Adolescence: Change and Continuity

Dear Tod Spedding,

Professor Darling recently presented us with your email concerning poverty and its effects on cognitive development. In referring back to our prior research papers, our textbooks, and other outside sources, we decided to answer your question by focusing on a few different aspects related to your dilemma. The following sections is a summary of ideas that we feel best reflects the correlation between poverty and cognitive development/academic achievement.

Research shows that the academic performance of minority students, namely African-Americans and Hispanics in urban areas, is greatly related to their level of socioeconomic advantage. This is especially evident in middle and high school (Shultz, 1993). Although socioeconomic advantage/disadvantage and academic performance appear to be related, there seems to be a third variable involved. Socioeconomic status appears to affect achievement motivation (one's desire to succeed/achieve), in turn, affecting academic performance. Obviously, if one is unmotivated where school is concerned and has no educational goals, there is a greater chance that their grades and/or level of achievement will reflect this. Being poor and having other financial stresses in one's life (being able to wear the "cool" clothes or wondering if there will be heat in your home that winter are some examples) can understandably cause one's attention to be diverted from school to their specific stresses. "Socioeconomic advantage was significantly correlated with mathematics and reading ability", skills that are crucial in succeeding in the work force and today's information age (Shultz, 1993, p.225). Such findings indicate the need for inner-city schools to develop home-school relationships that focus on the reinforcement and promotion of academic activity outside of school (Shultz, 1993). This problem is not exclusively a direct cause of the student's out-of-school environment. In the classroom, often times an emphasis is placed on keeping order in the classroom and providing a strait lecture to the students rather than on facilitating growth, cooperation, and learning. Teachers need to instill a sense of high achievement motivation in their students not just to raise standardized test scores or their classroom grades, but to give their pupil's a greater sense of competency and value for education, as well as to aid inner-city children to recognize their potential (Shultz, 1993).

References:

Shultz, Geoffery F. (1993) Socioeconomic Advantage and Achievement Motivation: Important Mediators of Academic Performance in Minority Children in Urban Schools. The Urban Review, 23-3, 221-231.

Peers effect each other academic achievements as well as academic withdrawals. According to researchers the achievement of students go hand and hand with peer social status in the classroom. Social status can be defined in three categories: popular, rejected, and neglected. Popular peers usually do well academically and rejected and neglected peers are more prone to dropout of school and withdrawal academically (William-Savin and Berndt,1990). Academic motivation is very important with the age period of adolescents because studies suggest that general increases in negative attitudes towards learning and achievements and gradual decline in academic motivation happens in the early years of adolescents(Hymel and Colin, 1996).

Motivation from other peers is one of the ways to build academic excellence. Creating a learning environment that may encourage competitiveness among students that generate their learning capacity may be very effective. Research states that as students go through the educational system, there is a gradual shift from intrinsic interest in learning during elementary school years to more extrinsic motivational orientation by adolescent(Hymel and Colin, 1996). Just as peers can influence others to do negative things they can also influence each other to do positive things, such as wanting to dobetter academically.

References:

Colin, C., Hymel, S.( 1996)Academic failure and school dropout: The Influences of peers. Social Motivation, 313-345.Williams-Savin, R., Berndt, T.(1990)Friendship and Peer Relations. At The Threshold, 277-307.

The impact of poverty on the family can affect the family's members, especially the children, in a negative way. The subsequent disruption to family life can directly affect a child's ability to learn. "The stressesexperienced by homeless families may adversely affect young children's health and development...Noisy, overcrowded shelters may contribute to higher rates of infectious illnesses and limit opportunities for children to develop new skills" (Koblinsky & Anderson, 1993, p. 20). The research would suggest that a child's family environment can be detrimental to their learning. Also, parent-child relationships can be negatively by poverty. "Homelessness may also impede the development of positive parent-child relationships...Researchers have found that homeless mothers often lack social support networks, and experience high levels of anxiety and depression" (Koblinsky & Anderson, 1993, p. 20). Therefore, "homeless parents may expend all their financial, physical, and emotional resources to meet basic human needs, leaving little time to nurture and support young children" (Koblinsky & Anderson, 1993, p. 20). These families and thier children do not have the same resources and support that other families do.

Research suggests "evidence of substantial disadvantages in cognitive development among young children in chronically poor families in the United States" (Korenman, Miller, & Sjaastad, 1995, p. 146). Determining a families exact disadvantages may assist in helping the children in their learning processes.

References:

Anderson, E. & Koblinsky, S. (1993). Serving Homeless Children and Families in Head Start. Children Today, 33(3), pp. 19-23, 36. Korenman, S., Miller, J., Sjaadstad, J. (1995). Long-term Poverty and Child Development in the United States: Results from the NLSY. Children and Youth Services Review, 17(1&2), pp. 127-155.

The following is a summary of ideas that show how stress from poverty affects parenting which in turn influences children's cognitive development: Research shows that "parent's negative emotional states are directly linked to their punitiveness, inconsistency, and unresponsiveness in their dealings with children" (Abell and Gecas, 1997, p. 324). There may be less parental control when keeping a job and supporting oneself and child is too overwhelming. Parents report periods of depression when there is distress from low income. This distracts attention from the child's needs. "Being on welfare may be experienced as a social stigma, affecting psychological well-being" (Abell and Gecas, 1997, p. 324). As a result, a parent may feel at a loss of self-control. "Poverty and economic loss diminish the capacity for supportive, consistent and involved parenting, thus affecting children indirectly through their impact on the parent's behavior toward the child" (McLoyd, 1990, p. 312). Parent's well-being also influences parent-child interaction based on whether or not they are around to attend children's activities and provide a supportive environment. Parents must have a healthy and positive attitude to ensure the development of their children's abilities. If a single parent does not keep herself involved with the children's education, it is possible that they will later drop out of school. If they choose to stay in school, it is typical that academic performance is low (Abell and Gecas, 1997). If adolescents are not shown the importance of school, because of the lack of parental supervision, they are not enthused with academics or feel that education is important in their lives. As a consequence, their cognitive abilities may not test as high simply due to lack of motivation or concern. The welfare system and poverty conditions put great strain on parenting skills. This strain then ultimately hurts a child's school performance and overall development.

References:

Abell, Ellen & Gecas, Viktor. (1996). Poverty, Parental Distress, and Children's School Performance. Family Perspective, 30(3), 323-335.

McLoyd, V.C. (1990). The Impact of Economic Hardship on Black Families and Children: Psychological Distress, Parenting, and Socioemotional Development. Child Development, 61, 311-346.

One of the most important risk factors that negatively affect a young child's development is poverty. Inadequate nutrition, environmental toxins, diminished interaction due to maternal depression, trauma and abuse, lower quality child care, and drugs and substance abuse are all associated with poverty. (NCCP, 1997) Exposure to these factors often inhibits brain development in early childhood from the prenatal period to the first years of a child's life. Unfortunately a staggering 2.8 million poor children face a greater risk of impaired brain development due to these factors each year. (NCCP, 1995) These children will continue to live in poverty and become more likely to drop out of school, be unemployed, and become gang members. Malnutrition in the early child development years causes numerous educational draw backs. These include poor scores on tests of vocabulary, reading comprehension, arithmetic, and general knowledge. Other detrimental effects include social withdrawal, delayed motor skills development, and delayed physical growth. (NCCP, 1997) The more severe the level of poverty a child lives in, the lower his or her nutritional level will be. (Brown & Pollitt, 1996) This encourages a greater the impact of the negative side effects.

Environmental toxins such as lead, metals, and various unsanitary conditions causes brain damage and stunted growth of the brain. Each year 400,000 newborns are delivered with toxic levels of lead in their blood that came from their environment. (National Health/Education Consortium, 1991) Babies are in need of physical and emotional attention in order for proper development. Children living in poverty often have mothers that suffer from severe cases of depression and lack this necessary attention. These deficits lead to babies who are more withdrawn, less active, and have shorter attention spans. (Belle, 1990)

Physical, emotional, and mental trauma are all damaging to a child's development in the first years of life. These experiences may lead to extreme anxiety, depression, violence, or the inability to form healthy attachments to others. As a child's cognitive skills develop, daily positive interaction is necessary for proper brain activity. A lack of this attention may discourage interaction and limit environmental stimulation. The abuse of nicotine, alcohol, and drugs during and after pregnancy have incredibly harmful effects on a child's brain development. Substance abuse may cause poor brain development as well as serious neurological disorders. (Mayes, 1996) Over all, inadequate nutrition, exposure to environmental toxins, maternal depression, quality of daily care, and substance abuse negatively affect the development of a child's brain. This cause detrimental effects in all aspects of life, but especially in a child's learning capabilities.

References:

Belle, D. (1990). Poverty and women's mental health. American Psychologist, 45(3), pp. 385-389.

Brown, L. & Pollitt, E. (1996). Malnutrition, poverty and intellectual development. Scientific American, 274(2), pp. 38-43.

Mayes, L. (1996). Early experience and the developing brain: The model of prenatal cocaine exposure. "Brain Development in Young Children: New Frontiers for Research, Policy, and Practice", The University of Chicago, June 12-14.

National Center For Children in Poverty (NCCP). Online. Internet. http://cpmcnet.columbia.edu/dept/nccp/index.html.

The National Health/Education Consortium. (1991). Healthy brain development. The National Health/Education Consortium Report, January, pp. 4-5.

We hope our information was of use to you. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to research such a serious topic and help those children in need.

Sincerely,

Jessica O'Connor, Jaclyn Gerard, Richard King, Lisa David, and Jana Speas

This site was produced by students taking HDFS 433: The Transition to Adulthood and HDFS 239: Adolescent Development at the Pennsylvania State University. Feedback can be sent to the individual authors or to Nancy Darling (darling@bard.edu).