A good state of mental health is such an essential asset in any individual’s life that it plays a mediating factor between economic and social conditions. On the other hand, poverty has proven, over time, to be a threat to an extended range of social and health problems to individuals and societies in lower economic strata. When these two factors merge, especially in children, the results can be catastrophic. Some of the most conspicuous outcomes include heightened susceptibility to stress, promotion of aggressive behaviour such as bullying, and hopelessness in life. Notably, the two factors are not solid factors or static categories restricted to particular geographic or demographic placements. As such, there is a need to initiate early identification and intervention to minimize the challenge.
Aggressive and antisocial behaviours
A Cornell University study revealed that sustained poverty escalates stress levels, predisposing aggressive behaviour in children. Kim et al. (2013) reason that children from poor neighbourhoods have a tendency to feel powerless against their well-off mates during interactions. More so, the children’s extended feelings of inadequacy fuelled by a lack of basic needs elevate aggression and bullying. The report revealed that in a mixed setting, such as a boarding school, poor children have a higher tendency to engage in bullying, petty theft, and other indiscipline cases because their minds drive them to believe they are compensating. Essentially, poverty fuels envy, and if not well arbitrated, it could lead to ugly retaliation behaviours. Of the 341 children in the Cornell study, 8% of the children confessed to argue a lot and act impatiently, which they further admitted to land them in some trouble. This way, we can frame poverty as the cause of restlessness and frustration, which fuels ugly evils.
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Limits learning
Poverty incapacitates children’s inability to retain information in the short-term, which impacts learning negatively. According to the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) 2018 report, 258 million children living in poverty were excluded from education (Kyeyune, 2020). Seventeen percent of that population had either dropped out or were contemplating dropping out for reasons directly attributable to mental health. Kyeyune (2020) further observes that while one in four of the children cannot complete high school because of fees, two in five cannot intently ‘focus’ on learning (as evidenced by absenteeism and interest) because of issues related to poverty and mental problems. The sorry observation follows a basic principle – the mind’s ability to process (new) information is aided by a set of cognitive skills deprived by the chronic physical and mental stress posed by poverty (Kim et al., 2013). Reasonably, children would find it hard focusing on schooling when they have just lost family members to famine or diseases. Given the toll poverty has taken on children’s prospects by inhibiting their learning abilities, it would be worthwhile making children’s mental health a priority on UNESCO’s strategic development goals.
Increases vulnerability
Poverty advances stigmatization, which, in turn, promotes the development of mental health issues and the normalization of child abuse. When a family struggles to pay bills, cannot afford sustainable medical care, barely affords decent housing, and is burdened with other bills, children are left with little “mental bandwidth” to be bold and stand for themselves. With a continually growing anxiety and pressures of life, children tend to make poor decisions while negotiating sacrifices and trade-offs in moral and social matters. For instance, such children are prone to be vulnerable to sexual molesters and child labourers. In fact, some communities have built a custom of making money out of sexual predation on minors as in Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines (Johansson, 2018). Poverty also denies them enough comfortable sleep, motivates social isolation, and cultivate slow self-esteem. Poverty is extremely allergic to children’s mental health because it affects their ability to make proper choices. That is because they are unhappy, and with every wrong move, they hope to find happiness and consolation.
Clinical mental illnesses
Poverty in children has a direct relation to mental disorders. A 2016 policy review by the Mental Health Foundation (MHF) observed that people living with debt in the UK were thrice likely to be diagnosed with mental disorders than those without (Eliot, 2016). Not surprisingly, the incidence of mental disorders due to poverty are inherently tied to education deficiencies. For instance, the MHF report notes that 23% of children with mental illnesses were two years behind their peers in academic progress. As well, children with disorders are twice as likely to require special education needs than regular children. Eliot’s (2016) findings are consistent with the CDC’s fact file on children living in poverty. In its 2018 report, the CDC reported that 1 in 5 children living below the federal poverty level had a diagnosable mental disorder. Of these conditions, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) was the most prevalent, often occurring alongside clinical depression, anxiety, among other personality disorders (CDC, 2019).
Limits flourishing in adulthood
What is even more worrying with the ties between socioeconomic factors and children’s wellbeing is the observation that the severity worsens as they progress to adulthood. Furthermore, the chances of breaking the poverty cycle rest entirely with political goodwill. Kim et al. (2019) observe that childhood poverty is linked with emotional dysregulation and a reduced ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, which mostly shows up in adults from poor family backgrounds. That, viewed alongside the fact that close to 50% of sons have incomes and net worth similar to their fathers, suggests a sad realization that the poverty cycle might be here to stay.
Possible interventions
The surest solution to salvage children from mental health issues caused by poverty lies in high-level policymaking. But that may take forever to solidify into a meaningful and pragmatic solution. Hodgkinson (2017) suggests a radical drive to avail mental health access to children and adults living in poverty. That could be facilitated by lobbying for more funding to universal healthcare programs in all nations to cover for counselling and therapy costs of families living with clinical anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts. Instituting special counselling programs to isolate problematic children from low-income families could also help minimize aggression. Even more, that would reduce the ‘school-to-prison’ pipeline that has left many children locked up instead of being offered psychological help.
Another practical solution would be to increase school funding to remedy mental health sources stemming from hunger. Having established that food insecurity is one of the primary stressors contributing to psychological issues arising from poverty, word governments ought to provide meals to children at schools. While such programs are already in place, Karimli et al. (2019) note that coverage is unsubstantial and mostly unreliable. Starting by ensuring a steady supply of (two-course) daily meals to children might reduce the family’s burden. More so, well-fed children will have an easier time concentrating in class and ‘getting over’ nagging thoughts of the challenging poverty situation.
In conclusion, poverty takes a severe toll on children’s mental health, as evidenced by the massive evidence. Intense stress levels caused by sleeping on empty stomachs, inability to fit in with peers, awkward feelings of low self-esteem, and sexual predation are serious dangers to proper child development. If left unattended to, society stands to witness a more significant poverty gap and more intense social aggression. Sadly, the effects of poverty on children negatively impact their capacity to learn and threatens to bind them to eternal misery. Several interventions have been proposed, including better funding of social programs that feed children at school and elevate their parents’ economic status. Moreover, addressing the issue from a humanitarian rather than a political perspective might help accelerate progress.
References
Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. (2019, May 18). “Data and Statistics on Children's Mental Health.” Retrieved https://www.cdc.gov/childrensmentalhealth/data.html
Eliot, I. (2016, June). “ Poverty and Mental Health: A Review to Inform the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s Anti-Poverty Strategy.” London: Mental Health Foundation.
Hodgkinson, S., Godoy, L., Beers, L. S., & Lewin, A. (2017). “Improving Mental Health Access for Low-Income Children and Families in the Primary Care Setting.” Paediatrics , 139(1), e20151175.
Johansson, L. (2018). “Child Prostitution in Southeast Asia: A Qualitative Case Study On the Factors That Contributes to Child Prostitution in Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and The Philippines.” Journal of the Linnaeus University Faculty of Social Sciences .
Karimli, L., Ssewamala, F. M., Neilands, T. B., Wells, C. R., & Bermudez, L. G. (2019). “Poverty, Economic Strengthening, And Mental Health Among AIDS Orphaned Children in Uganda: Mediation Model in a Randomized Clinical Trial .” Social Science & Medicine, 228, 17-24.
Kim, P., Evans, G. W., Angstadt, M., Ho, S. S., Sripada, C. S., Swain, J. E., ... & Phan, K. L. (2013). “Effects of Childhood Poverty and Chronic Stress On Emotion Regulatory Brain Function in Adulthood.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(46), 18442-18447.
Kyeyune, D. (2020). “Answers to UNESCO's Sustainable Development Goal# 1: No Poverty.” Available at SSRN 3621393.
