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These studies examine the negative and possible long-term effects brought to youth who live in low socioeconomic environments. Using data to show the possibilities of psychological disorders such as PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) along with MDD (major depressive disorder). Low-income children also receive lower academic achievement than those who live in financially stable homes where crime and substance abuse are not common factors in their everyday lives. As well as seeing how low-income families are marginalized into feeding their children food that is low in cost but also low in nutrition.
In recent years researchers have noticed a spike in poverty levels in the United States. Along with this increase, there have been connections made between low-income families and child outcomes. This paper will examine how socioeconomic factors impact child development. Family poverty can impact a child psychologically, academically, and physically. Many children living within these circumstances are more likely to struggle with mental illnesses such as post-traumatic disorder and major depressive disorder. These children are also more prone to low academic achievement. Unfortunately, many people also see poverty as a choice but when youth are exposed to this type of environment there is little choice. Children born into low-income families also are more likely to face authoritarian type of parenting styles.
Youth who live within low socioeconomic families often also face neglect. Berger (as cited in Nikulina, V., Widom, C. S., & Czaja, S. 2011) noted that child neglect is positively related to poverty. Childhood neglect and childhood poverty create numerous psychological disorders. Nikulina’s study showed how low-income families and child neglect can lead to mental disorders such as PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and MDD (major depressive disorder). She states, “… family poverty significantly predicted having a lifetime diagnosis of PTSD.” Sadly low socioeconomic youth face difficulty when dealing with PTSD. Many who live within these margins, unfortunately, don’t have the means how to get help. Nikulina states that when doing their research they were able to correlate major depressive disorder with childhood family poverty. Major depressive disorder is a current situation that is on taking rise among youth. Every day there is news of children committing suicide, and these numbers continue to grow.
Low-income neighborhoods unfortunately have schools that do not have the same opportunities as those found in middle/upper-class communities. Budgets for schools throughout the years have continuously been cut away from students. Programs such as art, music, and selective sports are sadly being stripped away from public schools found in low socioeconomic areas. Along with these extra programs being taken away; youth within these communities are also suffering. Nikulina writes, “Childhood family poverty hurt academic achievement for controls growing up in low-poverty neighborhoods.” IQs were seen as lower than those students who don’t face financial issues. Attention problems suggest that lower levels of education in the neighborhood exacerbate attention problems over time (DeCarlo Santiago, C., Wadsworth, M. E., & Stump, J. 2011). Skills such as language are seen to be delayed in children who live in poverty. According to Laura Justice (2019), “Low-income children, at 2 years of age, performed nearly one standard deviation below the normative mean in receptive language skill, thus warranting the need for increased attention to contributors to language skill among children experiencing poverty.” Infants at about 18 months typically have a vocabulary explosion. Families living within the poverty line oftentimes do not spend a large amount of time speaking to their baby thus creating a delay in language learning skills. Children need time regardless of age. Especially during their primary years along with their adolescent years.
DeCarlo found that when unemployed children parents were able to monitor their kids more. Unemployment of parents did lead to heightened stress but also led to youth committing crimes lower because of the adults’ presence. Dearing (as cited by DeCarlo Santiago, C., Wadsworth, M. E., & Stump, J 2011) states that research has demonstrated that employment alone does not benefit children. Employment alone does not show positive changes among impoverished youth. Low-income neighborhoods unfortunately see high levels of substance abuse, crime, and violence. With parents being unemployed they can see who their children are socializing with before, during, and after school.
Along with psychological, academic, and social dangers found present in low-income children, there are physical hazards as well. If you’ve ever been in a mood for good, cheap, fast food you know where in the city to go. Usually, those are the areas where low socioeconomic families reside. Karen McCurdy and her colleagues from the University of Rhode Island and Simmons College states, “Family stress theory presumes that poverty produces high economic stress on some families as parents struggle to provide adequate food and resources for themselves and their children… (2010).” Healthy foods are now priced higher than regular fast food. That is why chain restaurants such as Mcdonald's, Jack in the Box, etc. often find success in low-income neighborhoods. Many parents prefer to purchase a meal they know will cost more than buying groceries and making a meal at home. Parents of low status also tend to purchase items in bulk if needed and these items are usually microwavable meals that carry very little nutrition. Fast food chains are colonizing children’s diets and causing childhood obesity that often leads to diseases such as diabetes, high cholesterol, and eventually death.
Children of low-income families face daily struggles that are unseen by the naked eye. The studies shown in this paper were constructed off on large sample sizes. These sample sizes though large cannot speak for everyone living in harsh conditions. There should be more research done on the long term of living in lower-class environments. For example possible to compare and contrast the differences in low-income families here in the United States vs another country such as Mexico. Limitations are also prevalent within all these studies for example for surveys that were given there is always the chance of people lying. Furthermore, in the research done by Valentina Nikulina and colleagues, she states that their findings were not generalizable because they focused on lower-class youth during the 1960s and 1970’s.
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