Poverty and Child Maltreatment:

1. Poverty and Child Maltreatment: The Consequences of Child Maltreatment Among Poor FamiliesBy: Gema HernandezHDFS 402Pennsylvania State University

2. How Poverty is Defined • Orchansky (1965) developed an exclusive method for the Social Security Administration to calculate a threshold value to determine the poverty line for families • The threshold value for the year 2007 for a family of four (two adults and two children) was $21,203 and in 2008, the poverty line for a four-person family was set at $22,050 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2009). • There are a few stipulations to consider: • poverty threshold is standardized across the nation, even though cost of living may differentiate from place to place, the same method is used regardless • poverty line calculation is not reliable because the official measure is estimated instead of giving the exact calculation of where a family might fall at the poverty line threshold • there have not been any revisions in the way families are determined in the poverty line threshold since it was first established back in 1965, many argue that the calculation does not take into consideration the current changing lives of families (Seccombe, 2000)

3. Physical and Mental Health • Studies have shown that poor children who are born in poor environments are likely to be born premature and with more complications (Seccombe, 2000) • Premature babies have a higher risk of acquiring heightened and constant illnesses that may become long lasting as they get older (Seccombe, 2000) • Toxic environments that the children may be exposed to, they run a higher risk of becoming terminally ill, require urgent medical attention, or in some instances it may even be fatal (English, 1998)

4. Physical and Mental HealthContinued….. • Mental health issues have also been known to develop in children such as self-esteem, depression and behavioral problems (Saccombe, 2000) • Difficult for them to make friends and socialize with others around them for fear that they will be criticized because they come from poor families • Research by Saccombe (2000) as cited in McLeod and Shanahan (1993, 1996) found that children who live longer poverty lifestyles were more apt to develop severe chronic depression as opposed to children who experienced shorter poverty lifestyles.

5. Cognitive and Academics • Children who experience abuse and neglect in the home environment, develop stress, which may later turn into emotional and behavioral problems that may enforce the lack of academic achievements as well as finding high paying employment later in life as adults (Paxson & Waldfogel, 2002) • Being poor has been linked to the reduction in IQ, lack the ability to properly develop mentally and physically, lack the ability to complete a grade in school and in many cases the children end up dropping out of school when they reach an age where they are able to leave on their own (Brooks-Gunn & Duncan, 1997). • Brooks-Gunn & Duncan, (1997) have also reported that children of families who live under the poverty level threshold are 1.3 times more likely to be delayed in physical and mental development and lack learning abilities.

6. Poor Neighborhoods and the Affects for Both Child and Parent • Studies have shown that low-income families are faced with more challenges and difficulties than a family who is not considered to be low-income (Schuck, 2005). • Families are put in positions where they not only have to deal with their own poverty, but the poverty of its community as well (Schuck, 2005). • Mothers become frustrated and begin to show un-supportive attitudes and behaviors that may lead to abuse and neglect towards their children (Brooks-Gunn & Duncan, 1997; Paxson & Waldfogel, 2002).

7. Bronfenbrenner (1979) Ecological Theory • Bronfenbrenner (1979) Ecological Theory was a good theory to use in this research because if poor families were to utilize their community resources, they would more likely feel like they have support from the community and less likely to maltreat their children.