PSY 4190-Child Development. In Chapter 1, you’ve been learning about how the sociocultural context influences development, as one theme of child development. For this activity, You should also go to the National Center of Children in Poverty’s website and read more about child poverty in the U.S. and Tennessee. Finally, watch the 5 min excerpt from PBS’s (2020) “Growing Up Poor in America” and the 5 min except from “Paul Rudd and Julia Roberts Explore Child Poverty in the US”. Note: The entire PBS documentary is about an hour and is also online if you have time to watch the whole thing.
Part A. In complete, grammatical sentences, describe 6 specific things you learned from these three sources (the website, and video excerpts) about the relation between child poverty and children’s development (be sure to paraphrase your responses; responses should not be direct quotes). At least 2-3 of your responses should come from the website, and at least 1 response should come from the video excerpts. Bonus points if you can integrate multiple sources into each response. Be sure to cite the source for each resource with each response.
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Part B. How did this information change or impact your thinking about children’s development? About poverty?
Part C. Finally, relate what you learned from the text and website to observations from your own life and childhood and those around you (friends, family, schoolmates, etc.).
Be sure to use Ace homework tutors – APA style to reference your sources at the end of the assignment and in text.
Part A.
According to the National Center for Children in Poverty website, over 14 million children in the United States live in families with incomes below the federal poverty level, which was $26,200 for a family of four in 2020 (National Center for Children in Poverty, 2022).
The website also notes that children who grow up in poor families are more likely to experience food insecurity, inadequate housing and homelessness, poor physical and mental health, and poor academic achievement (National Center for Children in Poverty, 2022).
As shown in the PBS documentary “Growing Up Poor in America,” poverty can negatively impact children’s cognitive development as chronic stress associated with poverty has been shown to impair brain development in children (PBS, 2020).
The short video excerpt from “Paul Rudd and Julia Roberts Explore Child Poverty in the US” highlighted that poverty is especially detrimental to early childhood development from birth to age 5 when 90% of brain development occurs (PBS, 2020).
Research cited on the National Center for Children in Poverty’s website found that poverty is associated with more behavioral and socioemotional problems in children such as anxiety, depression and aggression (National Center for Children in Poverty, 2022).
All sources emphasized that growing up in poverty puts children at risk for poorer educational and economic outcomes as adults compared to children from families with higher incomes.
Part B. This information changed my thinking about how profoundly poverty impacts child development. The cognitive and socioemotional effects of chronic stress, inadequate nutrition, unstable housing and lack of resources were especially concerning to learn about. It’s clear that poverty is not just a financial issue but truly undermines children’s potential.
Part C. Having grown up in a middle-class family, I did not directly experience the hardships of poverty. However, I did have classmates and friends whose families struggled financially. Some had to move frequently or missed school due to illnesses their families could not afford to properly treat. This gave me a small glimpse into how poverty can disrupt children’s lives and learning. The sources provided a much deeper understanding of the myriad ways poverty undermines development.
References:
National Center for Children in Poverty. (2022, January 19). United States demographics of low-income children. http://www.nccp.org/profiles/US_profile_6.html
PBS. (2020, January 19). Growing up poor in America [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3o8SMXcM2E
PBS. (2020, January 19). Paul Rudd and Julia Roberts explore child poverty in the US [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3o8SMXcM2E
