The Effects Of Childhood Poverty On Children

Grace Abbott once said, “Child labor and poverty are inevitably bound together and if you continue to use the labor of children as the treatment for the social disease of poverty, you will have both poverty and child labor to the end of time.” Child poverty is one of the biggest issues facing Canadian children today. Child poverty can significantly shorten a child’s life. One of the major reasons child poverty in Canada is so high is because of low wages. These children have a disadvantage to all the other children in Canada. There is major inequality among these children. There are many problems that come out of child poverty and effect the children directly. This paper will talk about the four major effects of child poverty; health issues and nutrition, emotional and behavioural issues, education, and their home environment. (Introduction: dimensions of children’s inequality, 2003).

The topic being addressed in this article is the changing association among marriage, work, and child poverty in the United States. There has been numerous research conducted on the importance of marriage and work and the link that it has to child poverty and the negative association that has been shown through research. However over many decades, there has been a transformation that marriage and work is no longer a negative association with child poverty. This study thoroughly examined the relationships between marriage, work, and the relative measures from 1974-2010 using 10 waves of the U.S. Census Current Populations Survey data from the Luxembourg Income Study. The influence of demographic characteristics that relate to poverty shows that marriage negative association with child poverty has declined whereas work’s negative association with child poverty has increased.

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

Educators and caregivers must understand that children come from diverse backgrounds. Children who live in poverty or low-income families face many challenges. When a child is from a low-income family, you must know and understand the obstacles the child and their families may face. There are many ways living in poverty can affect children and families; educationally, physically, and emotionally, cognitively, and socially. There are resources available and beneficial information to encourage and benefit families who live in poverty or low-income families.

As of 2015, 14.5 million children are living in poverty. What is poverty you ask? Poverty defined by Webster’s Dictionary is the state of being extremely poor. In my opinion, poverty is much more than not having enough money to supply basic needs. Poverty is lack of shelter, lack of food in most cases, being sick and not able to see a doctor. Having very little to no resources in order to acquire the proper education, poverty is one of the major problems among society today. Affecting all ages at any place and time, it is not selective, but very common. However, the impact is worse when exposed to a child in their early developmental stage. The effects of poverty can be devastating. Preventing young children’s desire to thrive while overall negatively affecting their development. This paper exposes the various impacts of poverty in early childhood development.

It is known that the children are unable to determine their life circumstances, their families, and care solely for themselves without supervision. With this being said, children have little to no jurisdiction in determining the situations that they are confronted with. Most of the time when we ponder child poverty we think of low-income families or lack of food in the household, but it extends beyond that to “an environment that is damaging to their mental, physical, emotional and spiritual development” (“Children Under Threat,” 2005). Unfortunately, the prevalence of youth poverty in the United States may seem uncommon to those who are personally unaffected by the crisis; however, statistics show that 15 million children (21% of all children) live in families with incomes below the federal poverty threshold (Child Poverty, 2017). Moreover, when considering the demographics of impoverished children the following are true: a child in the U.S. has a 1 in 5 chance of being poor and the younger they are the poorer they are likely to be, and a child of color is more than twice as likely to be poor than a White child (Child Poverty, 2017). Research proves that poverty is the single greatest threat to a child’s well-being as it decreases the likelihood of a child graduating from high school, and it increases the chances of them becoming involved with the criminal justice system (Ending Child Poverty Now, 2017).

Childhood poverty is a pervasive problem in the United States. Unfortunately, many children are affected by poverty, with young children being the most vulnerable. Some of the causes of poverty include lack of education, family composition, immigration, and unemployment. The government can help in many ways by promoting marriage and free and reduced school lunch programs. Poverty is a social problem because it’s widespread. People do not have the acquired skills needed to succeed in today’s society. Childhood poverty is even more challenging because children cannot help themselves and the solutions must come from social change in order to have a significant impact. To improve poverty, it is important to create enhancements in education

It is widely known that poverty has many negative effects on the development of children who grow up in impoverished homes. One of the most influential outcomes of a person’s life is their intellectual development, which takes place primarily within the first years of life. Not only can childhood poverty result in less enjoyable childhoods, but adversely affects the cognitive and behavioral development; yet more specifically, children’s intellectual development (Duncan 406). In fact, the economic conditions that a child is subjected to during early and middle childhood is very crucial for forming ability, achievement, and intellectual development (Duncan 408). Poverty has

Poverty causes most stress within households and has an impact on the healthy development of a child.

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

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 National Center for Children in Poverty (2016) reported “about 15 million children in the United States – 21% of all children – live in families with incomes below the federal poverty threshold, a measurement that has been shown to underestimate the needs of families.” Poverty has a tremendous effect on children. Children who live in poverty experience several mental, emotional, and physical effects, which later influence their academic achievements (Evans & Cassell, 2013). Children in poverty qualify for government assistance programs; however, some of these programs are scarce and tend to have long waitlists. This only makes it harder for children in poverty to benefit from these resources. This research is design to explain how poverty

Socio-economic factors are widely acknowledged as important determinants of poverty. If an individual experiences adverse living conditions in childhood, majority of them will have inadequate income and result in low socio-economic status as adults (Carroll et al, 2011). Children born in poor households have difficulty in accessing the basic needs (e.g. food, clothing, and good living environment) and this can affect their learning ability at school, unable to focus. In other words, they have a higher chance of dropping out of school or lower education attainment, unable to provide appropriate qualifications when they move onto adulthood, seeking for job opportunities. These children are finding day-to-day life tough, they are living in cold, damp houses, do not have warm or rain-proof clothing, their shoes are worn, and many days they go hungry (Children's Commissioner, 2012). Often this has taken place over a long period of time, impacting on their development, behaviour and physical health furthermore limiting their potential as they grow into adults.

In the United States and in countries all over the world, poverty has extreme impacts on a