Poverty and Violence in the United States

                                                                      Violence 

As a child I grew up with violence. For the first five years of my life I watched as my father would get drunk and beat my mother to a bloody pulp. What's worse is he told me it was my fault. How did I cope? I never had a "child hood". I took on adult responsibilties at 5 when my parents separated and divorced. I took care of younger siblings, helped cook meals, washed dishes etc. I never attended Kindergarten like the rest of my siblings. I was too much of a help around the house. Being told (at 5) that something that horrific was your fault sticks with you. I wanted to make sure nothing bad had ever happened to my mom again, and I certainly wasn't going to cause her any strife, so I went through my childhood doing everything in my power to make sure I  was a "perfect" child. I cooked, cleaned, did my school work and when old enough held down a job so that I could help pay for clothes, food etc. My mom remarried when I was about 16 and by 17 I had moved out of the house. I married at 18 and had a child nine months later. To answer the question as to how I coped; I didn't. There were no resources available and apparently as I learned later, nobody realized I had been affected by the violence. I suffered from nightmares (stemming from a particular violent night) all my life to the point where at 25 I finally seeked out counseling. The counselor advised me to confront my parents about what had happened. I wrote letters to both informing them as to how I had suffered as a child and was still sufferng. My mother called and told me she had no idea I had even remembered any of that let alone suffered from the memories. My dad never achknowledged receiving the letter.

Writing the letters, surprisingly enough, helped more than I could imagine. I have developed a relationship with my father, he quit drinking and shows remorse for who he was back then. I rarely think about those days anymore and even less frequent that I have nightmares. So, I finally did cope by seeing a counselor even if it did take me 20-years.

                                                                       Poverty

I decided I wanted to research poverty in America. I wanted to see what state was considered the poorest in the country; and found that to be Mississippi.

According to Ecanned, the state of Mississippi when compared to other States across the United States, can be considered to have a very high poverty rate amongst the population.
In Mississippi, there are 386,261 families, with 734,836 children.

Psychological research has demonstrated that living in poverty has a wide range of negative effects on the physical and mental health and wellbeing of our nation’s children. Poverty impacts children within their various contexts at home, in school, and in their neighborhoods and communities.

• Poverty is linked with negative conditions such as substandard housing, homelessness, inadequate nutrition and food insecurity, inadequate child care, lack of access to health care, unsafe neighborhoods, and underresourced schools which adversely impact our nation’s children.
• Poorer children and teens are also at greater risk for several negative outcomes such as poor academic achievement, school dropout, abuse and neglect, behavioral and socioemotional problems, physical health problems, and developmental delays.
• These effects are compounded by the barriers children and their families encounter when trying to access physical and mental health care.
• Economists estimate that child poverty costs an estimated $500 billion a year to the U.S. economy; reduces productivity and economic output by 1.3 percent of GDP; raises crime and increases health expenditure (Holzer et al., 2008).
• Poverty has a particularly adverse effect on the academic outcomes of children, especially during early childhood.
• Chronic stress associated with living in poverty has been shown to adversely affect children’s concentration and memory which may impact their ability to learn.
• The National Center for Education Statistics reports that in 2008, the dropout rate of students living in low-income families was about four and one-half times greater than the rate of children from higher-income families (8.7 percent versus 2.0 percent).
• The academic achievement gap for poorer youth is particularly pronounced for low-income African American and Hispanic children compared with their more affluent White peers.
• Underresourced schools in poorer communities struggle to meet the learning needs of their students and aid them in fulfilling their potential.
• Inadequate education contributes to the cycle of poverty by making it more difficult for low-income children to lift themselves and future generations out of poverty.
• Children living in poverty are at greater risk of behavioral and emotional problems.
• Some behavioral problems may include impulsiveness, difficulty getting along with peers, aggression, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and conduct disorder.
• Some emotional problems may include feelings of anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem.
• Poverty and economic hardship is particularly difficult for parents who may experience chronic stress, depression, marital distress and exhibit harsher parenting behaviors. These are all linked to poor social and emotional outcomes for children.
• Unsafe neighborhoods may expose low-income children to violence which can cause a number of psychosocial difficulties. Violence exposure can also predict future violent behavior in youth which places them at greater risk of injury and mortality and entry into the juvenile justice system.
• Children and teens living in poorer communities are at increased risk for a wide range of physical health problems:
  
• Low birth weight
• Poor nutrition which is manifested in the following ways:
  
  1. Inadequate food which can lead to food insecurity/hunger
  2. Lack of access to healthy foods and areas for play or sports which can lead to childhood overweight or obesity
• Chronic conditions such as asthma, anemia, and pneumonia
• Risky behaviors such as smoking or engaging in early sexual activity
• Exposure to environmental contaminants, e.g., lead paint and toxic waste dumps
• Exposure to violence in their communities which can lead to trauma, injury, disability, and mortality.
•  

Families and children are defined as poor if family income is below the federal poverty threshold. The federal poverty level for a family of four with two children was $22,350 in 2011, $22,050 in 2010, and $22,050 in 2009.

http://www.nccp.org/profiles/MS_profile_7.html
http://www.usm.edu/poverty/temp_parts/Mahlet/poverty_in_mississippi.html
http://www.apa.org/pi/families/poverty.aspx?item=2