How Does Poverty Affect Children

Poverty is a worldwide epidemic that affects many families throughout the nations. These families are members of a society that lack the basic resources such as food, shelter, or clothing to live on a day-to-day basis. In the United States, the consequences of living in poverty especially affect children. Over 20% of children, under the age of 18, live in households that falls below the poverty line and where the socioeconomic status of their families fail to fulfill the children’s income-to-needs ratio. Living in these conditions is dangerous to children as it opens up many risk factors that can affect their social and emotional development. We’ll be looking at these risk factors and how they affect the psychological development of children in three different ways: (1) mental and physical health, (2) their relationship with their family and other people, and (3) education. At the same time, I’ll also be looking on how damaging of these consequences become as the child grows into adulthood. …show more content…
For example, families with food insecurities expose themselves and their children to malnutrition (a short-term effect of poverty). Yet with the inability to provide a balanced meal and other basic necessities such as shelter and clothing, low-income families leave their child vulnerable to poverty-related stress. If the child experiences this poverty-related stress then they are later affected not only their mental health but also their well-being. The risk only continues to increased with chronic exposure to poverty. And as children grow older, they become more aware of their socio-economic status and the hardship that come it. As a result, teenagers are more likely to develop mental disorders such as depression and anxiety. They are also subject to more dangerous and life-threatening consequences such as suicide, substance abuse, and an increase in criminal