Poverty Adolescents

Improved Essays
Imagine living in a place where almost every minute of every day, you are hungry, inadequately clothed, or at risk of death because you are living in poverty. Now, imagine that you are waking up and the biggest problem of your day is choosing which outfit will go with which shoes. Many wealthy people around the world are unaware of how immense an issue poverty is and are sometimes hesitant to believe how high the poverty scale has risen. Without the middle and upper classes understanding how much poverty has become an issue, families living below the poverty level will be at a disadvantage and will not be adequately helped. This paper argues that private donations would help eliminate child poverty which affects child growth, brain development, …show more content…
Observations show that poverty adolescents ranging from the age of five months to four years have slower brain growth due to the lack of nutrition (Lipina, Colombo 80). Cognitive function processes in poverty adolescents usually do not function correctly due to the lack of nutrition (Lipina, Colombo 81). The observed adolescents went into an MRI screening; the adolescents from a low-income family had lower volumes of gray matter than the adolescents with high-income families (Lipina, Colombo 82). Sebastián J. Lipina and Jorge A. Colombo states, “that at birth, all adolescents have the same amount of gray matter, but by toddlerhood the gray matter in the lower-income adolescents would already be less than the higher-income adolescents” (82). The brain is the second most important organ in the body, if the brain is not functioning right then the body will misinterpret what the brain is trying to say (Hanson 2). Poor adolescents need more time to learn and comprehend numbers or words, which means they need more time to learn how to read and write. Not being able to control behavior or the brain is a scary thought, but poor adolescents have to deal with that daily. People do not understand how hard poor adolescents’ lives are because they suffer from these effects

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Abortion Dbq

    • 724 Words
    • 3 Pages

    According to Allie Bidwell of U.S. News, “[children] who are exposed to poverty at a young age often have trouble academically later in life. But according to new research out of the Washington University School of Medicine, poverty also appears to be associated with smaller brain volumes in areas involved in emotion processing and memory.” (Bidwell 1). She also stated that at a St. Louis-based univeristy, there was a team analyzing brain scan of 145 children and those brain scans concluded that “poverty also appears to alter the physical makeup of a child's brain; those children exposed to poverty at an early age had smaller volumes of white and cortical gray matter, as well as hippocampal and amygdala volumes.” (Bidwell 1).…

    • 724 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Grow-Up In Poverty

    • 971 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Growing up in poverty doesn’t mean people are short only on money. Those in poverty are exposed to abuse, low academic achievements and education, lack of self-esteem, and an uncertain future. The book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie showcases a Native American teenager, Junior, coming to the realization that his only hopes of attaining a better life, is to leave his own back on the reservation. His decisions lead him to attend a school out of town, with a majority of white and well-off residents. Poverty has a negative impact on the success and future of a child.…

    • 971 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It is much more than a lack of domestic income and deprivation of material possessions (Treanor, 2012) and (Sime, 2013) agreed that the evidence indicates, children who grow up in poverty are more likely to experience more adverse outcomes throughout life than their peers and has an impact on future generations. This evidence can be seen in early pre-school children, persisting to grow throughout the education system of primary and secondary education. These children leave school accomplishing lower levels of attainment, further affecting their lifetime…

    • 1175 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    About 161 million children don’t attend school. The number of people dying because of poverty worldwide is greater than the population of the United States. 805 million people do not have enough food to eat, due to lack of skills to get a job, or lack of intelligence. Many people living in poverty depend on food banks at local grocery stores, if they have a family they all can be fed but if it’s just one person then they’ll have enough food to eat for a couple days. In 2011 165 million children under the age of 5 got their growth stunted, due to chronic malnutrition.…

    • 685 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Peter Singer’s essay “What Should a Billionaire Give” discusses the harsh truth of global poverty that many individuals suffer through due to living in a developing country. In his essay, he tells the story of Bill and Melinda Gates making the decision to take it upon themselves and donate to those in need via the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. For any human, it is his or her civic obligation to care about the needs of others, whether the needs are physiological or based on safety. In order to provide for the basic needs of the poor, it is vital to understand how individuals respond to poverty, how war affects poverty, and how poverty can be related to psychology.…

    • 1073 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    This article illustrates the effects of poverty on at-risk youth specifically in our school systems. The detrimental consequence’s poverty has on at-risk youth in our nation is a concern for all. The depth of poverty in America spans far beyond the geographical and ethnic boundaries. Throughout this article, the author demonstrates the key factors associated with poverty, as well as crucial aspects we as a country must focus on improving. As the percentage of people living in poverty continues to rise to over fifty-one percent, Americans should reflect on the efforts of President Lyndon B. Johnson.…

    • 378 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Great Essays

    Child Poverty In America

    • 1889 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Child poverty is about more than just money – it’s multidimensional. For children, poverty means being deprived in crucial aspects of their lives such as nutrition, health, water, education or shelter. The effects of low socioeconomic status often persist long into adulthood and is both harmful to the person themselves as well as to society. Ending child poverty is important to break the cycle of future generations. Child poverty is a devastating and pressing issue that affects children of all race and cultures worldwide, having extremely detrimental effects; both immediate and long term.…

    • 1889 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Poverty In California

    • 655 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Memo topic: Poverty rates among children living in California Children make up 23.1 percent of the U.S. population and they disproportionately experience poverty in the U.S. compared to other age groups and California is one of the states with the highest child poverty rates. Child poverty has profound educational, health and economic consequences now and in the long term not only for individual children but also for the entire nation. Poverty can alter children’s developmental trajectories in cognitive, socio-emotional and physical health. Research in neuroscience and developmental psychology provide evidence that early life experiences are critical for child development. And there is variety of evidence illustrating the disparities that emerge during the early years, are related to outcomes for poor children and contribute to life-long inequality when compared to their more advantaged peers.…

    • 655 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Poverty In America

    • 1530 Words
    • 7 Pages

    A mother with low household income is more likely to be negative towards their interactions with their child. A child whose family is struggling with poverty has a lasting effect on emotions on others and themselves. By the age of three a child in poverty is estimated to be likely around nine months behind educationally than a wealthy child. Poverty also has an affect on a child’s health, they have a higher risk in illness and premature death. They are more likely to suffer chronic illness and disability.…

    • 1530 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Poverty Capstone Paper

    • 838 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Unfortunately, in many circumstances, children that come from poverty also lack education. Children living in poverty have a higher number of absences or drop-out all together because they are more likely to have to work to help their family. “Dropout rates of 16 to 24-year-old students who come from low income families are seven times more likely to drop out than those from families with higher incomes.” (“11 Facts about education and poverty in America,” n.d.) A child who lacks education or who comes from an uneducated family is more likely to have health complications.…

    • 838 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Africa is growing rapidly and the ten or twenty years to come, its population will grow. As of now, it’s growing at a 3.9 percent per year and it will continue to been one of the highest growing population in the world. Currently about 1.2 billion people live in Africa; with over 40 percent of the population living in urban areas. The growth of the population is demanding more and more water for this region. This problem is further aggravated by the rate at which populations will be increasing.…

    • 1799 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    More than one billion children in the world are deprived of at least one of the basic necessities. According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) "children living in poverty are those who experience deprivation of the material, spiritual and emotional resources needed to survive, develop and thrive, leaving them unable to enjoy their rights, achieve their full potential or participate as full and equal members of society". Poverty limits children's opportunities for education, puts them at risk for health problems and increases the likelihood that they’ll be subjected to child labor or early marriage. Poor children are hungry and at risk for malnutrition, underdevelopment and stunting, which can have serious health consequences later…

    • 401 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The world has many problems and one of the biggest problems is poverty. There are so many people in our world today that do not have the things that most people take for granted. Poverty affects thousands of people every day, as this fact found in an article says, Poverty is considered one of the world’s most intractable problems. It is defined as the state of not having enough money to afford basic needs, including food, shelter, clothing, and more(Finley 1). This shows us that if there is people in our world that can not even afford the basic needs in life than other people need to start coming up with ways that will dramatically change the poverty rate.…

    • 1660 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    According to UNICEF, 22,000 children die from poverty each day: 270 million have no access to health care, and 121 million children are out of education worldwide. Poverty remains one of the most severe harms against humanity in society today. Today, the question is not why one of two children in the world remains in poverty while a plethora of people live luxurious lifestyles, as we know the reasons are lack of education, lack of health care, and lack of income equality, but rather how this detrimental problem can be mitigated. Poverty will never truly be eliminated.…

    • 746 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Poverty

    • 1096 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Poverty is the worse form of violence” ( Mahatma Gandhi). Poverty affects many people but one thing is certain, it can be fixed. Poverty is a worldwide problem and there are many different reasons people are in poverty. It affects a lot of people, but if we all work together it can be fixed. Poverty, the general scarcity, death, or the state of one who lacks a certain amount of material possessions or money.…

    • 1096 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays