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(Download PDF) Etextbook 978 0199769100 The Oxford Handbook of Poverty and Child Development Oxford Library of Psychology Full Chapter PDF
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O X F O R D L I B R A R Y O F P S YC H O L O G Y
vii
For whom has the Oxford Library of Psychology been written? Because of its
breadth, depth, and accessibility, the Library serves a diverse audience, including
graduate students in psychology and their faculty mentors, scholars, researchers,
and practitioners in psychology and related fields. Each will find in the Library the
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sive index, as well as extensive references to help guide research. And because the
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In summary, the Oxford Library of Psychology will grow organically to provide a
thoroughly informed perspective on the field of psychology, one that reflects both
psychology’s dynamism and its increasing interdisciplinarity. Once published elec-
tronically, the Library is also destined to become a uniquely valuable interactive
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handbook, we sincerely hope you will share our enthusiasm for the more than
500-year tradition of Oxford University Press for excellence, innovation, and qual-
ity, as exemplified by the Oxford Library of Psychology.
Peter E. Nathan
Editor-in-Chief
Oxford Library of Psychology
Valerie Maholmes
Valerie Maholmes, PhD, is the Program Director for the Social and Affective
Development/Child Maltreatment and Violence Research Program in the Child
Development and Behavior Branch at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute
of Child Health and Human Development at the National Institutes of Health. In
this capacity she provides scientific leadership on research and research training rel-
evant to normative social, affective, and personality development in children from
the newborn period through adolescence, and on the impact of specific aspects of
physical and social environments on the health and psychological development of
infants, children, and adolescents. Most recently she developed an initiative calling
for research on children in military families. Her research interests include the biop-
sychosocial effects of poverty on children’s development, and the role of resilience
in child outcomes.
Rosalind B. King
Rosalind B. King, PhD, is a Health Scientist Administrator in the Demographic
and Behavioral Sciences Branch of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute
of Child Health and Human Development. She oversees research portfolios on
fertility, infertility, adoption, and kinship; work-family issues and health; and the
Population Research Mentored Career Development Program. Most recently, she
developed an initiative on sleep and the social environment for the trans-NIH Basic
Behavioral and Social Science Opportunity Network. Her own research interests
include interracial marriage and assisted reproductive technologies.
ix
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P R E FA C E
When our older daughter was growing up, she said that she was not going to be a
researcher—she was going to do something useful… And one can see how a young
person might feel that way. Rates of poverty have been high for decades, especially
among families with children, both in relative and absolute terms, and poverty has
been rising in recent years. An activist might decry spending more than a decade
on research studies.
However, basic research has much to offer society. For example, research can high-
light trends and patterns, such as the recent increase in poverty and the high rates of
poverty among children relative to the elderly. In addition, analyses can identify sub-
groups where issues are particularly of concern, such as the high rates of poverty found
among children of color and children in single-mother families.
Research can also highlight topics that are risk factors, such as deep and chronic
poverty among young children. Research has identified early childhood as an age
period not only when poverty is more common but also when the implications
of poverty seem particularly severe. In addition, a growing research base is iden-
tifying protective factors, such as the importance of fathers to families and chil-
dren. Fathers, research indicates, matter not only for their economic contributions
but also for their positive (and under some circumstances negative) influences on
children’s development. Accordingly, father involvement, single parenthood, and
family disruption have been highlighted as risk and protective factors intertwined
with poverty.
On the other hand, research can also serve to identify issues that are not prob-
lems. For example, maternal employment has not been found to be negative for
poor children, if child care quality and consistency are good. And research suggests
that frequent moves per se are not as challenging as moves driven by economic
factors, for adults at least. These kinds of analyses can suggest that programs and
policies need not focus on generic changes in residence or employment for moth-
ers, but might look more profitably in specific directions within these phenomena.
Implicit in such research is sorting through issues of causality; often the same factor,
for example, teen childbearing, is both a cause and an effect of poverty.
In addition, research can identify the mechanisms through which an experience
like poverty affects families and children. Some mechanisms are fairly obvious, such
as the amount and quality of food available for growing children. Other mecha-
nisms are more subtle, such as family stress due to economic hardship and uncer-
tainty, which affects not only family dynamics but also children’s experiences with
peers and institutions such as schools and public services. This kind of information
is useful for identifying both preventive approaches and ameliorative strategies.
xi
An understanding of the factors that are critical to families and children can
inform the development of both intervention programs and public policies. For
example, evidence that mothers with children often experience considerable mate-
rial hardship after family disruption suggests directions for programs, such as job
training to increase earnings, marriage education to help couples build stronger
families, and pregnancy prevention efforts to reduce the number of uncommitted
couples who find themselves parents. Public policies can include child support and
health insurance.
Evaluation studies represent another critical contribution of research. They exam-
ine whether intervention strategies are effective and whether policies are associated
with the effects that policy makers intend. Hence, research can not only suggest
directions for intervention but it can also contribute to assessing whether interven-
tions have the desired impacts. In addition, research can examine whether interven-
tions have unintended consequences.
Good research, of course, is rigorous, non-partisan, and replicable. In a society
driven by partisan divides and advocates for points of view that have little common
ground, research can provide a common platform of facts on which to meet.
All of these ideas, and many more, are shared in the pages of this book, providing
considerable evidence of the many ways that research is relevant to addressing pov-
erty. And they provide considerable evidence of the value of the interdisciplinary
science supported by the SEED (Science and the Ecology of Early Development)
initiative in particular. Research matters. Our daughter came to agree as well. She
completed a Ph.D. in human development and social policy and has become a
researcher herself.
We thank our colleagues from NICHD, NIDA, and NIMH; Martha Zaslow and
the 2011 Society for Research on Child Development (SRCD) Fellows; OBSSR
SRCD Fellows (past and present); and members of the inaugural class of the
NICHD Summer Institute, whose valuable input clarified and improved this
volume. We also thank Khalisa Herman Phillips for her invaluable assistance facili-
tating our communication with the authors. Many thanks to our Branch Chiefs,
Peggy McCardle and Rebecca Clark, for their support during this process.
p reface xiii
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CO N T R I B U TO R S
xv
Robert Crosnoe Adam Gamoran
Department of Sociology and Population Department of Sociology
Research Center University of Wisconsin-Madison
University of Texas at Austin Madison, WI
Austin, TX Kristen Anderson Moore
Allison De Marco Child Trends
Frank Porter Graham Child Development Washington, DC
Institute and Nicole Gardner-Neblett
The School of Social Work Frank Porter Graham Child Development
University of North Carolina at Institute
Chapel Hill University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill, NC Chapel Hill
Jen H. Dolan Chapel Hill, NC
Department of Psychology Patricia Garrett-Peters
University of Massachusetts Amherst Frank Porter Graham Child
Amherst, MA Development Institute
Rachel E. Dunifon University of North Carolina at
Department of Policy Analysis and Chapel Hill
Management Chapel Hill, NC
Cornell University Paul J. Gertler
Ithaca, NY Haas School of Business and
Petra A. Duran the School of Public Health
Department of Psychology University of California, Berkeley
Kent State University Berkeley, CA
Kent, OH Jennifer E. Glick
Gary W. Evans School Social Family Dynamics
Departments of Design and Environmental Arizona State University
Analysis and of Human Development Tempe, AZ
Cornell University Kathleen S. Gorman
Ithaca, NY Department of Psychology
Martha J. Farah University of Rhode Island
Center for Neuroscience and Society Kingston, RI
University of Pennsylvania Deborah Gorman-Smith
Philadelphia, PA Chapin Hall
Lia C. H. Fernald University of Chicago
School of Public Health Chicago, IL
Community Health and Human Christina M. Grange
Development Center for Family Research
University of California, Berkeley University of Georgia
Berkeley, CA Athens, GA
Jeremy Fiel Holly A. Grant-Marsney
Department of Sociology Department of Psychology
University of Wisconsin-Madison University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Madison, WI Amherst, MA
Quade Y. S. French Josefina M. Grau
Department of Psychology Department of Psychology
University of Massachusetts, Amherst Kent State University
Amherst, MA Kent, OH
xxi
11. The Dynamic of Poverty and Affluence in Child Adoption 197
Harold D. Grotevant, Holly A. Grant-Marsney, Quade Y. S. French,
Danila S. Musante, and Jen H. Dolan
xxii co n ten ts
26. Homelessness and Child Outcomes 467
Jung Min Park
27. Poverty and Possibility in the Lives of American Indian and Alaska Native
Children 480
Paul Spicer and Michelle Sarche
Index 703
contents xxiii
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Introduction: Why Study Poverty?
Valerie Maholmes
For more than a decade, the Eunice Kennedy initiative, whose work is consistent with the aims
Shriver National Institute of Child Health and of this volume. We have invited leading scholars
Human Development has been supporting who represent a variety of disciplinary perspectives
research and engaging the research community to contribute to this volume. Thus, the volume is
on the importance of identifying the full range of enhanced by research that addresses unique ques-
individual, social, economic, cultural, and commu- tions that advance the science beyond the scope of
nity factors, and the interactions among these fac- our original program objectives. Finally, because we
tors that are directly relevant to the development are living in a global society and are affected and
of children in low-income families. We wanted to informed by international issues, we deemed it
address children living in fragile circumstances, important to examine the consequences of poverty
including homeless children, children in foster on the psychosocial and mental well-being of chil-
care, and children living in families affected by dren in international settings.
chronic physical or mental health problems such Each part of this volume is “self-contained,”
as depression or substance abuse. We also wanted opening with a basic biobehavioral research chapter
to to address the multiple domains of development addressing the biological ramifications of poverty
including social, emotional, cognitive and linguis- on children’s developmental outcomes, followed by
tic development. chapters describing applied analyses of contempo-
This volume is an outgrowth of our research rary issues currently at the heart of public debates
initiative called the Science and Ecology of Early on child health and well-being, and ending with a
Development, (SEED) in which we sought to craft chapter focusing on a policy issue. In organizing the
a research agenda that would examine the impact of volume this way, we hope the readers will have a
poverty on child development and health outcomes. more holistic picture of the impact of poverty on
Through collaborative interdisciplinary research, we children’s development. Children’s behavioral and
hoped to identify the most pressing scientific issues psychosocial experiences are inextricably linked to
involving poverty and child development; and to the policy context within which they experience
offer new ideas and research questions that could their lives. All of these affect and are affected by
lead us to develop a “new science” of research that is biological systems in the short and long term.
multidisciplinary, longitudinal, and that embraces This is important because, as the contributors
an ecological approach to the study of child devel- to this volume point out, the largest group of poor
opment. The goal of this volume is to highlight this people living in the United States is children. Over
work and to provide a comprehensive analysis of 15 million children live in families with incomes
the mechanisms through which social, economic, below the federal poverty level, and there are nearly
cultural, familial, and community-level factors, and 4 million more children living in poverty today than
their interactions, impact the early and long-term in the turn of the 21st century (Wight, Chau, &
cognitive, neurobiological, socioemotional, and Aratani, 2011). A report by Moore et al. (2009)
physical development of children living in pov- indicates that when compared to their more affluent
erty. In addition, we also wanted to recognize the counterparts, poor children are more likely to have
work of other researchers, not supported by this low academic achievement, to drop out of school,
1
and to have health and behavioral problems. Moore puts forward the notion that family structure at birth
and her colleagues go on to report that these chal- sets the stage for living arrangement transitions dur-
lenges are even more compelling for children whose ing childhood, with children born outside of mar-
families experience deep poverty, especially during riage experiencing more instability, on average, than
early childhood years, and who are “trapped” by their counterparts born to married parents.
poverty over the course of critical developmental Widom and Nikulina studied the long-term
periods. We hope that collectively, the chapters in consequences of child neglect in low-income fam-
each section will provide a comprehensive and in- ilies. In chapter 4 they assert that of all forms of
depth treatment of each topical area. child maltreatment, neglect is the most common
and the overlap of poverty with child neglect most
Part I: Why Worry About Poverty? The pronounced. Widom and Nikulina examine this
Long-Term Effects on Children and overlap and call attention to the similarity in out-
Families comes associated with poverty and neglect. They
Part I of this volume begins with Gary Evans review, research on the contributions of childhood
and colleagues focusing in chapter 1 on biological neglect and childhood poverty to mental health,
mechanisms to explain how disadvantage gets under academic, and behavioral outcomes.
the skin. They posit that early-life deprivation is Finally, Mary Bruce Webb in chapter 5 discusses
significant in that it shapes physical health trajec- the historical and contemporary research initiated
tories over the course of life. Evans and colleagues by federal program offices to address these chal-
describe how biological processes could account for lenges and to advance the knowledge base about dis-
the impacts of early experiences of disadvantage on advantaged children and families. Examples include
health trajectories over the life course. They ask the large-scale longitudinal studies that have provided
following: Does the timing and duration of expo- foundational information about the characteristics
sure to disadvantage over the life course matter? If and life histories of individuals who live in poverty;
biological mechanisms are changed by deprivation large-scale evaluations; and smaller research and
early in life, what causes these changes to persist evaluation programs that target issues of particular
throughout the life course? relevance to low-income families.
Also presented in Part I is a treatment of the The provocative discussions in Part I under-
intergenerational effects of poverty. Conger and score the need for researchers, practitioners, and
colleagues in chapter 2 examine economic stress policy makers to maintain a focus on poverty—its
and hardship across three generations of rural direct and moderating effects, as well as the mediat-
Midwestern families. They found that economic ing influences of economic resources on children’s
hardship experienced during adolescence predicted developmental and health trajectories.
economic hardship in young adulthood, and this
process was linked to developmental outcomes of Part II: Inside the Family: Impact on Child
the third generation. They also found that economic and Family Functioning
hardship in the first generation of families they stud- The effects of family dynamics and parent-child
ied decreased the second generation’s association relations on child developmental outcomes has
with conventional peers, participation in extracur- been well documented in the literature from the
ricular activities, later educational attainment, and early work of Bowlby (1958) and Ainsworth et al.
parents’ assistance with college. Hardship in the first (1978) to more contemporary scholarship (Belsky,
generation also was associated with adolescent per- 2008; Slade et al., 2005). Bronfrenbrenner’s eco-
sonality traits such as higher negative emotionality logical model underscores the centrality of the fam-
and lower conscientiousness. Conger and colleagues ily in shaping children’s worldviews and having a
conclude that economic hardship in the first genera- strong influence on their well-being. A review of
tion diminishes the personal and social resources of research on relationship quality and child outcomes
youth, thus increasing risk for hardship in the next by Moore and colleagues(2011) found that happy
generation. parental relationships are consistently related to
Part I also includes a treatment of poverty status better outcomes for children across the varied eco-
and the effects of family structure on child well-being. nomic, racial, and family subgroups they studied.
Susan Brown in chapter 3 asserts that children’s However, what remains understudied are the spe-
family structure and instability have important con- cific ways in which family structure and function-
sequences for their well-being. Specifically, Brown ing might portend certain outcomes at specific
2 i n tro d ucti on
developmental periods and the role that poverty a much different, more varied, and complicated
plays in how we understand these processes. In picture. Their paper provides a compelling explica-
Part II of these volume, we take a look inside the tion of their Chicago fatherhood study and other
family to pursue these questions. We begin in research that challenges a number of stereotypes
chapter 6 with a discussion by Cathi Propper on associated with fathering among low-income and
the how the influence of socioeconomic status on minority men.
health, cognitive, and socioemotional outcomes Similarly, Josefina Grau and colleagues in chap-
starts before birth and continues into adulthood. ter 9 describe the historic trends in birthrates and
Propper focuses on the parasympathetic nervous the socioeconomic and demographic characteris-
system (as indexed by cardiac vagal tone), a branch tics of adolescent mothers in the United States as
of the autonomic nervous system that is sensitive to a backdrop for understanding the context in which
the demands of the environment. She reviews the lit- these mothers parent their children. They review the
erature on how living in conditions associated with adolescent parenting literature with a goal toward
poverty may shape the ability of infants and young uncovering the unique patterns of factors that may
children to regulate vagal response to external stress enable young mothers to parent successfully despite
or challenge and thus mediate the effect of poverty their disadvantaged conditions.
on social-emotional outcome. Propper pays specific Focusing on the early childhood period, Glick
attention to conditions within the family that may and Clark in chapter 10 review the sources of diver-
emerge as a result of living in poverty and discusses sity of the child population in the United States
how the development of vagal tone may be affected with a particular emphasis on young children of
over the first years of life, beginning in utero. immigrants. They present analyses of young chil-
McCurdy and her colleagues in chapter 7 draw dren’s cognitive and academic skill acquisition from
on the family stress model to provide a framework very early childhood into the transition to kinder-
for exploring the relationships between mater- garten and focus on the extent to which children’s
nal mental health and child health and nutrition. outcomes differ once nativity, family origins, and
Specifically, they examine what is known about the socioeconomic status are taken into account.
links between maternal depression and anxiety with Finally, Grotevant and colleagues examine con-
the increased rates of overweight, nutritional defi- nections among poverty, adoption, and child out-
ciencies, food insecurity, and overall poorer health comes through a variety of mechanisms. In chapter
observed among low-income children. McCurdy 11 they discuss ways in which poverty plays a cen-
et al. explore how maternal psychological distress tral role in the movement of children from their
may impact three parenting practices linked to these birth families to adoptive families and argue that
child health domains: (1) health-related parenting adoption is a powerful intervention in the lives of
behaviors, such as monitoring the child’s access to children whose development might have been at
television; (2) parental feeding strategies, such as risk because of poverty. Grotevant et al. conclude
how long the mother breast-feeds; and (3) food-re- with a discussion of current policies linking poverty,
lated coping strategies, such as the need to shop in a adoption, and child outcomes.
variety of stores for the best food bargains. She con-
cludes with directions to advance our understand- Part III: The Working Poor
ing of the pathway from maternal mental health to It was very important to us to have some dis-
child outcomes. cussion on the working poor. This is a population
Next, Gorman-Smith and her colleagues in that faces a variety of social, economic, and health-
chapter 8 review the research on fathering, with a related challenges. Despite the fact these individuals
particular focus on minority men living in urban have employment, they remain poor with incomes
neighborhoods. They assert that until recently the that place them at or below the poverty level. As
majority of research on fathers and father involve- a consequence, they may not have sufficient access
ment had been conducted with married and primar- or be available to receive important services, includ-
ily middle-class samples. Moreover, research on poor ing health care because of the variability in work
and unmarried fathers tended to use mother reports schedules and need for transportation and child
about fathers or summarily characterized these men care. In Part III of this volume, we address these
as uninvolved, irresponsible and as causes of much issues. We start with a discussion on the relations
of the risk for their children. The authors suggest between poverty and adverse experiences in child-
that recent quantitative and qualitative studies offer hood, underscoring the exacerbating role of stress in
mah olmes 3
family functioning and ultimately in child physical continues in chapter 15 with Huston’s review of
and mental health outcomes. This is a particularly the research investigating the effects of welfare and
important conceptual framework for understand- employment policies on children’s development.
ing the challenges of the working poor and the Huston discusses how the effects on children’s well-
deleterious impact of these challenges on children’s being vary depending on the features of the policies
development. In chapter 12, Alkon and colleagues in place and illuminates how such policy variations
review autonomic nervous system measures of chil- matter for children’s well-being.
dren’s basal and biologic stress responses, and dis- The last chapter (16) in Part III focuses on the
cuss theories elucidating how biologic sensitivity to policy impacts on the working poor. Waldfogel
context may explain the ways in which children’s examines work-family policies and their relation-
psychobiologic responses differ based on the child’s ship to child well-being and asserts that families in
exposure to adversity. Alkon et al.’s explication of which American children live have changed dra-
these responses sheds light on the potential long- matically in recent years. Stay-at-home mothers,
term effects on children’s overall development and once the norm, have become an increasingly rare
well-being. phenomenon, due to two major trends in fam-
Following that discussion, Hetzner and Brooks- ily and work arrangements. As a consequence, an
Gunn (chapter 13) examine the impact of parental increasing number of children live with single par-
employment on child outcomes. The authors argue ents, and an increasing number of mothers (in both
that parental employment out of the home influ- single-parent and two-parent families) work in the
ences aspects of the child’s environment—namely labor market. Waldfogel goes on to argue that the
the amount of time spent with a child, the amount changes in family and work arrangements have pro-
of language used by parents with the child, the par- found implications for the role of work-family poli-
ent-child attachment relationship, specific aspects cies in promoting child well-being, particularly in
of the home environment itself, child care arrange- low-income families.
ments, the household income, and the family’s access
to health care. The authors present specific findings Part IV: Educational Environments and
from research that point to important differences Child Outcomes
between employment in low-income samples versus Next we provide an analysis of educational envi-
higher- or nationally representative income samples. ronments and their influences on child outcomes
In a low-income context, the research suggests that in Part IV. We have learned from the chapters in
employment has either no association or a small the previous section that environment matters.
positive association with child development. In con- From the early childhood period through ado-
trast, research on income levels in a nationally rep- lescence, children and youth are affected by and
resentative context suggest that employment early affect the context within which they live. Because
in a child’s life has a negative association with their children spend the vast majority of their devel-
socioemotional and cognitive development. The opmental experience in school and other educa-
authors suggest that differences in effects by income tional contexts, we deemed it essential to review
are likely due to differences in the way low- and the important role of these environments on poor
higher-income children experience the pathways children’s development. We start this section with
through which employment is linked with develop- a review by Farah and Hackman (chapter 17) of
ment. Along the same vein, Dunifon and colleagues the research on the neural basis of child cognition.
in chapter 14 present a model describing the poten- They theorize that socioeconomic status (SES)
tial linkages between maternal nonstandard work during childhood predicts a vast array of life out-
and child well-being and describe how these linkages comes, including cognitive ability and academic
may differ for less economically advantaged children. achievement. The authors suggest that under-
These two chapters underscore the need for more standing how low childhood SES is associated
focused research that elucidates the critical associa- with lower cognitive and educational outcomes
tions among parental work schedules, the timing of has the potential to reduce the intergenerational
parental employment and child outcomes. transmission of poverty. Their explication of the
The challenges associated with balancing work neuroscience of poverty has implications for how
and family obligations are particularly acute for educators and policy makers can develop educa-
low-income families because they have few pri- tional interventions targeted toward improving the
vate resources with which to purchase care. Part III achievement of low-income children.
4 i n tro d ucti on
The chapter that follows provides an analysis inequality for children from ethnic and racial
of family factors, child care quality, and cogni- minority groups and those with low socioeconomic
tive outcomes. Here, in chapter 18, Pungello and status. Gamoran, Turley, and Fiel discuss large-scale
Gardner-Neblett discuss the associations among interventions such as school desegregation, class-
the environmental contexts children experience size reduction, and comprehensive school reform
and elaborate how these may potentially influ- as having some benefits for reducing inequality.
ence development. Particular attention is given They discuss the benefits and consequences of these
to the home and child care environments, exam- efforts for low-income children. Most importantly,
ining the effects of family on children’s cognitive they underscore the critical importance of maintain-
and language development. Next, we move to an ing the methodological integrity of these initiatives
analysis of child health and health outcomes. In and interventions so that the best evidence can be
chapter 19, Crosnoe, Wu, and Bonazzo discuss applied to address the needs of those children most
role of family poverty in the connection between in need.
physical health and the acquisition of cognitive
and academic skills early in childhood. Drawing Part V: Neighborhoods, Communities, and
on data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Contextual Factors
Study–Birth Cohort, or ECLS-B, as well as quali- When we started the research initiative that
tative data collected from the parents and teach- inspired this volume, we asserted that the study of
ers of low-income children participating in the poverty and its effects on children needs to con-
Texas state pre-K program, the authors discuss the sider that poverty is best defined along a continuum
sustainability of early intervention programs and that encompasses, but exceeds, the official poverty
call attention to the need for stronger connections threshold, from the underclass through the working
between research and policy. Among their conclu- class. It was important to us that poverty be under-
sions, Crosnoe and his colleagues recommend that stood as a conglomerate of conditions and events;
research should focus on connections across devel- not as a categorical variable and that it needs to be
opmental stages with particular attention to how studied in the context of place, time, and culture,
later experiences build on or dilute early experi- taking into account the variability across and within
ences. Such research can help to inform decisions settings. Section V discusses poverty within these
about the kinds of post–early childhood boosters influential contexts.
that are needed to maximize the long-term effects Part V starts with Mills-Koonce and Towe-
of early childhood interventions. Goodman’s summary of the effects of poverty and
Similarly, Johnson and Brooks-Gunn discuss the poverty-related stressors on hypothalamic-pituitary-
choices and consequences of child care and early adrenal (HPA) axis activity in young children. In
education for low-income families. In chapter 20, chapter 22, they examine the environmental cor-
the authors review issues of access to early care and relates of cortisol in young children, including
education for low-income families, including who the diurnal patterns of baseline levels as well as
uses early care and the publicly funded options that cortisol reactivity and regulation levels of cortisol
exist for these families. This is important because in response to emotional challenge or stress. They
more children are experiencing early education and, examine associations between poverty contexts and
for low-income families, having access to high qual- HPA functioning, as well as potential experiential
ity developmentally appropriate experiences may mediators of these associations, including family
ameliorate the effects of poverty on child outcomes. processes, child care, and broader environmental
Johnson and Brooks-Gunn discuss definitions and variables. The short- and long-term implications of
measurement of quality in early care and education, these associations are discussed, as well as potential
as well as evidence for the effects of early interven- future directions for this research.
tion and early care on children. Ingoldsby and colleagues look in chapter 23 at
Finally, Part IV concludes in chapter 21with the impact of the amounts of time in contexts out-
Gamoran, Turley, and Fiel’s analysis of the extent to side of the family and home. This chapter reviews
which school reform may level the playing field for extant research on key factors that may facilitate or
low-income children and youth. They pay special mitigate risk for child conduct problems in three
attention to what they term achievement inequality extrafamilial contexts: school, after-school, and
and review evidence-based approaches to school neighborhood. They contend that structural or
interventions intended to reduce US achievement organizational features, monitoring and supervision
mah olmes 5
processes, and children’s relationships with adults support the link between poverty, chaos, and chil-
and peers are related to children’s risk of conduct dren’s early development.
problems within and across these settings, with We round out Part V with a discussion on child
robust associations emerging for low-income chil- development and homelessness. The data are scant
dren who experience multiple contextual risks. The regarding the numbers of children and families
authors lay out directions for future research which experiencing homelessness, and there is a dearth
includes longitudinal and developmentally focused of information on the long-term impacts of both
investigations of direct and interactive associations the duration and the different types of home-
among contextual characteristics. They also call for less experiences on children’s development. While
studies of parent involvement in these contexts, as homelessness may not be a permanent condition
well as empirical investigations of the individual and for most homeless families, many children expe-
family factors that may play a role in the prediction rience this state for a substantial portion of their
of children’s conduct problems. young lives (Lewitt & Baker, 1996), and therefore
Extending this line of inquiry, Sastry reviews an understanding of these experiences is critical.
research on neighborhood effects on children’s Chapter 26, by Jung Min Park, aims to extend our
achievement. In chapter 24 he describes studies knowledge of the relationship between homeless-
published in the last 10 years that have examined ness and child outcomes in order to contribute to
the effects of neighborhood characteristics on chil- the development of effective strategies to better
dren’s academic achievement in the United States. serve children and families. Park provides a defini-
He points out that based on a variety of national tion of the various levels and nuanced understand-
and local studies that use a range of data sources ings of homelessness, provides statistics on the
and statistical approaches, there seem to be small number of children and families counted as home-
but clear negative effects of growing up in a poor less, and reviews the relation of homelessness to
neighborhood that are beyond the effects of grow- such child outcomes as physical and mental health,
ing up in a poor family. However, he concludes out-of-home placement, parent-child interactions,
that knowledge of the specific pathways through cognitive development, and educational outcomes.
which neighborhood factors operate to affect chil- Notably, Park examines how homelessness and
dren’s achievement is only beginning to emerge. poverty are intertwined, and discusses the charac-
Much more research is needed to fully understand teristics that are common among homeless families
these pathways and to begin to develop targeted and their children. Lastly, Park discusses directions
interventions. for future research in this area, including the need
In chapter 25, we contrast children’s experiences for further investigation of the independent effect
of poverty in urban versus rural contexts. Vernon- of homelessness on child outcomes, differential ser-
Feagans and colleagues posit that children who live vice needs among subgroups of homeless families,
in poor rural communities have a somewhat differ- both risk and protective factors for child problems,
ent context for development than urban children. and methodologically rigorous intervention stud-
They elaborate on the differences between these ies for children who are homeless or at risk for
communities and indicate that rural in comparison homelessness.
to urban communities have higher poverty rates and We are delighted to conclude this section with
greater isolation from key services, such as schools a review of issues related to American Indian
and health care. Parents in these communities have and Alaska Native children living in poverty. As
more service related jobs with nonstandard work authors Spicer and Sarche point out in chapter 27,
schedules. These factors are associated with poverty American Indian and Alaska Native tribal com-
but also can add additional stress on rural family life munities often confront significant adversity with
that can contribute to more chaotic living condi- inadequate resources, low rates of educational
tions for young children, including disorganization, attainment, disparities in health, and unmet needs
instability, and unpredictability. Vernon-Feagans for access to mental health and other services. The
et al. review the literature and present data to sup- authors discuss the unique historical experiences of
port the view that chaos in rural communities may tribes and cultural values that emphasize interde-
be greater than in urban areas and may be a par- pendence, distributed caregiving, and physical care
ticularly important mediator of the relationship during infancy. These values represent an opportu-
between poverty and children’s development. Data nity for supportive and health promoting policies
are presented from the Family Life Project to further as well as targeted interventions to begin to close
6 i n tro d ucti on
the wide and persistent gaps in income, education, and Bangladesh; public health approaches based
and services. on age-paced parenting newsletter models used in
the United States; primary care–based approaches
Part VI: Helping Families Help Themselves: used in the United States, Turkey, and China; and
Evidence-Based Interventions comprehensive early child development (ECD)
Part VI focuses on evidence-based interventions programs used in the Philippines. Huberman and
designed to address aspects of family function- Mendelsohn point out that while quite different in
ing that may help improve the quality of life and format, duration, and cost, these models share com-
promote healthy child development. We deemed it mon attributes: they all have a strong focus on PCI,
important to look at the variety of ways in which they have the most impact with moderate-risk fami-
interventions targeting key leverage points could lies, and they use participatory and interactive meth-
give families the tools, resources, and skills they ods to engage parents and caregivers. The authors
need to manage their current circumstances and conclude that linking these preventive approaches
ultimately improve the quality of life for themselves with health and other ECD services and integrating
and their children. This part opens in chapter 28 the program into larger systems and infrastructures
with Liliana Lengua’s work on the development are essential steps that must be taken.
of effortful control in children. This is important We were delighted to learn of the broad scope
because effortful control is thought to be an impor- of programming and interventions efforts produced
tant temperament and self-regulatory capacity by the Sesame Workshop. We deemed it important
linked to such child outcomes as prosocial behav- to provide a discussion on a range of applied inter-
ior and school performance (Kochanska, Murray, vention strategies and promising practices targeting
& Harlan, 2000) as well as morality, social com- low-income families to give rise to critical questions
petence, and adjustment (Eisenberg et al., 2004). that might inform more basic research. In chapter
Lengua discusses a model in which greater family 30, Cohen and colleagues give an overview of the
stress associated with poverty results in disruptions Sesame Workshop’s health initiatives that serve low-
in parenting and physiological stress responses that, income families and describe their Healthy Habits
in turn, divert the development of effortful control. for Life (HHFL) initiative. This program provides
Lengua presents evidence for the relations of parent- tools and ideas to families, children, and child care
ing, family stress, maternal depression, and specific providers to establish lifelong habits that support
biomarkers to effortful control, highlighting poten- healthy lifestyles and good nutrition. The authors
tial processes that promote or divert the develop- share evaluation results of the impact of HHFL on
ment of effortful control and of positive adaptation low-income caregivers and young children and how
in young children. She concludes that the pervasive these results help strengthen the effectiveness of the
and long-term effects of poverty on children’s social- materials used in this program.
emotional well-being, academic competence, and Next we address a program targeted specifi-
mental health may be accounted for, in part, by the cally for rural African American youth. In chapter
effects of poverty on children’s developing effortful 31, Brody, Kogan, and Grange discuss the Strong
control. Understanding the effects of poverty on African American Families (SAAF) program—a
effortful control and the potential mechanisms of family-centered intervention for rural youth,
those effects is critical for understanding children’s designed to capitalize on naturally occurring protec-
adjustment and for the development of preventive tive processes that buffer African American youth
or promotive interventions for children growing up from poverty and other hardships that compromise
in poverty. positive development and promote behavior prob-
Next, Huberman and Mendelsohn discuss the lems in rural communities. The authors describe
centrality of parent-child interaction and the home the risk and protective processes forecasting rural
caregiving environment in shaping early child African American youths’ developmental trajecto-
development. In chapter 29 they take a broad, ries as well as the process through which adolescent
multinational view and describe selected Parent- development, ethnic minority status, and the con-
Child Interaction (PCI)–focused approaches across text of rural poverty helped shape the conceptual
a range of intensities that have been found to be and theoretical frameworks for this intervention
effective. These include home visiting models used study.
in the United States and in Jamaica; group visit and In chapter 32, Fernald, Gertler, and Hidrobo
community-based models used in Ethiopia, Brazil, describe the promise of various types of conditional
mah olmes 7
cash transfer (CCT) programs. This intervention a developmental-ecological framework to consider
provides cash payments to families only if they the many ways in which mental health and well-
comply with a set of certain requirements relating being are shaped by the interactions among indi-
to health and education of family members. Fernald vidual, family, community, and societal factors.
et al. discuss the ways in which CCTs could affect Betancourt and Beardslee conclude with a series of
children’s birth, health, and development outcomes. recommendations illustrating the requisite interplay
They review evidence from conditional cash trans- among building the evidence base, increasing politi-
fer programs in Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Honduras, cal will to make change, and improving the imple-
Nicaragua, Colombia, India, Nepal, and Jamaica mentation of high quality and sustainable services
and unconditional cash transfer programs in South for children, youth, and families.
Africa, Malawi, and Ecuador. The authors also In chapter 35, Wessells and Kostelny introduce
examine the effects of CCT programs on factors the concept of everyday distress in their description
that could indirectly affect child outcomes, such as of children’s experiences in humanitarian settings.
growth monitoring and household food purchases. They emphasize that, worldwide, many children
grow up in zones of political violence and armed
Part VII: International Perspectives on conflict, where they are affected not only by acute,
the Mental Health and Psychosocial traumatic events but also by slower, ongoing dis-
Consequences of Poverty tresses of everyday life. Wessells and Kostelny
In Part VII of this volume, we frame a global describe how everyday distresses often stem from
health perspective focusing specifically on the psy- economic and political problems and how they arise
chosocial and mental health consequences of experi- at levels such as individual, family, community, and
encing childhood adversity and humanitarian crises. societal levels. The authors go on to discuss com-
This is important because recent events have called mon sources of distress among war-affected chil-
our attention to children around the world in need dren: inability to meet their basic needs and those
of assistance due to natural disasters, conflict, and of their families, family separation, family violence,
orphanhood due to HIV/AIDS, the spread of dis- lack of access to education, gender-based violence,
ease, parental abandonment, exploitation, and abuse. stigmatization and lack of social acceptance, per-
This need is underscored for children living in low- ceptions of spiritual contamination, community
resource countries and impoverished communities. violence, refugee status, unemployment, and lack of
Having an understanding of the breadth and scope of positive life options. Despite significant impact of
these issues is only one step toward ameliorating their these distresses, Wessells and Kostelny provide com-
effects—but it is an important step nonetheless. pelling examples of how some war-affected children
This final part leads with an overview by Panter- demonstrate significant resilience due largely to
Brick and her colleagues, who lay out a global protective factors in their social environments.
health perspective that challenges westernized views The discussion that follows focuses primarily on
of childhood adversity. In chapter 33 these authors parenting as a means for understanding outcomes for
point out that our conceptual models and bodies children living in low-resourced settings. Lansford
of supporting evidence have tended to be Western- (chapter 36) puts forward the argument that culture
centric. They argue that longitudinal research on and poverty jointly influence parenting. Depending
large, representative samples has mostly been funded on cultural, national, and socioeconomic contexts,
and institutionally facilitated within North America parents’ attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors may differ,
and European countries, and call for more ground- and specific forms of parenting may have different
breaking research outside Western contexts. implications for children’s development. She argues
In chapter 34 Betancourt and Beardslee follow that poverty can make it more difficult for parents
with an explication of their work on the psychoso- to promote children’s survival and development,
cial and developmental consequences of major life protect them from abuse and exploitation, and to
adversity on child and family mental health, with participate in making decisions that affect the lives
particular attention to regions affected by com- of their children.
munal violence and by HIV/AIDS. The authors In the final chapter of Part VII, Singer and Kutlesic
put forward the notion that in both of these con- in chapter 37 call for more evidence-based program-
texts, several forms of family adversity are preva- ming to support and address the mental health and
lent and observed in large proportions of children psychosocial consequences of childhood adver-
and their caregivers. Notably, the authors draw on sity. They posit that humanitarian crises can have
8 i n tro d ucti on
significant psychological consequences in children, of Health, its constituent units or the Department of Health and
especially among those who suffered from depriva- Human Services.
tion and adversity prior to the event. As the interna-
tional community has improved its ability to respond References
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to humanitarian crises, the strategies and practices (1978). Patterns of attachment: A psychological study of the
for enhancing resilience and preventing psychologi- strange situation. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
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that needs to be done. The authors use the tsunami ment. Psychiatry, 7, 282–285.
of 2004 in Asia as an example of efforts to enhance Bowlby, J. (1958). The nature of the child’s tie to his mother.
International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 39(5), 350–373.
research and develop evidence-based programs. They Eisenberg, N., Smith, C. L., Sadovsky, A., Spinrad, T. L.,
maintain that further progress will be dependent on Baumeister, R. F., & Vohs, K. D. (2004). Effortful control:
creating partnerships between scientists and practi- Relations with emotion regulation, adjustment, and socializa-
tioners and developing innovative strategies to inte- tion in childhood. In R. F. Baumeister & K. D. Vohs (Eds.),
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(pp. 259–282). New York: Guilford Press.
Taken together, the parts in this volume represent Kochanska, G., Murray, K. T., & Harlan, E. T., (2000). Effortful
the broad topical areas that we felt were illustrative control in early childhood: Continuity and change, anteced-
of our work since initiating SEED and of the issues ents, and implications for social development. Developmental
most in need of further research and scholarly atten- Psychology, 36(2), 220–232.
tion. We recognize that poverty is a very broad topic Lewitt, E. M., Baker, L. S. (1996). Child indicators: Homeless
families and children. The Future of Children, 6 (2),
with many lines of inquiry to be pursued. There are 146–158.
many directions to be taken and many other aspects Moore, K.A., Kinghorn, A., Bandy, T. (2011). Parental relation-
of poverty and child development that yet need to ship quality and child outcomes across subgroups. Washington,
be addressed. Rosalind King explores these direc- DC: Child Trends.
tions in Chapter 38. We hope that our treatment Moore, K. A., Redd, Z., Burkhauser, M., Mbwana, K., &
Collins, A. (2009). Children in poverty: Trends, consequences,
of this very important subject provokes thought, and policy options. Washington, DC: Child Trends.
provides insight, and gives rise to new perspectives, Slade, A., Grienenberger, J., Bernbach, E., Levy, D., & Locker,
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Note poor children? The official story. New York: National Center
The views expressed in this paper are solely those expressed by for Children in Poverty, Columbia University, Mailman
the author and do not reflect the views of the National Institutes School of Public Health.
mah olmes 9
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IN MEMORIAM[3]
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Kayhart.
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