Consequences of Stress on
Children's Development
Poverty
In all
countries, poverty presents a chronic stress for children and families that may
interfere with successful adjustment to developmental tasks, including school
achievement. Poverty is highly influence child’s development and educational
outcomes beginning in the earliest years of life. Hence, children who raised in
low-income families are at high risk of leaving school, social and behavioral problems,
under nutrition, and well-being. Early Child Care Research Network has shown
that children in chronically impoverished families have lower cognitive and
academic performance and more behavior problems than children who are not
exposed to poverty, partially explained by a lack of stimulating behaviors and
home experiences among low-income families. It is very apparent that poverty impedes
child’s learning, health, cognitive, social, and emotional development.
In my
country which is Iraq, a third of Iraqis live in poverty due to wars,
corruption, failing infrastructure, and high unemployment. All these factors
are considering the main reasons that poverty spread in Iraq. However, these
elements affects negatively on children’s development in all aspect. First, poverty
increased the rate of literacy among children since many families cannot afford
to send their children to school. Beside, many children lost their fathers
during wars or sectarian tension, which causes children to work in streets or
under any worker to getting money to support their families. In turns, children
lost their chances to attain the good education that would open the gate of
opportunities for them. Increasingly, children in Iraq continue to quitting
school and deprive from the chance of learning and gaining different skills in school.
Secondly, poverty also influences children’s overall health and decreases their
chances to get the best treatment, and put them at risk of undernutrision. Generally,
poverty in Iraq affects considerably and hindered child’s development from all
aspect as cognitively, emotionally, and intellectually. . I remember my neighbor whose her
husband has been killed during sectarian tension, she obliged to make her son
who was 7 years old to quit school so as to work with his uncle, and support
his family financially. Because she has only one boy and the rest are girls, so
it is very hard for her to let any girls working outside especially they all young.
However, I believe the consequences of poverty on child’s development are
almost the same in any country, which definitely would undermine child’s
learning, and all domains of his developments.
Poverty creates enduring disadvantages for children. Some of the consequences of poverty, such as emotional issues, delayed development and lower academic achievement; hinder a child’s growth and development .Children growing up in poverty are statistically more likely to have poor grades and higher stressors to deal with than children in better financial situations. Violence rates are generally higher in low-income neighborhoods, so children growing up in that situation are exposed to it at an early age and it becomes accepted as normal behavior.
ReplyDeleteBushra,
ReplyDeleteI agree that poverty is a growing issue. This denies children the resources that they need to learn and grow. I read an article where 20 percent of the children in India were out of school due to poverty.
I agree that poverty levels are increasing growing. With the recession more families are facing poverty. People are not only losing their jobs but government fundings are harder to get as well.
ReplyDelete