes. Patients of lower socioeconomic status are more likely to have worse self-reported health, lower life expectancy, and suffer from more chronic conditions when compared with those of higher socioeconomic status. As a result, patients of lower socioeconomic status, in which we will encounter throughout our career’s, require more care and attention during their visits due to this lack of access. These individuals typically need the most care and unfortunately, we will not see them as often compared to other socioeconomic groups. An additional additive for this population may include providing them with take home exercises in which they are able to perform on their own. That is if they are invested enough to complete them without further supervision. While some hospitals are willing to revise their current policies, to basically “write off” the lower class, we as athletic trainers have to be advocates for these individuals who make up the majority of the population. The first step that we can take involves going a step above to the school board and asking for better nutritional options regarding school lunches. Most school lunch options fail to include fresh alternatives consisting of mostly processed food that can be easily distributed to a large number of students. Another way in which we can promote healthy eating habits is by utilizing social media to share coupons and local grocery store ads to the parents of

Mental illnesses are very common in the United States, with one in five of adolescents having a diagnosed mental illness and in the last year less than half of these adolescents have received proper treatment. The most common mental disorders, anxiety and depression, can disrupt daily life and result in suicide, which is the third most frequent cause of death in teenagers (“The Office of Adolescent Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services”). Ten percent of adolescents did not have health insurance in 2013 and those who did, had a very limited amount of mental health care services provided to them (“The Office of Adolescent Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services”). It has been proved that it is even less likely that adolescents who are poor, homeless, gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender will receive the care that is necessary for their health and even life (“The Office of Adolescent Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services”). Mental disorders are not only an

Dohrenwend, Bruce P., Itzhak Levav, Patrick Shrout, Sharon Schwartz, Guedalia Naveh, Bruce Link, Andrew Skodol, and Ann Stueve. 1992. “Socioeconomic Status and Psychiatric Disorders: The Causation-Selection Issue.” Science 255:946–52.

Besides educational and socioeconomic status, race and ethnicity is a status that is incredibly impactful in teenagers lives and it is singlehandedly the most influential social status in the lives of teenagers today. Race and ethnicity determines what others think of a person on first sight. The way our society is structured has created preconceived biases within all people against certain races. These biases and prejudices are what cause the oppression of certain races. Similar to education and socioeconomic status, race and ethnicity effects jobs people can obtain, the places they live, and how people are treated. People of color have been long oppressed in the United States, when teenagers began to emerge as an age group only white teenagers were focused on in the media, it was said that “As far as the national market was concerned, there was no other kind of teenager… Black teenagers were still invisible as far as mainstream society was concerned” (Palladino). The same was said for Mexican-American teens, “For instance, Mexican-American ‘pachucos,’ the would-be bobby soxers of a less prosperous community, offered a very different image of teenage life, an image rarely seen at the time, outside of social worker reports or professional journals...Like other minority youth, pachucos, were just not considered part of the ‘American’ scene” (Palladino). The United States has been built on the ideals of white supremacy, meaning that race and ethnicity determines whether one

Depression is a major predictor of a myriad of negative outcomes such as poor academic achievement, low self-esteem, decreased pro-social relationships, and higher risks of substance abuse (Healy, 2016). Additionally, these negative outcomes experienced by depressed teens may be even more apparent if the depression remains untreated. Findings mentioned earlier by Jones (2013) have also confirmed that this sensitive period in an individual’s life is particularly vulnerable to depressive symptoms that could lead to dire outcomes. These negative outcomes found by Jones (2013) concur with many of the same outcomes Healy mentioned. Moreover, research by Jaycox, Stein, and Paddock (2009) further delves into the impact of teen depression on these negative outcomes. Their study broadens knowledge on negative outcomes in teen depression by examining them over a long period of time. The data is compared to teens that are not depressed, but experience the same negative consequences. Results from the research concluded that the negative outcomes such as school achievement and poor relationships were significantly more severe in depressed teens. After stating the major consequences depressed adolescents experienced, their study further found that treating adolescents may not only have clinical symptom benefits, but also greatly

The researchers advance the scientific knowledge base by adding to the current knowledge, contributed to the theory, and met the qualifications for a valuable research (Capella, 2016). According to Reising et al., (2016), the study was to address parental depression, social economic status (SES), and community disadvantage for internal and external issues in children and adolescents. Also, taking to account that parental negligence is also a factor that is connected to the internal and external problems in children and adolescents. In addition, concurring to the previous research (Fear, et al., 2009) (Flynn & Rudolph 2011), (Lewis, Collishaw, Thapar, & Gordon, 2014), (McCarthy, Downes, & & Sherman), & (Sondheimer, MD, 2010), all came into

Pre-adolescence is a crucial stage in a child’s life because it is during this stage that kids can learn the coping mechanism that can prevent complications later on in life (Britton et al., 2014). Some children and adolescents may not have the opportunity to seek proper mental health care during their childhood. This may be due to parents overworking or simply not being able to afford quality mental health care services (Bucci et al., 2016). However, schools can serve children and adolescents as a

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.