Early Childhood Poverty In The United States

Poverty has been a consistent problem throughout history. No matter what the median income, unemployment or overall prosperity level is, there will always be people who are in a state of poverty. Despite being one of the most prosperous countries in the world, the United States is not immune to it either. In 2010 the University of Michigan’s National Poverty Center calculated that twenty-two percent of children living in the United States lived in poverty, exceeding the average fifteen percent of the overall individuals living in the United States (npc.edu). Women also are twice as likely to live in poverty then men are and even larger percentages of people living in poverty are found in minorities living in the United States. (Feldman,

The consequences of poverty are long and severe throughout a lifetime.
Child poverty merits attention because a substantial body of research links poverty with lower levels of a child’s well-being. For a variety of reasons, when compared with children from more affluent families, poor children are more likely to have low academic achievement, they are more likely to drop out of school, have health, behavioral, language and emotional problems. Poverty affects a child’s development and educational outcomes beginning in the earliest years. These linkages are particularly strong for children whose family’s experience the deep controlling cycle of poverty.
Childhood development is both a biological and psychological period that occurs with every human. Early childhood

The language at which a child hears varies according to the economic level of that family. Children of parents that have parents that are supported by welfare hear 13 million fewer words than those who were from professional families. The greater the affluence of the parent, the more likely they are to talk to their children with words of variety, and the greater the number and variety of words children hear, the better their performance is at an intellectual level (Feldman, 2011). When living in poverty the children are also more prone to attend inferior schools, and are at risk for poorer academic performance, which leads to a lifetime of difficulties following them until their late adulthood (Feldman, 2011). Poverty also affects a child’s self-esteem mentally and physically. A child living in poverty are more prone to mental problems from the age of adolescence to adulthood, they also experience physical insecurities, because when living in poverty you are limited to the healthy foods you are able to eat and have a higher chance of obesity. Studies are correct when they say poverty has many effects on a child’s development throughout adolescence to