Low Socioeconomic Status and Impact on Child Development

Low Socioeconomic Status and

the Impacts On Child Development

What Is Low Socioeconomic Status?

The Different Ways Low Socioeconomic Status Impacts Child Development

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Socioeconomic Status (SES): is commonly conceptualized as the social standing or class of an individual or group. It is often measured as a combination of education, income and occupation. (American Psychological Association)

Sleep

Low Socioeconomic Status : occurs when an individual or family's total income is lower than $35,000 a year, the individual has little education, and the individual has a low wage or minimal paying job. (US Census Bureau).

• Sleep is essential for the child’s physical and cognitive development.
• Poorer sleep may result from crowding working schedules, overcrowded households, chronic stressors, diet and alcohol consumption, and poorer temperature control in the sleep environment.
• Children who were given inconsistent sleeping schedules napped more during the week.
• Children from lower SES homes may be expected to share rooms with multiple individuals.

• Sleeping Patterns
• Eating Habits
• Education Levels
• Cognitive Development
• Physical Development
• Social-Emotional Development
• Ethnicity
• Family Structure

Conclusion

Children who come from a low socioeconomic status on average:

• Have a harder time with getting regular sleep.
• Have poor eating habits.
• Usually have more trouble in school.
• Children tend to have lower literacy rates.
• Low SES can restrict physical activity and development.
• Children can be socially and emotionally stunted due to their life circumstances.
• Low SES create racial /ethnic gaps and separation.
• On average low SES families are nontraditional.
• With all of these factors impacting a child’s development, Do you think that having a low SES background would hold a child back from developing to their full potential?

Cognitive Development

Education Levels

Eating Habits

References

• Children who are in a low SES home are twice as likely to have a specific learning disability and behavioral problems.
• Stress, depression, and financial struggles also lead students to have some form of disconnect to school, education, and academics.
• Children who have a low socioeconomic status have lower literacy rates do to stressful home environment.
• On average 36% of low income parents read to their children daily while 62% of high income parents read to their children daily.
• School conditions play a huge roll in a child’s academic success.
• Low income areas are less likely to have a fully qualified teachers and staff.
• High school dropout rates are higher among low SES adolescents than middle or high SES adolescents.
• Children's socioeconomic background (SES) was associated with IQ growth.
• Children from low SES backgrounds had the lowest scores on intelligence (IQ) tests than children from higher SES backgrounds.

• Many times children who are sent to underresourced schools can delay the child’s academic skills.
• In many cases children from low SES communities have higher drop-out rates and illiteracy.
• Parents have less time availability to provide children with academic support.
• Learning rates and school conditions contribute more to the SES differences than family characteristics.

• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17328701
• http://www.prb.org/Publications/Articles/2013/obesity-socioeconomic-status.aspx
• http://www.apa.org/pi/ses/resources/publications/factsheet-education.aspx
• http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160289614001433
• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16513991
• http://poverty.ucdavis.edu/policy-brief/how-poverty-and-depression-impact-childs-social-and-emotional-competence
• http://www.apa.org/pi/ses/resources/publications/factsheet-erm.aspx
• http://webarchive.urban.org/publications/900832.html

• Families and children of low SES on average are more overweight and obese than those from middle and high SES.
• Children are becoming heavier because processed foods tend to be cheaper or more affordable than healthier alternatives.
• Parents from low SES tend to work longer hours and have less time in the day to prepare meals.
• Parents who are working longer hours might not be home to constantly monitor their child's eating habits. This might allow children to snack on fattier and higher calorie foods.
• On the other hand few children from low income families might also be underweight and be malnourished because of lack of food resources due to overcrowded domestic or home life.

Ethnicity

Family Structure

Social-Emotional Development

Physical Development

• 45 % of the United States population live in low-income families.
• About ½ of children in low-income families live with married parents.
• 70 % of all children with a single parent live in low income families and homes.
• Children on average attend some kind of daycare at least 35 hours a week so that their parent can work full time.
• Lower SES has been linked to domestic crowding.
• Evidence indicates that socioeconomic status affects family stability, including parenting practices and resulting developmental outcomes for children.
• Low SES is a reliable predictor of child abuse and neglect.
• Among low-income families, those with family exposure to substance use exhibit the highest rates of child abuse and neglect.

• Ethnicity and race can develop deep gaps between communities.
• African-American children are three times more likely to live in poverty than Caucasian children.
• Asian-American families may bring in steady income but these families typically have about four to five members working.
• Minorities are more likely to receive high-cost mortgages
• Unemployment rates are higher.
• Alcohol and tobacco advertisements are more prominently exposed to children in high-poverty areas.

• Parents income, education, and emotional risks (such a depression) all have a short term impact on a child’s understanding of emotion.
• Mothers with lower household income and lower levels of education were more likely to be more negative in their play and interactions with their children.
• A mother’s level of education, household income, and depressive symptoms have direct, lasting effects on her child’s social competence in early childhood.
• When a child is having a hard time at home they have a more difficulty following rules at school, which puts them at a disadvantage compared to their peers.
• A mother’s education level was the strongest and most direct predictor of children’s emotional understanding.
• Mothers who completed higher levels of education had children who were better able to identify emotions.
• Demographic and emotional risk factors associated with poverty affect children’s social and emotional competence over time.

• Higher body mass index can most likely lead to obesity and other health problems.
• In many situations, children from lower SES communities lack available resources because of environmental factors.
• Inconsistent sleeping patterns can link to a delay in physical growth and health.
• Lower birth rates related to numbers of negative child health outcomes.