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Children in Poverty: Internal Issues

By: Carson McMonagle, Ellen Graham, Mia Romano, Noah Levine, & Sophia Mastandrea

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Childhood Poverty

In 2017, 39.7 million people were in poverty

A third of that were children
12.8 million

(https://www.childrensdefense.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Child-Poverty-in-America-2017-National-Fact-Sheet.pdf )

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Affection and Attachment

https://youtu.be/_XjXv6zseA0

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Affection and Attachment

Childhood affection and attachment relates directly to the way a child is raised.

If a parent is unable or does not know how to meet the emotional and psychological needs of a child, the sense of attachment is lowered dramatically.

Many families living in poverty do not have the resources or capacity to be able to support their child’s development in the way that the child needs due to a variety of factors.

Time spent with the child
Inability to communicate emotionally (due to traumatic events, how the parents grew up, etc.)
Having to work jobs that have inconvenient hours
Lack of literacy

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Factors that affect affection and attachment

Quality time

One of the first things a child develops is their sense of affection.
Parents spending quality time with their children aids in their understanding of what affection is, and also helps them develop a healthy attachment to their parents.

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Factors that affect affection and attachment

Lack of emotional communication skills

Many parents living in poverty have experienced traumatic events in their lives, making it hard to connect and open up to their children.
Generational issues
Limited accessibility to resources

Therapy/Medicines
Child development classes

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Factors that affect affection and attachment

Household literacy

Reading to children is one of the most influential ways to connect with them at a young age.
“Mothers’ own schooling experiences and their memories of how they learned to read in school influenced the reported practices they were using with their preschool children, often resulting in non-developmentally appropriate practices.” (Sawyer et. al)

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National Center for Education Studies, 2016

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Solutions

Be more adamant about educating parents on childhood development.
Providing parents with access to resources that:

Allow them to work stable, reasonable jobs
Allow them to be able to connect emotionally with their children
Recover from past trauma

Make literacy a priority in homes and schools

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Childcare

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Childcare

When working parents leave for their jobs, where do their children go?

Daycare Programs
School
Neighbor/Friend
Family

(Papero, 2004)

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Interactions with Caregivers

Neglect

Increase chance of abuse

$2.00 A Day, story of Kaitlin

(Edin & Shaefer, 2015)

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Effects of Inadequate Childcare

Insecure attachment
Exposure to trauma/stressors

Consequences of abuse

Aggressive/disobedient behavior

(Bunting, Davidson, McCartan, Hanratty, Bywaters, Mason, & Steils, 2018),

(Valentina, Widom, & Czaja, 2010), (Shellenbarger, 2003), (Papero, 2004)

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At a Disadvantage

Growing up in poverty:

Poor neighborhood
Education
More exposure to life stressors
Lack of support

(Valentina, Widom, & Czaja, 2010), (Papero, 2004)

Growing up wealthy:

More childcare options
Better education
Safer neighborhoods
Social support

-Bad neighborhoods predispose children in poverty with more experience to trauma.

-Children in poverty also have fewer resources to buffer these traumatic and negative life events.

-Lack of access to good education is just a maintenance factor to the child living in poverty; helping keep them in poverty.

-With families living in poverty, there is a lack of support available to them.

-High quality childcare programs cost too much money for low-income families.

-This leaves them with fewer choices than those who can afford these options.

-High SES families can hire nannies, babysitters, and send their children to elite daycare center. All of these things would provide background checks and exceptional care.

-Better daycare facilities help foster language development, advances cognitively, social skills, and self-regulation abilities.

-Higher SES means safer neighborhoods with better schools and more social support between the community.

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Possible Solutions

Parental Education
After School Activities
Background Checks for Facilities
Daycare Available for All

Think Tanks

(Garrett, 2002), (Weiss, 2019)

-Educate parents on the risks of leaving their children with multiple strangers.

-Encourage parents to enroll their children in afterschool programs run by their schools.

-sports, clubs, etc.

-Require all daycares to run background checks on those they hire.

-Require daycare to be affordable to all income levels.

-From the Right (Heritage):

-They argue that day cares do more harm than good and more money should not be put in to make daycares more available.

-Children who spend more than 26 hours in daycare are three times more likely to be aggressive, disobedient, and more likely to fight with other children compared to those who spend less than 26 hours in daycare.

-Perhaps this data is from poor daycare facilities rather than high quality programs.

-From the Left (www.epi.org):

-They state that Elizabeth Warren’s plan for universal childcare is not radical.

-They mention how she understands that many families in America struggle to afford childcare for their children and even more so struggle to find decent facilities.

-An EPI study in 2015 showed that a single parent with a child and worked full time on minimum wage would not be able to sustain a decent lifestyle because of how high the costs are for childcare.

-They also discuss how child development is extremely important and children need stable environments to grow properly.

-Although these two sides have different viewpoints regarding childcare, we feel that the reasoning presented by EPI makes the most sense.

-Child development is very important and without a stable and safe place for children to stay while their parents are working to provide for them, these children will be put at an even greater disadvantage than they already are at.

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Single Mother Households

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Paycheck to Paycheck:

The Life and Times of Katrina Gilbert

In 2014, 42 million women in America (1 in 3) were living in or on the brink of poverty (“Paycheck to Paycheck”).

13 million mothers
28 million dependent children

Katrina Gilbert’s story

3 young children
CNA ($9.49/hour wage)

First raise in 2 years

Chambliss Center for Children
Ex-husband Jeremy

(Los Angeles Times)

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The Effects on Katrina’s Children

Food stamps
Pet puppy
No birthday parties/presents
Trent’s violence
Moving in with Chris
Katrina attempts to go back to college

(HBO.com)

Since Katrina is the sole breadwinner of the family, she has to rely on food stamps in order to feed her children.
She ends up losing her food stamps, and she struggles to provide nutritious meals for her children

A lot of the time they just have soup for dinner

Originally, they had a pet puppy named Stormy, but Katrina could no longer afford to take care of it so they ended up selling it to someone. This was hard on the kids because they were emotionally attached to the puppy.
Katrina couldn’t afford to have birthday parties for her kids or buy them presents
There were a few instances in the documentary where Trent was being violent.

He pushed a girl in daycare
He punched his sister
He is violent with his sisters at home and may have OCD

Katrina gets back together with Chris, but part of the reason they broke up in the first place is because their children weren’t getting along (exposure to more people?)
They end up moving in together, and Chris’ house is less than adequate

Leaky pipes in the basement led to the formation of mold, which is not good for the kids’ health

Katrina applies to go back to college, but her FAFSA ends up getting declined

She explains how she is scared to go back anyways because she still has to care for her kids (possible solution)

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“Maternal Resources, Parenting Practices, and Child Competence in Rural, Single-Parent African American Families” (Brody et. al).

A family process model
The sample used
Link between distal and proximal variables

Distal variables: maternal education, maternal religiosity, and adequacy of family financial resources
Proximal variables: “no nonsense” parenting, mother-child relationship quality, and maternal involvement in the child’s school activities

Indirect link with proximal variables

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(Society for Research in Child Development, 1998)

Mother education is linked to the same variables as in the hypothetical model
Perceived financial adequacy is no longer linked to both M/C relationship quality and no nonsense parenting, but only to M/C relationship quality
Religiosity is still linked to all 3 proximal variables

Greater maternal religiosity was related to more use of no nonsense parenting, higher mother-child relationship quality, and more maternal involvement in the child’s school

Results are consistent with the hypothesis that religiosity enhances the norms that govern close interpersonal relationships

Rather than the proximal variables being linked to the distal variables, the proximal variables were linked to self regulation, and self regulation was linked to the distal variables. Self regulation was positively linked to cognitive and social competence, and negatively linked to internalizing problems
The hypothetical model predicted that the proximal variables would be directly and indirectly linked to child competence, but the proximal variables were only indirectly linked through self regulation

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Possible Solutions

Alternate daycare options
Educational options for mothers
Increase pay

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Food Insecurity and Nutrition

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Food Insecurity and Malnutrition

What is food insecurity?

Determinants
Factors
In the United States

What is malnutrition?

Effects
In the United States

(Wight & Thampi, 2010), (Knudsen, 2012)

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Nutrition and Types of Food

Food in the household

Junk food
Cheap food
No fruits and vegetables

(Di Noia & Byrd-Bredbenner, 2014)

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Nutrition and Parenting

Parents always working

Single Parents
Never home

Do not want to put in effort/too tired

Grocery shopping
Cooking

Food insecurity

(Miller, Nepomnyaschy, Ibarra & Garasky, 2014)

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Obesity

Lack of parental presence
No nutrition intake
School lunches

Gateway Elementary in Travelers Rest

(Vieweg, Johnston, Lanier, Fernandez, & Pandurangi, 2007),

(Kuku, Garasky, & Gundersen, 2012)

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Possible Solutions and Different Sides

Educate parents on healthy eating choices
Provide programs

WIC

Heritage Foundation
Center for American Progress

(Carlson & Neuberger, 2017), (Menon, 2018),

(Ballard & Mueller, 2019)

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[In]Dependence

Poverty

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Depend-

Linguistics & Etymology

To Depend: (V) “Physical relationship in which one thing hangs from another”
Dependence: [Current Socio-Political] “The condition of poor women with children who maintain their families with neither a male breadwinner nor an adequate wage and who rely for economic support on a stingy and politically unpopular government program”
The Family Wage: Independence of white working male

wife subordination and economic dependence
Dependence of other men

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“Registers of Dependency”

Economic: substantial dependence on another (individual, institutional)
Socio-Legal: lack of public/legal/social identity
Political: political, external subjection
Moral/Psychological: (individual) lack of willpower, emotional neediness

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Semantic Shifts

Early Definitions of Depend-

“To be connected in a relationship of subordination”
“One ‘who depends on another for support… a subordinate, servant…’”
“A… body of servants or a foreign territorial possession…”
“to gain one’s livelihood by working for someone else”
Dependency → status inferiority; legal coveriture; membership in submissive unit

(no necessitation of negative social connotation; devalued definition/identity)

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Semantic Shifts

Early Definitions of Independ-

“aggregate entities” (as-in) “a nation or a church… could be independent”
[individual] “to have… an ownership of property, a fortune that made it possible to life without laboring”
“A prerequisite for political rights… a [higher] rung in a long social ladder”
“Independence connoted unusual privilege and superiority, as in freedom from labor”
Head of Household, Male, Landowner
“Subjection, not citizenship, was the norm”

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Analytics:

Poverty & Dependency

Logistic Regression: Statistical Model utilized in Probability Estimations of Event Occurrence (given the relevant data)
One Percentage Point (1%) in Child-Woman ratio raises (at the margin) Household Poverty Probability by One-Tenth of a Percentage Point (0.1%)
Dependent¹ Household Members increase Household Poverty Probability
“Household size, the dependency ratio and household structure are found to be positively and significantly correlated to the probability of the household being poor” (Rahman 304).

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Dependence & Poverty

Pragmatic Circularity: Household Poverty Probability (HPP) determined by participation in labor market; participation in labor market determined by characteristics of the household

Household of Individual Worker
Labor Market of Individual Worker

Increased HPP: Head-of-Household Young, Uneducated, Female, Disabled (Head or Members); Household Large, Predominantly Female [Workers], ‘Excessive Dependency Burden’

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Discussion

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References

Annual Social and Economic Supplement of the U.S. Census Current Population Survey. (Sept. 2018). Child Poverty in America 2017: National Analysis. Retrieved from

https://www.childrensdefense.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Child-Poverty-in-America-2017-National-Fact-Sheet.pdf

Ballard, D. & Mueller, K. (2019, March 29). How are you going to look for a job if you’re hungry? Retrieved from https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/poverty/news/2019/03/29/467996/going-look-job-youre-hungry/

Brody, Gene H., and Douglas L. Flor. Maternal resources, parenting practices, and child

competence in rural, single-parent african american families. Child Development, vol 69, no. 3 (September 2008): 803-816. Accessed November 6, 2019.

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.1998.tb06244.x.

Bunting, Lisa, Gavin, Davidson., Claire McCartan., Jennifer, Hanratty., Paul, Bywaters., Will Mason., and Nicole Steils. The association between child maltreatment and adult poverty – A systematic review of longitudinal research. Child Abuse & Neglect, vol. 77, Science Direct, 2018, pg. 121-133.

Carlson, S. & Neuberger, Z. (2017, March 29). WIC works: addressing the nutrition and health needs of low-income families for 40 years. Retrieved from https://www.cbpp.org/research/food-assistance/wic-works-addressing-the-nutrition-and-health-needs-of-low-income-families

Di Noia, Jennifer, and Bredbenner, Carol Byrd. Determinants of fruit and vegetable intake in low‐income children and adolescents. Nutrition Reviews, vol. 72, no. 9, Sept. 2014, pp. 575–590. EBSCOhost, doi:http://dx.doi.org.libproxy.furman.edu/10.1111/nure.12126.

Fraser, Nancy, and Linda Gordon. A genealogy of dependency: Tracing a keyword of the U.S.

welfare state. Signs, vol. 19, no. 2, 1994, pp. 309–336. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3174801.

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References

Garret, J. (2002). Dollars for Daycare, Pennies for Marriage?. The Heritage Foundation, Retrieved from https://www.heritage.org/marriage-and-family/commentary/dollars-daycare-pennies-marriage

Heymann, S. Jody, and Alison Earle. The impact of parental working conditions on school-age children: The case of evening work. Community, Work & Family, vol. 4, no. 3, Dec. 2001, pp. 305-325. EBSCOhost, doi: 10.1080/01405110120089369

Kuku, O., Garasky, S., & Gundersen, C. (2012). The relationship between childhood obesity and food insecurity: a nonparametric analysis. Applied Economics, 44(21), 2667–2677. https://doi.org/10.1080/00036846.2011.566192

Knudsen, J. B. (2012). Malnutrition: Risk Factors, Health Effects, and Prevention. New York: Nova Science Publishers, Inc. Retrieved from https://search-ebscohost-com.libproxy.furman.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=541662&site=ehost-live

Menon, V. (2018, August 31). California shows why Congress needs to eliminate food stamp work requirement loop. Retrieved from https://www.heritage.org/hunger-and-food-programs/commentary/california-shows-why-congress-needs-eliminate-food-stamp-work

Miller, D. P., Nepomnyaschy, L., Ibarra, G. L., & Garasky, S. (2014). Family structure and child food insecurity. American Journal of Public Health, 104(7), e70–e76. Retrieved from https://search-ebscohost-com.libproxy.furman.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=s3h&AN=96840280&site=ehost-live

Nikulina, Valentina., Kathy, Widom S., and Sally, Czaja. The role of childhood neglect and childhood poverty in predicting mental health, academic achievement and crime in adulthood.” Am J Community Psychol, vol. 48, Society for Community Research and Action, Nov 2010, pg. 309-321, DOI 10.1007/s10464-010-9385-y.

Papero, Anna L. Is early, high-quality daycare an asset for the children of low-income, depressed mothers? Developmental Review, vol. 25, Science Direct, Dec 2004, pg. 181-211.

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References

“Paycheck to Paycheck - Documentary.” Video file, 1:13:56. Youtube. Posted by Eugene Debs, June 21, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ob9oGBbOQ10.

Rahman, Mustafa A. “HOUSEHOLD CHARACTERISTICS AND POVERTY: A LOGISTIC REGRESSION ANALYSIS.” The Journal of Developing Areas, vol. 47, no. 1, 2013, pp. 303–317., www.jstor.org/stable/23612271.

Sawyer, Brook E, et al. So many books they don’t ever all fit on the bookshelf: An examination of low-income mothers’ home literacy practices, beliefs and influencing factors. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, vol. 18, no. 3, 2016, pp. 338-372., doi:10.1177/1468798416667524

Shellenbarger, Sue. Yes, that weird day-care center could scar your child, researchers say. The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones & Company, Inc., Jan 2003.

Vieweg, Victor R., et al. Correlation between high risk obesity groups and low socioeconomic status in school children. Southern Medical Journal, vol. 100, no. 1, Jan. 2007, pp. 8-13. EBSCOhost, doi;10.1097/01.smj.0000253479.03665.6f.

Wall, Glenda. Love builds brains’: representations of attachment and children’s brain development in parenting education material. Sociology of Health and Illness, vol. 40, no. 3, 2017, pp. 395-409., doi:10.1111/1467-9566.12632

Weiss, E. (2019). There’s nothing radical about Elizabeth Warren’s proposal for universal childcare. Economic Policy Institute. Retrieved from https://www.epi.org/blog/theres-nothing-radical-about-elizabeth-warrens-proposal-for-universal-childcare/

Wight, V. & Thampi, K. (2010). Who are america’s poor children? Examining food insecurity among children in the United States. National Center for Children in Poverty, https://doi.org/10.7916/D8KK9KRG

Vieweg, Victor R., et al. Correlation between high risk obesity groups and low socioeconomic status in school children.” Southern Medical Journal, vol. 100, no. 1, Jan. 2007, pp. 8-13. EBSCOhost, doi;10.1097/01.smj.0000253479.03665.6f.