Solorio 1

Michelle Solorio
English 111-193
Cause and Effect
September 24, 2015
Poverty and Children
Poverty is a harsh word and situation that many Americans choose to avoid, even though
it will always be around. Children seem to be the ones that affected by this the most. They have
no say or choice of the families that they are brought into. Although growing in a family of
poverty, it does not indicate the child will grow unhappy, but there are certain effects that make it
more difficult for a child to grow and be successful. Ranging from health, education, and the
communities in which they live in, poverty has a big role in which they can become in the future.
Growing in poverty has an effect on children starting off with the level of health. A study
was conducted recently, and stated; poor children were twice as likely to have fair or poor
health as children in more affluent families (Montgomory). Children that derive from poor
families usually have less access to proper medical and dental clinics, which decreases the
attention that they need to treat diseases or disorders; hence, leading to poor health that can carry
on till their adulthood. Along with physical health, mental health plays an important roll in the
childs life. Due to improper treatments, children can develop certain mental illnesses, like
depression, that effect not only them but their performance in classes, and outside behavior.
When a minor physiological problem becomes untreated, the condition can become chronic,
leading to larger issues in the future.
Along with health most children also suffer from insufficient education. When a child is
brought up in a home in which they have very little resources for education, they are usually

Solorio 2

placed in lower incomes schools due to the places in which they reside. With low quality
education it is hard for educators to spark motivation in children because they do not have the
proper tools to help them learn properly. If a child has a certain philological disorder that
becomes untreated, it may become difficult for the child to give his or her full attention in the
classroom. In lower income schools, they lack the proper materials to aid in a childs education.
With very little resources, it becomes harder for the child to capture the entire picture of what
education is, and how it is important to develop stronger learning skills. Along with improper
education, children also tend to leave school at an earlier age or not continue education.
Normally, a teen may drop out of school to care for family members that are unable to work due
to poor health. These effects of children in poverty seem to collide onto each other, making it
difficult and adding obstacles for the children to overcome in their later life.
Lastly communities; when a child comes from a home where there is a smaller amount of
money to go towards stable housing, they tend to have to settle for the minimum that the state
requires for housing. These homes usually are placed in the lower end developments in the town.
It is proven that the crime rate is higher in these places, which make a child see different
situations that make them grow up in a different environment compared to middle class families.
Different communities also have different activities for children to participate in. When a child
grows in a low-income community, he or she is usually surrounded with little to no socializing
activities. With very little social activities, it may become that the child can form of depression
from low socialization.
Although poverty will be around for a while, we need to understand that helping a child
or adult in need is important. They can become so much more than the effects that are being
thrown onto them for just coming from a low-income family. Children especially need the help

Solorio 3

the most to learn how to be motivated to reach their goals in reaching further than the poverty
level. The effects of poverty build on one another for children making them less enthusiastic of
what their life can become. Health, education and communities is just the start of effects that
arrive from poverty in children.

Solorio 4

Work Cited
Chambers, Earle C., Cristiane S. Duarte, and Frances M. Yang. "Household Instability,
Area Poverty, and Obesity in Urban Mothers and their Children." Journal of health care for the
poor and underserved 20.1 (2009): 122-33. ProQuest. Web. 23 Sep. 2015.
Francine Kiefer, Staff writer of The Christian,Science Monitor. "US Children Near
Records for Well-being Child Poverty, Teen Births, and Violence are all Down, Contrary to
Rhetoric from both Parties." The Christian Science Monitor: 1. Aug 18 2000. ProQuest. Web. 23
Sep. 2015 .
Montgomery, Laura E., John L. Kiely, and Gregory Pappas. "The Effects of Poverty,
Race, and Family Structure on US Children's Health: Data from the NHIS, 1978 through 1980
and 1989 through 1991." American Journal of Public Health 86.10 (1996): 1401-5. ProQuest.
Web. 23 Sep. 2015.