Children who grow up in poverty experience a myriad of challenges throughout their life. Poverty poses numerous negative impacts on the overall performance of children which results in inequalities in psychological growth, cognitive development, health, and educational achievement. The inequalities are apparent right from pre-school through a child’s school life. As Morgan (2017) illustrates, the inequalities are also clearly visible in the labor market and sometimes passed over to the future generations. This essay reviews the impacts of poverty on the performance of children on the areas highlighted to help families and stakeholders working with children to understand and provide the necessary support.
Effect of Poverty on Educational Achievement and Cognitive Development
Empirically, there is a significant relationship between a child’s economic background and educational achievement, cognitive development, and the future prospects of securing employment. Growing up in poverty adversely affects the cognitive development of a child. According to Morgan (2017), the level of poverty and the time in which a child lives in poverty worsen the harmful effects, with children living in extreme poverty showing the poorest cognitive development. Comparatively, children who do well in aptitude tests during early childhood from poor family settings are outdone by children from rich backgrounds in similar tests carried out in later years. Parents exposed to extreme poverty experience prolonged stress, which results in reduced cognitive replication for their children. Furthermore, parents experiencing economic hardships are less likely to have more parent-child interaction which is a recipe for cognitive development and educational achievement.
Effect of Poverty on Psychological, Health, Social and Emotional Outcomes
There is empirical evidence that poverty is associated with negative psychological, health, social, and emotional outcomes for the children. Fiedler & Kuester (2010) revealed that the relationship is more powerful during early childhood and less powerful in the middle stages. Imparting children with positive psychological and behavioral skills at a tender age results in higher educational achievement and higher employment prospects in the labor market during adulthood. On the contrary, poverty and economic hardship for children in early years leads to poor psychological and behavioral outcomes. Moreover, factors such as mother’s level of stress, self-esteem, and the quality of parenting determine children’s outcome of these parameters. The maternal mental health, which is highly associated with psychological, social, and emotional well-being also directly affect negatively children’s outcomes.
Poverty and Parenting
Economically challenged parents equally face various difficulties including poor mental and physical health and lack of basic amenities, some of which have to do with them growing up in poverty also. Lipina & Colombo (2009) demonstrated that to try reduce the impacts of poverty on children, parents often sacrifice their consumption and possession of material things. Poor parents often have high hopes and aspirations for their children, but lack of the financial muscles and knowledge of how to accomplish those ambitions prevent them from offering the needed support. For poor parents and their children, better information is needed to provide understanding of how work and education fit together in realizing ambitions for the children.
In summary, children are the main beneficiaries of poverty because it affects their lives in the early lives and in the future. Interventions focusing on improving the economic conditions of poor parents as well as the state of children living in poverty are required. Stakeholders have the responsibility of identifying the inequalities and facilitating community development and empowerment programs to address the gaps.
References
Fiedler, A., & Kuester, I. (2010). Child development and child poverty. New York: Nova Science Publishers.
Lipina, S. J., & Colombo, J. A. (2009). Poverty and brain development during childhood: An approach from cognitive psychology and neuroscience. Washington, D.C: American Psychological Association.
Morgan, C. (Aug 2017). Impacts of Poverty on Children and Young People. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/237078363_Impacts_of_poverty_on_children_and_young_people
write