Summer 2024 Issue

Children and Families: The Impact of Poverty on Youth
By Ashaad Hipps, DSW, LMSW, CYMHS
Social Work Today
Vol. 24 No. 3 P. 28

A Whole Family Problem

The definition of poverty is a lack of economic resources necessary to supply adequate housing and other resources crucial for survival.1 Poverty is a prevalent issue in the United States; approximately 11 million children live in poverty, with one in six of those being under the age of 5.2

Being classified in a lower socioeconomic status leads to disadvantages and barriers to success. Families with a lower socioeconomic status often experience economic hardships, which may lower their quality of life.1 As prices continue to increase, for example, the affordability of basic necessities for lower income families decreases. Daily, low-income families are failed by societal systems, which may lead to such hardships as families sleeping in their cars or children not obtaining treatment for worsening chronic health conditions.3

The Impact of Poverty
High poverty rates are a cause for concern because children affected are more likely to have negative outcomes,2 including diminished cognitive development, physical health concerns, and the development of mental health issues.4 Families in poverty often live in low-income neighborhoods in proximity to violence. Exposure to violence and other stressors increases individuals’ likelihood of developing mental health issues.2 Black youth are roughly 45% more likely than white youth of higher socioeconomic status to have a near death experience.2 Due to the systemic racism present in public helping systems, minorities are often disproportionately affected by poverty. Access to basic necessities, such as a stable job or health care, is constricted, making it more difficult for minority families to elevate themselves.3 Minority families also experience increased exposure to racial stressors that compound financial stress, further exacerbating their struggles.2 The combination of racism and financial instability leads families to experience stress, anxiety, and depression. With the increased burden of trying to provide financially for their families, parents often become unresponsive to the needs of their children. This inattentiveness often leaves children more vulnerable to stressors and adversities, hindering their healthy growth and development.2

Poverty and Mental Health
Children are not immune from the impact of poverty. As noted, at a disadvantage, they often experience mental health issues resulting from being of a lower economic status than others.

They frequently experience high stress caused by violence and crime, which increases their chances of developing a mental health disorder.5 Youth classified as poor or low income are twice as likely to be diagnosed with a mental health issue than are those who come from higher income families.5 Living in poverty leads to higher interactions with public welfare agencies, which could lead to more investigations. The elevated contact with child protective services could increase the likelihood of removal. Placement instability while in care could have harmful effects on academic achievement. Children from minority and lower socioeconomic backgrounds also often experience anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem associated with their financial status.6 In addition to their own mental health struggles, these young people are at risk for transgenerational, socioemotional, and economic burdens, which further exacerbate mental health problems.7

The lack of mental health services utilization and access for minority children of lower socioeconomic status is a well-documented issue. Compared with white, middle-class children, those with a minority background and from lower economic status households have a decreased likelihood of accessing or beginning mental health treatment.7 There are several barriers that may prevent lower-economic status minority families from accessing appropriate mental health treatment, including fear of stigmatization, lack of transportation, conflicting schedules, and lack of childcare for younger siblings.8 Further, low-income families often feel that mental health treatment would be unhelpful and unnecessary.9 Negative attitudes toward treatment are a key reason youth from low-income and minority populations do not seek evidence-based mental health treatment. When families with children do seek mental health services, there are long wait times from first contact to the initial appointment.8

Intervention
Advocacy is a crucial intervention that social work leaders can use to address the issue of poverty in the United States. The systems are set up so that certain individuals are not able to succeed or get ahead in society. Social workers have the power to speak out about the inequality of systems that prevent certain individuals from succeeding or getting ahead in society and help break some of the generational poverty cycles that affect many minority families. Social workers can call on their legislatures and policymakers to address the inequity in all systems that are positioned to help families.

To address the issue of poverty, social workers can develop or advocate for programs designed to support parents, for example, to help increase their capacity to cultivate healthy ways to manage their children’s emotional and behavioral needs. A program geared toward improving parenting skills and increasing positive family interactions may offset the negative mental health effects caused by low socioeconomic status.7

Insufficient or no income is one of the factors causing families to be classified in a lower socioeconomic category. Social workers could develop job search groups to help lower-income families build the necessary skills for job searching, such as how to interview, write resumes, and complete job applications.7 In light of a lack of such support in low-income families, these groups could build a sense of community and support as well as have the potential to increase minority families’ opportunities to become gainfully employed. Programs that teach such crucial life skills are needed to combat the transgenerational cycle of poverty.

Additionally, to ensure that low-income youth receive mental health services, social workers could host mental health fairs at the children’s school and invite parents. These events could be used to teach various skills to parents and help them apply for certain benefits. Schools could hold these fairs monthly to provide all families with an opportunity to receive assistance.

Since mental health may not be fully understood within low-income families, these events could get many youth connected with much needed mental health treatment. In conjunction with the mental health fairs or support service fairs, social workers could help families sign up for mental health services or connect them with mental health resources at schools. Social workers could also advocate for increased Medicaid reimbursement rates since many mental health professionals do not accept Medicaid due to low rates of reimbursement.

Strong, consistent advocacy is a great place to start when working to mitigate poverty in the United States and the systemic racism that helps perpetuate it. Poverty and racism need to be addressed by policymakers, but because policy change takes time and families need help quickly, programs can be put into place in the short term—programs that may benefit all of society. The creation of mental health, parenting, and job skill programs could play a crucial role in helping break the cycle of poverty. The foundation is education about mental health and the development of parenting and core job skills. All of these are the first steps toward a better life for the families and youth involved.

— Ashaad Hipps, DSW, LMSW, CYMHS, is a psychotherapist working with children and adolescents with anxiety, depression, anger management issues, and low self-esteem. He also works as a clinical assistant professor in the Master of Social Work and Doctor of Social Work program at the University of Kentucky.

References
1. Mood C, Jonsson JO. The social consequences of poverty: an empirical test on longitudinal data. Soc Indic Res. 2016;127:633-652.

2. Child poverty. Children’s Defense Fund website. https://www.childrensdefense.org/tools-and-resources/the-state-of-americas-children/soac-child-poverty/?gad_source=1. Accessed April 5, 2024.

3. Houshyar S, Minoff E, Martin M. Cascading system failures: how systems contribute to poverty, poor health, and child welfare involvement, and how to redress this. Child Welfare. 2023;100(6):1-21.

4. Sattler KMP. Disentangling poverty from neglect: using a person-centered approach to examine risk factors for neglect among families in poverty. Child Maltreatment. 2023;28(4):576-688.

5. Bauer A, Baltra RA, Pabon MA, et al. Examining the dynamics between young people’s mental health, poverty and life chances in six low- and middle-income countries: protocol for the CHANCES-6 study. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2021;56(9):1687-1703.

6. Gupta D. UN-Employment, poverty and recession impact on youth’s mental health. Indian J Health Wellbeing. 2017;8(8):911-914.

7. Wahlbeck K, Cresswell-Smith J, Haaramo P, Parkkonen J. Interventions to mitigate the effects of poverty and inequality on mental health. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2017;52(5):505-514.

8. Ofonedu ME, Belcher HME, Budhathoki C, Gross DA. Understanding barriers to initial treatment engagement among underserved families seeking mental health services. J Child Fam Stud. 2017;26(3):863-876.

9. Castro-Ramirez F, Al-Suwaidi M, Garcia P, Rankin O, Ricard JR, Nock MK. Racism and poverty are barriers to the treatment of mental health concerns. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol. 2021;50(4):534-546.