Poverty: It’s Impact on Single Parent Families
Introduction
Poverty is the lack of money to purchase basic needs, like clothing, food, and shelter. In 2013, the United States Census Bureau reported that 45.3 million people lived in poverty. Of that staggering statistic, 14.7 million of people who live in poverty are children. (United States Census Bureau, 2014). Poverty’s greatest impact is on the children whose family lives in poverty. The primary reason is that parents who live in poverty experience more stress than parents in families who are not living in poverty. Parents that in poverty have to worry about how they are going to make ends meet, or if they have enough money to pay this months’ rent and utilities. Because of the additional …show more content…
How a parent reacts to poverty will ultimately affect the children. Single parent families who live in poverty struggle almost daily to provide both the intangible and tangible things for their families; often times without help from other family members or without anyone to turn to for support. Many of these parents lack the coping skills to handle the stress they are under or the situation that is causing the stress. As Makosky (1982) pointed out, they are unable to handle the stress because they have the “inability to cope with the stress and the inability to cope with the source of their stress” (Klebanov, 1994, pg. 442). This lack of ability leads parents who live in poverty to have a higher rate of depression than those families that do not live in …show more content…
468). In a 2009 study by Colleen M. Heflin and John Iceland, they additionally found that there is a strong relationship between poverty and depression (Heflin & Iceland, 2009). Heflin and Ice, also point out (2013) Kessler (et al) also did a study, in 2003, revealed that individuals who lived at or near poverty during a twelve month period showed a “major depressive disorder” (Heflin, & Iceland, 2009, pg.
Introduction
Poverty is the lack of money to purchase basic needs, like clothing, food, and shelter. In 2013, the United States Census Bureau reported that 45.3 million people lived in poverty. Of that staggering statistic, 14.7 million of people who live in poverty are children. (United States Census Bureau, 2014). Poverty’s greatest impact is on the children whose family lives in poverty. The primary reason is that parents who live in poverty experience more stress than parents in families who are not living in poverty. Parents that in poverty have to worry about how they are going to make ends meet, or if they have enough money to pay this months’ rent and utilities. Because of the additional …show more content…
How a parent reacts to poverty will ultimately affect the children. Single parent families who live in poverty struggle almost daily to provide both the intangible and tangible things for their families; often times without help from other family members or without anyone to turn to for support. Many of these parents lack the coping skills to handle the stress they are under or the situation that is causing the stress. As Makosky (1982) pointed out, they are unable to handle the stress because they have the “inability to cope with the stress and the inability to cope with the source of their stress” (Klebanov, 1994, pg. 442). This lack of ability leads parents who live in poverty to have a higher rate of depression than those families that do not live in …show more content…
468). In a 2009 study by Colleen M. Heflin and John Iceland, they additionally found that there is a strong relationship between poverty and depression (Heflin & Iceland, 2009). Heflin and Ice, also point out (2013) Kessler (et al) also did a study, in 2003, revealed that individuals who lived at or near poverty during a twelve month period showed a “major depressive disorder” (Heflin, & Iceland, 2009, pg.