what is a good research question for poverty

Affiliate Login

• Policy Briefs
• Executive Committee
• Emeriti Faculty
• UC Network on Child Health, Poverty, and Public Policy
• Visting Graduate Scholars
• Media Mentions
• Center Updates
• Contact the Center
• for Research Affiliates
• for Graduate Students
• Visiting Faculty Scholars
• External Opportunities
• The Non-traditional Safety Net: Health & Education
• Labor Markets & Poverty
• Children & Intergenerational Transmission of Poverty
• Immigration & Poverty
• Other Activities
• Past Events
• Policy Briefs Short summaries of our research
• Poverty Facts
• Employment, Earnings and Inequality
• Increasing College Access and Success for Low Income Students
• American Poverty Research
• Profiles in Poverty Research
• Government Agencies
• Other Poverty Centers

Frequently Asked Questions

Faqs on poverty.

Ten Important Questions About Child Poverty and Family Economic Hardship

• Publication Type   Report  
• Post date December 1, 2009

Download PDF

What is the Nature of Poverty and Economic Hardship in the United States?

• What does it mean to experience poverty?
• How is poverty measured in the United States?
• Are Americans who experience poverty now better off than a generation ago?
• How accurate are commonly held stereotypes about poverty and economic hardship?

How Serious is the Problem of Economic Hardship for American Families?

• How many children in the U.S. live in families with low incomes?
• Are some children and families at greater risk for economic hardship than others?
• What are the effects of economic hardship on children?

Is it Possible to Reduce Economic Hardship among American Families?

• Why is there so much economic hardship in a country as wealthy as the U.S.?
• Why should Americans care about family economic hardship?
• What can be done to increase economic security for America’s children and families?

1.  What does it mean to experience poverty?

Families and their children experience poverty when they are unable to achieve a minimum, decent standard of living that allows them to participate fully in mainstream society. One component of poverty is material hardship. Although we are all taught that the essentials are food, clothing, and shelter, the reality is that the definition of basic material necessities varies by time and place. In the United States, we all agree that having access to running water, electricity, indoor plumbing, and telephone service are essential to 21st century living even though that would not have been true 50 or 100 years ago.

To achieve a minimum but decent standard of living, families need more than material resources; they also need “human and social capital.” Human and social capital include education, basic life skills, and employment experience, as well as less tangible resources such as social networks and access to civic institutions. These non-material resources provide families with the means to get by, and ultimately, to get ahead. Human and social capital help families improve their earnings potential and accumulate assets, gain access to safe neighborhoods and high-quality services (such as medical care, schooling), and expand their networks and social connections.

The experiences of children and families who face economic hardship are far from uniform. Some families experience hard times for brief spells while a small minority experience chronic poverty. For some, the greatest challenge is inadequate financial resources, whether insufficient income to meet daily expenses or the necessary assets (savings, a home) to get ahead. For others, economic hardship is compounded by social isolation. These differences in the severity and depth of poverty matter, especially when it comes to the effects on children.

2. How is poverty measured in the United States?

The U.S. government measures poverty by a narrow income standard — this measure does not include material hardship (such as living in substandard housing) or debt, nor does it consider financial assets (such as savings or property). Developed more than 40 years ago, the official poverty measure is a specific dollar amount that varies by family size but is the same across the continental U.S..

According to the federal poverty guidelines, the poverty level is $22,050 for a family of four and $18,310 for a family of three (see table). (The poverty guidelines are used to determine eligibility for public programs. A similar but more complicated measure is used for calculating poverty rates.)

The current poverty measure was established in the 1960s and is now widely acknowledged to be outdated. It was based on research indicating that families spent about one-third of their incomes on food — the official poverty level was set by multiplying food costs by three. Since then, the same figures have been updated annually for inflation but have otherwise remained unchanged.

Yet food now comprises only one-seventh of an average family’s expenses, while the costs of housing, child care, health care, and transportation have grown disproportionately. Most analysts agree that today’s poverty thresholds are too low. And although there is no consensus about what constitutes a minimum but decent standard of living in the U.S., research consistently shows that, on average, families need an income of about twice the federal poverty level to meet their most basic needs.

Failure to update the federal poverty level for changes in the cost of living means that people who are considered poor today by the official standard are worse off relative to everyone else than people considered poor when the poverty measure was established. The current federal poverty measure equals about 31 percent of median household income, whereas in the 1960s, the poverty level was nearly 50 percent of the median.

The European Union and most advanced industrialized countries measure poverty quite differently from the U.S. Rather than setting minimum income thresholds below which individuals and families are considered to be poor, other countries measure economic disadvantage relative to the citizenry as a whole, for example, having income below 50 percent of median.

3. Are Americans who experience poverty now better off than a generation ago?

Material deprivation is not as widespread in the United States as it was 30 or 40 years ago. For example, few Americans experience severe or chronic hunger, due in large part to public food and nutrition programs, such as food stamps, school breakfast and lunch programs, and WIC (the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children). Over time, Social Security greatly reduced poverty and economic insecurity among the elderly. Increased wealth and technological advances have made it possible for ordinary families to have larger houses, computers, televisions, multiple cars, stereo equipment, air conditioning, and cell phones.

Some people question whether a family that has air conditioning or a DVD player should be considered poor. But in a wealthy nation such as the US, cars, computers, TVs, and other technologies are considered by most to be a normal part of mainstream American life rather than luxuries. Most workers need a car to get to work. TVs and other forms of entertainment link people to mainstream culture. And having a computer with access to the internet is crucial for children to keep up with their peers in school. Even air conditioning does more than provide comfort — in hot weather, it increases children’s concentration in school and improves the health of children, the elderly, and the chronically ill.

Consider as well the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina. Prior to the hurricane, New Orleans had one of the highest child poverty rates in the country — 38 percent (and this figure would be much higher if it included families with incomes up to twice the official poverty level). One in five households in New Orleans lacked a car, and eight percent had no phone service. The pervasive social and economic isolation increased the loss of life from the hurricane and exacerbated the devastating effects on displaced families and children.

Focusing solely on the material possessions a family has ignores the other types of resources they need to provide a decent life for their children — a home in a safe neighborhood; access to good schools, good jobs and basic services; and less tangible resources such as basic life skills and support networks.

4. How accurate are commonly held stereotypes about poverty?

The most commonly held stereotypes about poverty are false. Family poverty in the U.S. is typically depicted as a static, entrenched condition, characterized by large numbers of children, chronic unemployment, drugs, violence, and family turmoil. But the realities of poverty and economic hardship are very different.

Americans often talk about “poor people” as if they are a distinct group with uniform characteristics and somehow unlike the rest of “us.” In fact, there is great diversity among children and families who experience economic hardship. Research shows that many stereotypes just aren’t accurate: a study of children born between 1970 and 1990 showed that 35 percent experienced poverty at some point during their childhood; only a small minority experienced persistent and chronic poverty. And more than 90 percent of low-income single mothers have only one, two, or three children.

Although most portrayals of poverty in the media and elsewhere reflect the experience of only a few, a significant portion of families in America have experienced economic hardship, even if it is not life-long. Americans need new ways of thinking about poverty that allow us to understand the full range of economic hardship and insecurity in our country. In addition to the millions of families who struggle to make ends meet, millions of others are merely one crisis — a job loss, health emergency, or divorce — away from financial devastation, particularly in this fragile economy. A recent study showed that the majority of American families with children have very little savings to rely on during times of crisis. Recently, more and more families have become vulnerable to economic hardship.

5. How many children in the US live in families with low incomes?

Given that official poverty statistics are deeply flawed, the National Center for Children in Poverty uses “low income” as one measure of economic hardship. Low income is defined as having income below twice the federal poverty level — the amount of income that research suggests is needed on average for families to meet their basic needs. About 41 percent of the nation’s children — nearly 30 million in 2008 — live in families with low incomes, that is, incomes below twice the official poverty level (for 2009, about $44,000 for a family of four).

Although families with incomes between 100 and 200 percent of the poverty level are not officially classified as poor, many face material hardships and financial pressures similar to families with incomes below the poverty level. Missed rent payments, utility shut offs, inadequate access to health care, unstable child care arrangements, and running out of food are not uncommon for such families.

Low-income rates for young children are higher than those for older children — 44 percent of children under age six live in low-income families, compared to 39 percent of children over age six. Parents of younger children tend to be younger and to have less education and work experience than parents of older children, so their earnings are typically lower.

6. Are some children and families at greater risk for economic hardship than others?

Low levels of parental education are a primary risk factor for being low income. Eighty-three percent of children whose parents have less than a high school diploma live in low-income families, and over half of children whose parents have only a high school degree are low income as well. Workers with only a high school degree have seen their wages stagnate or decline in recent decades while the income gap between those who have a college degree and those who do not has doubled. Yet only 27 percent of workers in the U.S. have a college degree.

Single-parent families are at greater risk of economic hardship than two-parent families, largely because the latter have twice the earnings potential. But research indicates that marriage does not guarantee protection from economic insecurity. More than one in four children with married parents lives in a low-income family. In rural and suburban areas, the majority of low-income children have married parents. And among Latinos, more than half of children with married parents are low income. Moreover, most individuals who experience poverty as adults grew up in married-parent households.

Although low-income rates for minority children are considerably higher than those for white children, this is due largely to a higher prevalence of other risk factors, for example, higher rates of single parenthood and lower levels of parental education and earnings. About 61 percent of black, 62 percent of Latino children and 57 percent of American Indian children live in low-income families, compared to about 27 percent of white children and 31 percent of Asian children. At the same time, however, whites comprise the largest group of low-income children: 11 million white children live in families with incomes below twice the federal poverty line.

Having immigrant parents also increases a child’s chances of living in a low-income family. More than 20 percent of this country’s children — about 16 million — have at least one foreign-born parent. Sixty percent of children whose parents are immigrants are low-income, compared to 37 percent of children whose parents were born in the U.S.

7. What are the effects of economic hardship on children?

Economic hardship and other types of deprivation can have profound effects on children’s development and their prospects for the future — and therefore on the nation as a whole. Low family income can impede children’s cognitive development and their ability to learn. It can contribute to behavioral, social, and emotional problems. And it can cause and exacerbate poor child health as well. The children at greatest risk are those who experience economic hardship when they are young and children who experience severe and chronic hardship.

It is not simply the amount of income that matters for children. The instability and unpredictability of low-wage work can lead to fluctuating family incomes. Children whose families are in volatile or deteriorating financial circumstances are more likely to experience negative effects than children whose families are in stable economic situations.

The negative effects on young children living in low income families are troubling in their own right. These effects are also cause for concern because they are associated with difficulties later in life — dropping out of school, poor adolescent and adult health, poor employment outcomes and experiencing poverty as adults. Stable, nurturing, and enriching environments in the early years help create a sturdy foundation for later school achievement, economic productivity, and responsible citizenship.

Parents need financial resources as well as human and social capital (basic life skills, education, social networks) to provide the experiences, resources, and services that are essential for children to thrive and to grow into healthy, productive adults — high-quality health care, adequate housing, stimulating early learning programs, good schools, money for books, and other enriching activities. Parents who face chronic economic hardship are much more likely than their more affluent peers to experience severe stress and depression — both of which are linked to poor social and emotional outcomes for children.

Is it Possible to Reduce Economic Hardship for American Families?

8. why is there so much economic hardship in a country as wealthy as the u.s..

Given its wealth, the U.S. had unusually high rates of child poverty and income inequality, even prior to the current economic downturn. These conditions are not inevitable — they are a function both of the economy and government policy. In the late 1990s, for example, there was a dramatic decline in low-income rates, especially among the least well off families. The economy was strong and federal policy supports for low-wage workers with children — the Earned Income Tax Credit, public health insurance for children, and child care subsidies — were greatly expanded. In the current economic downturn, it is expected that the number of poor children will increase by millions.

Other industrialized nations have lower poverty rates because they seek to prevent  hardship by providing assistance to all families. These supports include “child allowances” (typically cash supplements), child care assistance, health coverage, paid family leave, and other supports that help offset the cost of raising children.

But the U.S. takes a different policy approach. Our nation does little to assist low-income working families unless they hit rock bottom. And then, such families are eligible only for means-tested benefits that tend to be highly stigmatized; most families who need help receive little or none. (One notable exception is the federal Earned Income Tax Credit.)

At the same time, middle- and especially upper-income families receive numerous government benefits that help them maintain and improve their standard of living — benefits that are largely unavailable to lower-income families. These include tax-subsidized benefits provided by employers (such as health insurance and retirement accounts), tax breaks for home owners (such as deductions for mortgage interest and tax exclusions for profits from home sales), and other tax preferences that privilege assets over income. Although most people don’t think of these tax breaks as government “benefits,” they cost the federal treasury nearly three times as much as benefits that go to low- to moderate-income families. In addition, middle- and upper-income families reap the majority of benefits from the child tax credit and the child care and dependent tax credit because neither is fully refundable.

In short, high rates of child poverty and income inequality in the U.S. can be reduced, but effective, widespread, and long-lasting change will require shifts in both national policy and the economy.

9. Why should Americans care about family economic hardship?

In addition to the harmful consequences for children, high rates of economic hardship exact a serious toll on the U.S. economy. Economists estimate that child poverty costs the U.S. $500 billion a year in lost productivity in the labor force and spending on health care and the criminal justice system. Each year, child poverty reduces productivity and economic output by about 1.3 percent of GDP.

The experience of severe or chronic economic hardship limits children’s potential and hinders our nation’s ability to compete in the global economy. American students, on average, rank behind students in other industrialized nations, particularly in their understanding of math and science. Analysts warn that America’s ability to compete globally will be severely hindered if many of our children are not as academically prepared as their peers in other nations.

Long-term economic trends are also troubling as they reflect the gradual but steady growth of economic insecurity among middle-income and working families over the last 30 years. Incomes have increased very modestly for all but the highest earners. Stagnant incomes combined with the high cost of basic necessities have made it difficult for families to save, and many middle- and low-income families alike have taken on crippling amounts of debt just to get by.

Research also indicates that economic inequality in America has been on the rise since the 1970s. Income inequality has reached historic levels — the income share of the top one percent of earners is at its highest level since 1929. Between 1979 and 2006, real after-tax incomes rose by 256 percent for the top one percent of households, compared to 21 percent and 11 percent for households in the middle and bottom fifth (respectively).

Economic mobility—the likelihood of moving from one income group to another—is on the decline in the U.S. Although Americans like to believe that opportunity is equally available to all, some groups find it harder to get ahead than others. Striving African American families have found upward mobility especially difficult to achieve and are far more vulnerable than whites to downward mobility. The wealth gap between blacks and whites — black families have been found to have one-tenth the net worth of white families — is largely responsible.

What all of these trends reveal is that the American Dream is increasingly out of reach for many families. The promise that hard work and determination will be rewarded has become an increasingly empty promise in 21st century America. It is in the best interest of our nation to see that the American Dream, an ideal so fundamental to our collective identity, be restored.

10. What can be done to increase economic security for America’s children and families?

A considerable amount of research has been devoted to this question. We know what families need to succeed economically, what parents need to care for and nurture their children, and what children need to develop into healthy, productive adults. The challenge is to translate this research knowledge into workable policy solutions that are appropriate for the US.

For families to succeed economically, we need an economy that works for all — one that provides workers with sufficient earnings to provide for a family. Specific policy strategies include strengthening the bargaining power of workers, expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit, and increasing the minimum wage and indexing it to inflation. We also need to help workers get the training and education they need to succeed in a changing workforce. Dealing with low wages is necessary but not sufficient. Low- and middle-income families alike need relief from the high costs of health insurance and housing. Further programs that promote asset building among low-income families with children are also important.

As a nation, we also need to make it possible for adults to be both good workers and good parents, which requires greater workplace flexibility and paid time off. Workers need paid sick time, and parents need time off to tend to a sick child or talk to a child’s teacher. Currently, three in four low-wage workers have no paid sick days.

Despite the fact that a child’s earliest years have a profound effect on his or her life trajectory and ultimate ability to succeed, the U.S. remains one of the only industrialized countries that does not provide paid family leave for parents with a new baby. Likewise, child care is largely private in the U.S. — individual parents are left to find individual solutions to a problem faced by all working parents. Low- and middle-income families need more help paying for child care and more assistance in identifying reliable, nurturing care for their children, especially infants and toddlers.

These are only some of the policies needed to reduce economic hardship, strengthen families, and provide a brighter future for today’s — and tomorrow’s — children. With the right leadership, a strong national commitment, and good policy, it’s all possible.

Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.

To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to  upgrade your browser .

Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link.

• We're Hiring!
• Help Center

100 Questions: identifying research priorities for poverty prevention and reduction

Reducing poverty is important for those affected, for society and the economy. Poverty remains entrenched in the UK, despite considerable research efforts to understand its causes and possible solutions. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, with the Centre for Science and Policy at the University of Cambridge, ran a democratic, transparent, consensual exercise involving 45 participants from government, non-governmental organisations, academia and research to identify 100 important research questions that, if answered, would help to reduce or prevent poverty. The list includes questions across a number of important themes, including attitudes, education, family, employment, heath, wellbeing, inclusion, markets, housing, taxes, inequality and power.

Related Papers

Policy & Politics

Justin Keen

Richard J White

This article explores the ways in which young people's decisions about post-compulsory education, training and employment are shaped by place, drawing on case study evidence from three deprived neighbourhoods in England. It discusses the way in which place-based social networks and attachment to place influence individuals' outlooks and how they interpret and act on the opportunities they see. While such networks and place attachment can be a source of strength in facilitating access to opportunities, they can also be a source of weakness in acting to constrain individuals to familiar choices and locations. In this way, 'subjective' geographies of opportunity may be much more limited than 'objective' geographies of opportunity. Hence it is important for policy to recognise the importance of 'bounded horizons'.

Anne Corden , Michael Hirst

Lisa Scullion

J. Poverty Soc. Justice

Toity Deave

Journal of Poverty and Social Justice

Kirsten Besemer

John McKendrick , Stephen Sinclair

Social Policy and Society

Line Nyhagen

John Hills , David Piachaud

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has supported this project as part of its programme of research and innovative development projects, which it hopes will be of value to policy makers, practitioners and service users. The facts presented and views expressed in this report are, however, ...

CASE Papers

Ruth Lister

Loading Preview

Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. You can download the paper by clicking the button above.

RELATED PAPERS

Jonathan Bradshaw

Ronald McQuaid

Colin Lindsay

Journal of Policy Analysis and Management

Liam Foster

Alison Garnham

Mark Tomlinson

Cambridge Journal of Economics

Kevin Albertson , Paul Stepney

Serena Romano

Mansel Aylward

Surya Monro

Alex Nunn , Ronald McQuaid , Tim Bickerstaffe

… by National Association of Welfare Rights …

Colin Talbot

GA Williams , Mark Tomlinson

Hilary Stevens

Chris Pittman

Ian Cummins

Information, communication & …

Abigail Davis

… , communication & society

Bryony Beresford

Martin Taulbut

research.dwp.gov.uk

Peter Allmark

Richard Riddell

Glen Bramley

Judy Corlyon

Vanesa Fuertes , Ronald McQuaid

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

Shoshana Pollack

alan france

Emma Uprichard

RELATED TOPICS

•   We're Hiring!
•   Help Center
• Find new research papers in:
• Health Sciences
• Earth Sciences
• Cognitive Science
• Mathematics
• Computer Science
• Academia ©2024

Poverty and Social Exclusion

Defining, measuring and tackling poverty, latest articles, home page featured articles, buenos aires 2017.

A recent report form the city of Buenos Aires measuring multi-dimensional poverty, using the consensual method, has found that in 2019, 15.3% of households were multi-dimensionally  poor, rising to  25.7% for households with children under 18 years of age. The method established will be used to measure nu,ti-dimensional poverty on an ongoing basis.

6th Townsend poverty conference ad

We are now delighted to offer you the presentation slides and video recordings of sessions across the three days, featuring formal presentations, interactive Q&As, networking opportunities and much more.

Child deprivation in EU member states, 2018

The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Steering Group on Measuring Poverty and Inequality has been tasked with producing a guide on Measuring Social Exclusion which references a lot of our PSE work.

100 questions about poverty

Progress in reducing or preventing poverty in the UK could be helped by the answers to 100 important research questions, according to a new report. The questions have been identified by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Centre for Science and Policy at the University of Cambridge, based on an exercise involving 45 participants from government, non-governmental organisations, academia and research. They cover a range of themes, and indicate areas of particular research interest.

Key questions include:

• Attitudes towards poverty – To what extent does stigma contribute to the experience of living in poverty in the UK, and what can be done to address this?
• Education and family – To what extent do families (including extended families) provide the first line of defence against individual poverty, and what are the limits and geographical variations of this support?
• Employment – What explains variation in wages as a share of GDP internationally? What can countries do to combat low pay without causing unemployment in sectors that cannot move abroad?
• Health, well-being and inclusion – What is the nature and extent of poverty among those who do not, or cannot, access the safety net when they need it? What are the health risks associated with poor-quality work (low paid, insecure, poorly regulated etc) for individuals or households in poverty?
• Markets, service and the cost of living – What transport measures and interventions have the greatest negative/positive impact on poverty? What is the impact of up-front charging in public services on people in poverty?
• Place and housing – What is the effect of housing-related welfare changes on people and places in poverty?
• Tax, benefits and inequality – What would the impacts on poverty be of different models of more contributory benefit schemes? How can the effect on poverty of issues of diversity, such as ethnicity, disability, age, gender, sexual orientation or religion, be better understood and addressed? What relevance does inequality in the top half of the income distribution have for the reduction of poverty?
• Policy, power and agency – What forms of institutional structures, processes and reforms enable people living in poverty to hold state and non-state actors to account?
• The bigger picture – What are the most cost-effective interventions to prevent poverty over the life course? What differentiates the effects of poverty on men and women in terms of the impact on both their own quality of life and that of their families? Considering how much money has been spent on poverty alleviation, why has it not had more effect?

Source : William Sutherland et al., 100 Questions: Identifying Research Priorities for Poverty Prevention and Reduction , Joseph Rowntree Foundation Links :  Report | JRF blog post

Tweet this page

• Help & FAQ

100 Questions: Identifying research priorities for poverty prevention and reduction

William J. Sutherland * , Chris Goulden, Kate Bell, Fran Bennett, Simon Burall, Marc Bush, Samantha Callan, Kim Catcheside, Julian Corner, Conor T. D'Arcy, Matt Dickson, James A. Dolan, Robert Doubleday, Bethany J. Eckley, Esther T. Foreman, Rowan Foster, Louisa Gilhooly, Ann Marie Gray, Amanda C. Hall, Mike Harmer Annette Hastings, Chris Johnes, Martin Johnstone, Peter Kelly, Peter Kenway, Neil Lee, Rhys Moore, Jackie Ouchikh, James Plunkett, Karen Rowlingson , Abigail Scott Paul, Tom A J Sefton, Faiza Shaheen, Sonia Sodha, Jonathan Stearn, Kitty Stewart, Emma Stone, Matthew Tinsley, Richard J. Tomsett, Paul Tyrer, Julia Unwin, David G. Wall, Patrick K A Wollner Show 23 more Show less

• Social Policy and Society
• Centre on Household Assets and Savings Management (CHASM)

Research output : Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Reducing poverty is important for those affected, for society and the economy. Poverty remains entrenched in the UK, despite considerable research efforts to understand its causes and possible solutions. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, with the Centre for Science and Policy at the University of Cambridge, ran a democratic, transparent, consensual exercise involving 45 participants from government, non-governmental organisations, academia and research to identify 100 important research questions that, if answered, would help to reduce or prevent poverty. The list includes questions across a number of important themes, including attitudes, education, family, employment, heath, wellbeing, inclusion, markets, housing, taxes, inequality and power.

• Anti-poverty strategy
• Poverty policy
• Poverty research

ASJC Scopus subject areas

• Sociology and Political Science
• Public Administration

Access to Document

• 10.1332/175982713X671210

Fingerprint

• poverty Social Sciences 100%
• family education Social Sciences 62%
• housing market Social Sciences 55%
• taxes Social Sciences 49%
• non-governmental organization Social Sciences 47%
• inclusion Social Sciences 32%
• economy Social Sciences 29%
• cause Social Sciences 28%

T1 - 100 Questions

T2 - Identifying research priorities for poverty prevention and reduction

AU - Sutherland, William J.

AU - Goulden, Chris

AU - Bell, Kate

AU - Bennett, Fran

AU - Burall, Simon

AU - Bush, Marc

AU - Callan, Samantha

AU - Catcheside, Kim

AU - Corner, Julian

AU - D'Arcy, Conor T.

AU - Dickson, Matt

AU - Dolan, James A.

AU - Doubleday, Robert

AU - Eckley, Bethany J.

AU - Foreman, Esther T.

AU - Foster, Rowan

AU - Gilhooly, Louisa

AU - Gray, Ann Marie

AU - Hall, Amanda C.

AU - Harmer, Mike

AU - Hastings, Annette

AU - Johnes, Chris

AU - Johnstone, Martin

AU - Kelly, Peter

AU - Kenway, Peter

AU - Lee, Neil

AU - Moore, Rhys

AU - Ouchikh, Jackie

AU - Plunkett, James

AU - Rowlingson, Karen

AU - Paul, Abigail Scott

AU - Sefton, Tom A J

AU - Shaheen, Faiza

AU - Sodha, Sonia

AU - Stearn, Jonathan

AU - Stewart, Kitty

AU - Stone, Emma

AU - Tinsley, Matthew

AU - Tomsett, Richard J.

AU - Tyrer, Paul

AU - Unwin, Julia

AU - Wall, David G.

AU - Wollner, Patrick K A

PY - 2013/10

Y1 - 2013/10

N2 - Reducing poverty is important for those affected, for society and the economy. Poverty remains entrenched in the UK, despite considerable research efforts to understand its causes and possible solutions. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, with the Centre for Science and Policy at the University of Cambridge, ran a democratic, transparent, consensual exercise involving 45 participants from government, non-governmental organisations, academia and research to identify 100 important research questions that, if answered, would help to reduce or prevent poverty. The list includes questions across a number of important themes, including attitudes, education, family, employment, heath, wellbeing, inclusion, markets, housing, taxes, inequality and power.

AB - Reducing poverty is important for those affected, for society and the economy. Poverty remains entrenched in the UK, despite considerable research efforts to understand its causes and possible solutions. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, with the Centre for Science and Policy at the University of Cambridge, ran a democratic, transparent, consensual exercise involving 45 participants from government, non-governmental organisations, academia and research to identify 100 important research questions that, if answered, would help to reduce or prevent poverty. The list includes questions across a number of important themes, including attitudes, education, family, employment, heath, wellbeing, inclusion, markets, housing, taxes, inequality and power.

KW - Anti-poverty strategy

KW - Poverty policy

KW - Poverty research

KW - UK poverty

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84891603358&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1332/175982713X671210

DO - 10.1332/175982713X671210

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84891603358

SN - 1759-8273

JO - Journal of Poverty and Social Justice

JF - Journal of Poverty and Social Justice

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

• Publications
• Account settings

Preview improvements coming to the PMC website in October 2024. Learn More or Try it out now .

• Advanced Search
• Journal List
• HHS Author Manuscripts

Child Poverty in the United States: A Tale of Devastation and the Promise of Hope

Alyn t. mccarty.

University of Wisconsin-Madison, Center for Women’s Health and Health Disparities Research

The child poverty rate in the United States is higher than in most similarly developed countries, making child poverty one of America’s most pressing social problems. This article provides an introduction of child poverty in the US, beginning with a short description of how poverty is measured and how child poverty is patterned across social groups and geographic space. I then examine the consequences of child poverty with a focus educational outcomes and child health, and three pathways through which poverty exerts its influence: resources, culture, and stress. After a brief review of the anti-poverty policy and programmatic landscape, I argue that moving forward we must enrich the communities in which poor families live in addition to boosting incomes and directly supporting children’s skill development. I conclude with emerging research questions.

SECTION I: Introduction

In 2014, 15.5 million children—or 21.1% of children under age 18—lived in families with incomes below the federal poverty line, making children the largest group of poor people in the United States ( DeNavas-Walt & Proctor 2015 ). Rates are even higher for the youngest children: 25% of children under age 3 are poor ( Jiang et al. 2015 ). These figures position the US second only to Romania in rankings of child poverty rates among 35 industrialized countries ( Adamson 2012 ).

Poor children in the US face a widening economic chasm between themselves and their more affluent peers ( Autor 2014 ). Income inequality has grown substantially in the last forty years; after decades of decline, income inequality now harkens back to levels similar to those during the Great Depression ( Piketty & Saez 2014 ). What’s more, children from impoverished backgrounds in the US have a tougher time getting out of poverty than children in other similarly developed countries. Rates of social mobility are lower in the United States than most continental European countries ( Bjorklund & Jantti 2009 ; Duncan & Murnane 2011 , pg. 5–6; Hertz et al. 2008 ) and have remained unchanged since 1979 ( Lee & Solon 2009 ).

High rates of child poverty, income inequality, and social immobility motivate a sense of urgency and importance in research and policy focused on poor children and their families. In this article, I review the latest research on child poverty across multiple social and behavioral science disciplines. Together, this work tells two stories: One narrative warns of the long-term negative impacts associated with child poverty, but the other offers hope of resilience through policies and programs designed to reduce child poverty and mitigate its damages.

In Section II, I begin by describing how researchers define and measure poverty. Section III offers a descriptive portrait of what child poverty looks like in America today. In Section IV, I review literature on the impact of child poverty educational outcomes and child health. I discuss new types of data and approaches to the study of child poverty that have uncovered nuance in the impact of child poverty. In Section V, I describe three pathways through which poverty exerts its effects on children: resources, culture, and stress. Section VI briefly reviews anti-poverty policies that aim to reduce the rate of child poverty and early childhood interventions that aim to limit its effects. In Section VII, I argue that providing economic benefits to poor families and investing early on in children’s human capital may be more effective if paired with investments in the communities in which poor families live. Finally, in Section VII, I conclude with emerging research questions.

SECTION II: Definition of Poverty & Measurement

Approximately 46.7 million people in the United States live below the poverty line, a rate of 14.8 percent ( DeNavas-Walt & Proctor 2015 ). Of these, 15.5 million—about a third—are children. Children account for about 23 percent of the overall US population, which means that children are overrepresented among the poor ( US Census Bureau 2015 ). Figure 1 shows 2014 poverty rates for children across multiple age groups using data from the American Community Survey. 1 Overall, 21.7% of children are poor. Poverty rates are higher among younger children and lower among older children: approximately 24% of children ages 5 or younger are poor compared to about 18% of youth ages 16 or 17.

Source: Author’s calculations using American Community Survey (ACS) data, 2014.

Accurately measuring child poverty and how it varies over time and place gives us…

Accurately measuring child poverty and how it varies over time and place gives us insight into how rates of child poverty are shaped by economic, demographic, and public policy change ( Cancian & Danziger 2009 ). On its face, measuring poverty should be quite simple. Yet, there is some debate about how best to categorize a family’s poverty status ( Haveman et al. 2015 ). Since the early 1960s, poverty status has been determined by comparing a household’s pre-tax cash income (e.g., wages and salaries) to a threshold that accounts for inflation using the Consumer Price Index. The child poverty rate is the proportion of families with children who have incomes below the threshold. The threshold is anchored at three times the cost of a subsistence food budget. 2 The threshold is adjusted for family size, composition, and age of householder, but it is the same no matter where a person lives in the US.

The official poverty measure is intended to reflect the proportion of the population for whom the resources they share with others in their household are not enough to meet their basic needs ( Haveman et al. 2015 ). However, a number of criticisms of the measure have been raised, revealing the significant shortcomings of the way poverty is officially determined ( Citro & Michael 1995 ). In response to these criticisms, the Census Bureau now reports a supplemental poverty measure (SPM) each year, which (1) takes into account necessary expenses (e.g., taxes and childcare) and cash and in-kind government benefits (e.g., cash welfare, housing subsidies, WIC and SNAP benefits); (2) broadens the definition of household to include foster children and unmarried partners; (3) updates the poverty threshold annually rather than “anchoring” it to a set poverty line; and (4) reflects housing costs reported in the American Community Survey, thus varies by place of residence ( Haveman et al. 2015 ).

For most groups, the SPM rates are higher than official measures; however, for some groups—including children—the SPM rates are lower ( Short 2015 ). The lower SPM child poverty rate largely reflects the impact of government anti-poverty policies, many of which explicitly target families with children such as the Child Tax Credit, school lunch subsidies, and WIC benefits ( Fox et al. 2015 ). According to Short (2015) , the official poverty rate for children under 18 in 2014 was 21.5 percent, which exceeds the 2014 SPM rate of 16.7 percent by about 4.8 percentage points. 3

SECTION III: A PORTRAIT OF CHILD POVERTY IN AMERICA

The burden of child poverty is unequally distributed across population subgroups in the US. In this section, I describe patterns of child poverty in our society, drawing on research that explores the social and economic factors that generate and maintain poverty for some groups more than others, over time, and across geographic space.

The Color of Child Poverty

There are dramatic disparities in child poverty rates by race/ethnicity: in 2014, child poverty rates were highest for children who are non-Hispanic Black or African American (38%), American Indian (36%), or Hispanic or Latino (32%), while rates were lowest for children who are non-Hispanic White (13%) or Asian and Pacific Islander (13%) ( Kids Count 2015 ).

Though rates help us understand the disproportionate burden of child poverty for some racial/ethnic minorities, it is also revealing to examine the total population of children in poverty by race/ethnicity (see Figure 2 ). First, poverty affects all children, regardless of racial/ethnic background. Second, contrary to racialized stereotypes about who is poor in America, there are more non-Hispanic white children in poverty (4.9 million) than non-Hispanic Black or African American children (3.9 million). Third, the majority of children in poverty are of Hispanic origin (5.7 million). Fourth, for each racial/ethnic group, most children in poverty are between 0 and 5 years of age.

High levels of child poverty among Back, American Indian, and Hispanic children…

High levels of child poverty among Black, American Indian, and Hispanic children reflect changes over time in the economy, public policy, and institutional practices that disproportionately affect people of color, such as declining relative wages of less educated men, declining availability of full-time jobs, and rising incarceration rates ( Wilson 1996 ). The disproportionality of poverty by race/ethnicity also reflects past and current discrimination in schooling, housing markets, and labor markets ( Cancian & Danziger 2009 ; Desmond 2016 ; Stokes et al. 2001 ).

Immigration and Child Poverty in the US: A Growing Concern

Immigrant status is also closely associated with poverty. Children of recent immigrants are a rapidly growing share of the child population in the United States: from 2006 to 2011, the number of children with at least one immigrant parent grew by 1.5 million, from 15.7 to 17.2 million ( Hanson & Simms 2014 ). Thus, children of immigrants account for nearly a fourth of all children in the United States. The majority of children of immigrants are Hispanic, and more than 40% have parents from Mexico.

Similar to many racial/ethnic minority groups, immigrant children are disproportionately likely to experience poverty relative to children whose parents were born in the US. In 2009, 18.2% of children with native-born parents were poor compared to 27.2% of children with “established immigrant” parents (i.e., those who have been in the US for more than ten years), and 38.5% of children with parents who recently immigrated to the US (Wight et al. 2011).

Since immigrants represent an increasing share of the US population and poverty rates among the foreign born tend to be high, immigration directly affects the overall child poverty rate ( Raphael & Smolensky 2009 ). Theoretically, immigration could also affect child poverty rates by driving down the wages and employment of native-born workers, though there is little evidence to support this claim ( Raphael & Smolensky 2009 ).

Declining Rates of Marriage and the Growing Burden of Child Poverty

Child poverty rates are substantially higher for children in single-mother families than for those in married-couple families, in part because single-mother families have fewer potential earners, and many have difficulty collecting child support payments from fathers ( Mather 2010 ). In 2014, 30.6% of single mother families were poor, compared with only 6.2% of married families with children ( DeNavas-Walt & Proctor 2015 ).

During the 1970s and 1980s, there was a rapid increase in single-mother families in the US, and rates have remained high since the 1990s; nearly one-fourth of children under 18 live in single-mother families ( Mather 2010 ). 4 Cancian & Reed (2009) note that though women are now less likely to be married than previously, women also tend to have fewer children, are more educated, and are more likely to be working than in the past. The researchers argue that these trends have countervailing influences on the child poverty rate: increased maternal employment has offset the poverty increasing effects of single motherhood. Still, recent changes in family structure have increased the child poverty rate, all else being equal.

Poverty of Place: How Child Poverty is Spatially Distributed in the US

In addition to their race/ethnic identification, immigrant status, and their parents’ marital status, where children live can also put them at a greater risk of growing up poor. Though many conceive of poverty as an urban problem, 95 of the 100 counties in the US with the highest child poverty rates are located in rural areas, whereas most counties with the lowest child poverty rates tend to be in wealthy suburbs of large metropolitan areas ( O’Hare & Mather 2008 ). Poverty disproportionately affects children living in rural areas as a result of recent economic changes in rural communities where key industries have disappeared (e.g., family farms) or moved overseas (e.g., textiles manufacturing) ( O’Hare 2009 ; Vernon-Feagans et al. 2012 ). The service sector jobs that have replaced these industries contribute to higher rates of poverty because they are less stable and lower paying, and rural areas have not benefitted from the rise of technology-related companies in the same way as have urban and suburban areas ( O’Hare 2009 ).

Child poverty is also a highly clustered regional phenomenon. The South has a regional poverty rate of over 16%, and there are hotspot clusters of high rates of child poverty in the Mississippi Delta region, the Black Belt, Appalachia, southwest Texas and New Mexico, southern South Dakota, and northern Nebraska ( Voss et al. 2006 ). Regional variation in child poverty can in part be explained by their social and economic contexts. Structural factors such as racial/ethnic composition and industry combine to influence the social processes that generate levels of child poverty in different areas. For example, racial/ethnic composition is more strongly associated with child poverty in farming dependent areas, which in part explains the higher levels of child poverty that are observed in the South ( Curtis et al. 2012 ).

The supplemental child poverty rate varies widely across states, which in large part reflects variation in state anti-poverty policies ( The Anne E Casey Foundation 2015 ). In an analysis of the US Census Bureau Supplementary Poverty Measure Public Use Research files in 2012–2014, The Anne E Casey Foundation (2015) found that federal benefits, which generally do not adjust for differences in costs of living, have a smaller impact on reducing child poverty rates in states where cost of living is high. In addition, though most government benefits are funded at the federal level, states vary with respect to the ins-and-outs of policy implementation, particularly for welfare: income eligibility limits, benefit levels, financial incentives to work, time limits, eligibility requirements for two-parent families, and the stringency of rules that reduce or terminate benefits for families that are non-compliant ( McKernan & Ratcliffe 2006 ; Soss et al. 2001 ). Many of these welfare policy variations are associated with variation in poverty levels by state, making the state that children are raised in particularly consequential for their economic well-being ( McKernan & Ratcliffe 2006 ).

SECTION IV: Consequences of Poverty

The literature on the consequences of child poverty is enormous, and the latest scholarship is increasingly methodologically sophisticated (see recent review by Duncan et al., 2012 ). Recent research has moved away from cross-sectional analyses, which capture a snapshot of children’s lives at one point in time, toward longitudinal analyses, which allow the linking of trajectories of poverty exposures during infancy and early childhood to outcomes across the life course. As such, it is increasingly common for studies to address the dynamics of exposure to poverty, including intensity, timing, and duration (e.g., short term vs. long term poverty). Furthermore, studies are paying increasing attention to the context of children’s lives beyond their families’ own socioeconomic status by explicitly modeling the impact of economic resources of others around them, for example in their schools and neighborhoods.

These new ways of studying the effects of child poverty have revealed that: 1) most differences in outcomes between poor and non-poor children remain after adjusting for potentially confounding factors (i.e., factors other than income that are associated with both poverty and child outcomes); 2) poverty exposure may be especially harmful during early childhood, a period of rapid brain growth and development; 3) the longer a child is exposed to poverty, the greater the risk of negative outcomes; 4) the effects of poverty can accumulate over time or lie dormant for years, only to be revealed in adulthood; and 5) the socioeconomic context of neighborhoods and schools matter for children’s outcomes net of their own family’s resources ( Brooks-Gunn et al. 1993 ; Duncan & Magnuson 2011a ; Duncan et al. 1998 ; Duncan et al. 2010 ; Elder 1985 ; Entwisle et al. 2005 ; Foster & Furstenberg 1999 ; Harding 2003 ; Hertzman 1999 ; Kuh & Shlomo 2004 ; McLeod & Shanahan 1996 ; Ratcliffe & McKernan 2010 ; Sastry & Pebley 2010 ; Turley 2003 ).

In the next few pages, I review literature on two domains of child well-being: academic achievement and child health. Due to lack of space, I do not focus on other outcomes, though they remain the focus of much of the current academic research on the consequences of child poverty across the life course, including learning and developmental delays, criminal activity, teenage childbearing, marriage, and adult health and socioeconomic outcomes ( Brooks-Gunn & Duncan 1997b ; Duncan & Brooks-Gunn 1997 ; Duncan et al. 2010 ; Duncan et al. 2012 ).

A Growing Academic Achievement Gap Between Rich and Poor

One of the most widely studied outcomes of childhood poverty is success in school. The focus on schooling is rooted in the widespread belief that children who do well in school have a better chance of escaping poverty when they are adults. Indeed, education is increasingly necessary for economic wellbeing in the US, in part due to a growing earnings gap between those who are college-educated and those who are not ( Goldin & Katz 2008 ). Success in school also strongly predicts a wide variety of other desired outcomes, such as civic participation, adult health, and life expectancy ( Attewell & Levin 2007 ; Hout 2012 ; van Kippersluis et al. 2011 ). Yet, the challenge of succeeding academically for children living in poverty is a difficult one. Poverty has large and consistent associations with academic outcomes, including achievement on standardized tests, years of completed schooling, and degree attainment ( Bailey & Dynarski 2011 ; Brooks-Gunn & Duncan 1997a ; Duncan & Magnuson 2011b ; Entwisle et al. 2005 ). Differences between poor and non-poor children are observable early on and persist across the school years: gaps in academic achievement are evident in kindergarten, and by age 14, students from the bottom income quintile are a full academic year behind their peers in the top income quintile ( Duncan & Magnuson 2011b ; Duncan & Murnane 2011 ). What’s more, income inequality in academic achievement is getting worse rather than improving over time: the achievement gap between the 90th and 10th percentiles of the income distribution among children born in 2001 is 30–40 percent larger than among children born twenty-five years earlier and is now larger than racial gaps ( Reardon 2011 ). The growing income-achievement gap is driven by a strengthening of the association between family income and children’s academic achievement for families above the median income level, which reflects increasing parental investment in children’s cognitive development among the more economically advantaged ( Reardon 2011 ). 5

Impact of Poverty on the Physical and Mental Health of Children

Poverty is also key social determinant of infant and child health, which can have lasting effects on educational attainment, earnings, and adult health ( Aber et al. 1997 ; Duncan & Brooks-Gunn 1997b ; Wagmiller et al. 2006 ). The central role of poverty in shaping child health is increasingly clear. Recently, the American Academy of Pediatrics released a policy statement and technical report that recognizes this centrality, drawing on research demonstrating a causal relation between early childhood poverty and child health ( Council on Community Pediatrics 2016 ).

For infants, poverty increases the risk of a number of birth outcomes including low birth weight, which is a general indictor of a baby’s in utero environment and development and a precursor to subsequent physical health and cognitive and emotion problems ( Bennett 1997 ; Brooks-Gunn & Duncan 1997b ; Starfield et al. 1991 ). Poverty increases the risk of infant mortality, another widely accepted indicator of the health and well-being of children ( Brooks-Gunn & Duncan 1997b ; Corman & Grossman 1985 ). With an infant mortality rate of 6.1 in 2009, the US lags far behind European countries, ranking last in a comparison of 26 OECD countries ( MacDorman et al. 2014 ). The excess infant mortality rate in the US is largely driven by post-neonatal deaths (those that occur between one month and a year after the birth) among low-income mothers ( Chen et al. forthcoming ).

For children, poverty is associated with a number of physical health insults: increased risk of injuries resulting from accidents or physical abuse/neglect; more frequent and severe chronic conditions (e.g., asthma, diabetes, and problems with hearing, vision, and speech); more frequent acute illnesses; poorer nutrition and growth; lower immunization rates or delayed immunization; and increased risk of obesity and its complications ( Aber et al. 1997 ; Starfield 1991 ; Currie & Lin 2007 ; Case et al. 2002 ).

In addition to physical health problems, the disadvantages associated with poverty and economic insecurity can trigger significant mental health problems for children, including ADHD, oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder, and mood and anxiety disorders (Costello et al. 2004; Cuellar 2015 ; Perou et al. 2013 ). Mental health problems are more common than physical health problems, and their effects can be more pervasive ( Currie & Stabile 2006 ; Currie 2009 ). Approximately one fourth of youth experience a mental disorder during the past year and about a third across their lifetimes ( Merikangas et al. 2009 ). These problems, which are the dominant cause of childhood disability, can restrict children’s social competence and opportunities to learn ( Delaney & Smith 2012 ; Halfon et al. 2012 ).

Estimates across poverty status for mental disorders combined are not available. But, according to a recent summary of mental health surveillance among children in the US between 2005–2011 by the Center for Disease Control, prevalence rates are higher for children living in poverty compared with non-poor children for ADHD, behavior or conduct disorders, and mood/anxiety disorders ( Perou et al. 2013 ). The only exception to the pattern is among children who have been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders, who are more likely to come from more economically advantaged families.

Beyond The Individual: How Neighborhood Poverty Affects Children

A rising share of US children live in high-poverty neighborhoods, defined as a neighborhood with poverty rates of 30 percent or more: more than 10 percent of US children lived in a high poverty neighborhood in 2010, up from 8.7 percent in 2000, a 25% increase ( Mather & Dupuis 2012 ). There are small but clear negative effects for children of growing up in a poor neighborhood that are beyond the effects of growing up in a poor family (see Sastry 2012 for a summary of this literature). Children growing up in high-poverty neighborhoods are at a higher risk of health problems, teen pregnancy, and dropping out of school ( Shonkoff & Phillips 2000 ; Brooks-Gunn et al. 1993 ). What’s more, the effects of neighborhoods may linger across generations. Many caregivers themselves grew up in the neighborhoods in which they are raising their children ( Sharkey 2008 ), and neighborhood environments experienced over multiple generations of a family influence children’s cognitive ability: exposure to neighborhood poverty over two consecutive generations can reduce a child’s cognitive ability by more than half a standard deviation ( Sharkey & Elwert 2011 ).

Section V: MechanismS of Influence

There are several pathways through which poverty affects children’s outcomes, which have been linked to three main theoretical frameworks: resources, culture, and family and environmental stress ( Duncan et al. 2014 ). This section reviews these frameworks, emphasizing the particular mechanisms that link poverty to child outcomes that each bring to light.

Material and Social Resources

Parents who struggle to make ends meet do not have enough income to fulfill basic material needs for their children, such as food, clothing, adequate and stable housing, and quality educational environments ( Becker 1991 ). Families who are poor also tend to be less socially connected to others, are less emotionally supported, and have more frequent negative social interactions ( Lin 2000 ; Mickelson & Kubzansky 2003 ). Inequality in access to resourceful social networks contributes to—and even reproduces—social inequality (for a review and discussion, see Lin 2000 ; DiMaggio & Garip 2012 ). In some ways, material and social resources work in tandem to disadvantage families in poverty. For example, high rates of mobility in areas of concentrated economic disadvantage erode the social fabric of neighborhoods, a process which has negative consequences for families who are able to stay put ( Jacobs 1961 ). As Desmond (2016) emphasizes in his ethnography Evicted , housing instability and evictions operate as mechanisms that degrade the social connectivity upon which resourceful neighborhoods are built. Evictions are not rare—one in eight families face involuntary moves each year nationwide—and evictions disproportionately affect low-income families with children. Many poor families that are in need of stable social environments to raise their children struggle to maintain stable housing, and are forced to move from place to place when a combination of their good will and financial supports give way to a rental market that profits from tenants’ financial instability ( Desmond 2016 ). Facing eviction, these families are not motivated to invest in their neighborhoods, emotionally or otherwise, and the ties that are formed between those crippled by the weight of their housing situations are often “disposable,” made for the short-term benefits they provide but easily discarded ( Desmond 2012 ). Disposable ties can add stress rather than reduce it, making them ill-suited to rebuff the negative consequences of poverty on child outcomes.

A Renewed Focus on the Culture of Poverty

After a considerable absence from the research agenda of social scientists, the study of culture within poverty scholarship has been reinvigorated. A culture perspective asks questions about how and why people cope with poverty and how they escape it, focusing on individuals’ beliefs, preferences, orientations, and strategies in response to poverty as well as anti-poverty policies and programs ( Small et al. 2010 ). Unlike much of what proceeded it, current culture of poverty scholarship avoids blaming the victim for their problems, rather focusing on why poor people adopt certain frames, values, and repertoires, and how people make meaning of their social status in relation to others ( Small et al. 2010 ).

Central to literature that addresses child poverty from a cultural perspective are studies of how parenting practices operate as a mechanism through which poverty affects children. For example, Lareau (2003) observes families from different class backgrounds with school-aged children in order to understand how social class differences in child-rearing strategies might contribute to stratification processes. She argues that social class position shapes parents’ cultural logics of child-rearing. Middle and upper class families practice “concerted cultivation,” wherein parents actively foster and assess their child’s talents, opinions, and skills. In contrast, working class and poor families are more likely to see the development of their children as an “accomplishment of natural growth,” allowing for unstructured free time socializing with family and community members and teaching children to be deferential and quiet. As a result of these different approaches, Lareau argues that middle-class children exhibit a sense of entitlement that puts them at a distinct advantage within schools and other institutions, while working-class children develop a sense of constraint in relation to schooling and the wider social world and are less adept at responding to school demands and practices. While Lareau’s theory is intuitively appealing, the small scope of her study leaves many questions unanswered. Nonetheless, her study is a primary example of the culture of poverty approach, which highlights parenting practices as key to understanding the mechanism through which poverty impacts children.

The Stress of Poverty

In contrast to the material, social, or cultural pathways that highlight social, cultural and economic factors and how they affect children, the stress pathway turns our focus inside the body. Living in poverty is a stressful, often chaotic experience ( Thompson 2014 ; Vernon-Feagans et al. 2012 ; Evans and Wachs 2010 ). The term “toxic stress” is often used to describe the potential impact on body systems of living in the disorganized, unstable, and unpredictable environments of impoverished families ( Garner & Shonkoff 2012 ). Toxic stress refers to strong, frequent, or prolonged activation of the body’s stress response system ( Thompson 2014 ). In contrast to positive or tolerable stress responses, which refer to more mild and adaptive changes in the body’s stress response system or stronger changes over a short period of time, a toxic stress response can undermine the organization of the brain. In some cases, toxic stress can challenge the body’s ability to respond to subsequent stressors, even those of the positive or tolerable variety ( Ladd et al. 2000 ). This lowered threshold makes some poor children less capable of coping effectively with stress as they age, influences genomic function and brain development, and increases the risk of stress-related physical and mental health problems later in life ( Blair et al. 2011 ; Danese & McEwen 2012 ).

SECTION VI: Anti-Poverty Policy and Interventions

It is clear that the consequences of growing up poor are substantial, particularly when children are exposed to conditions associated with poverty early on and for long stretches of time ( Duncan & Magnuson 2011a ). Government policies and early childhood interventions represent society’s response to the burden of child poverty. A comprehensive review of anti-poverty policies is beyond the scope of this review (see Cancian & Danziger 2009 and Haveman et al. 2015 for excellent analyses of anti-poverty efforts over the past 60 years), but the consensus is that anti-poverty policies successfully lift many people out of poverty, especially people with children ( Danziger and Wimer 2014 ; Haveman et al. 2015 ). In particular, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which is an income-based monthly benefit that can be used to purchase food at authorized stores, has become one of the most effective anti-poverty policies, particularly for households with children living in deep poverty ( Bartfeld et al. 2015 ). Yet, economic benefits of current policies constitute proportionately less of their income for poor families now than in prior decades ( Danziger & Danziger 2009 ). The public benefits that remain available to low-income families are mostly concentrated among families with earnings, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Child Tax Credit (CTC), mostly come in the form of in-kind benefits—like SNAP—rather than cash assistance ( Shaefer et al 2015 ), and often fall very short of full coverage for those in need. For example, Section 8 housing choice vouchers, which guarantee that a family will pay no more than 30 percent of its income for housing, are available only to a third of poor renting families ( Desmond 2016 ).

In addition to anti-poverty policies that supplement income or increase employment for families with children, there are also programs and interventions that help redress the negative effects of poverty on children’s life chances. Rigorous evaluations of a number of famous early childhood programs (e.g., the Perry Preschool program, The Incredible Years, and the Abecedarian project) are often cited as evidence that such programs can at least partially compensate for the disadvantages associated with growing up poor, promoting cognitive skills and non-cognitive traits such as motivation (Cuhna et al. 2006). The positive effects appear to be long-lasting, and early interventions produce larger effects than programs focused on older children. Ultimately, though expensive at the outset, the returns on early investments come in the form of a more productive workforce, a reduction in expensive treatment for mental and physical problems, reduced reliance on public assistance, and less involvement in the criminal justice system ( Heckman et al. 2010 ).

In contrast to small-scale early childhood interventions, Head Start, which is administered by the Administration for Children and Families within the Department of Health and Human Services, serves over 1 million low-income children ages birth to 5 ( Administration for Children and Families 2014 ). Head Start services generally focus on early learning, health and developmental screenings, and strengthening parent-child relationships. Though children who attend Head Start score below norms across developmental areas including language, literacy, and mathematics, at both Head Start entry and exit ( Aikens et al. 2013 ), Head Start is associated with modest improvements in children’s preschool experiences and school readiness in certain areas compared to similarly disadvantaged children who did not attend Head Start ( Puma et al. 2012 ). However, the benefits appear to wane over time.

Another large scale program designed to address the needs of low-income families with children is the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program (MIECHV) ( Michalopoulos et al. 2015 ). MEICHV began as a pilot initiative in the Bush administration and a full fledged program in 2010 as an expansion to the Affordable Care Act. Between 2010 and 2014, it provided $1.5 billion to states for home visiting. For the most part, states used the MIECHV funds to expand the use of four evidence-based home visiting models: Early Head Start – Home Based Program Option; Healthy Families America; Nurse-Family Partnership; and Parents as Teachers. Home visiting programs vary quite a bit, but generally consist of visits from social workers, parent educators, and/or registered nurses to low-income pregnant women and new parents. Participants receive health check-ups and referrals, parenting advice, and guidance with navigating other programs. The duration and frequency of the visits vary depending on the program and age of the child. Some continue until the baby is two years old, others support families until children complete kindergarten. A recent review of 19 home visiting models suggests that home visiting programs have favorable impacts on a number of child outcomes including child health, child development, and school readiness ( Avellar et al. 2015 ). Many of the programs have sustained impacts at least one year after program enrollment.

SECTION VII: A Community approach to combating child poverty

Anti-poverty policy and early childhood interventions are successful, but both typically focus on individual families and children. This focus draws away from the ecological underpinnings of the poverty experience. Multiple ecologies of children’s lives—the variety of institutions with which families interact, the relations among these institutions, and the social networks of families—contribute developmental and educational inequalities among children (e.g., Bronfenbrenner & Morris 1997 ; Coleman 1988 ; Durlauf & Young 2001 ; Gamoran 1992 ; Turley 2003 ; Vandell & Pierce 2002 ). Given evidence of the increasing spatial concentration of poverty and the impact of living in areas of concentrated economic deprivation ( Jargowsky 2013 ; Sastry 2012 ), I argue that child and/or family-centered approaches may be more effective and longer lasting if paired with approaches that directly and purposefully target the communities in which low-income families live, thus in the ecological contexts of poor children.

A community approach should involve both indirect investments through institutions such as stable and affordable housing, schools, and labor markets, and direct investments through programs explicitly designed to strengthen social connectivity among parents. Indeed, a crucial aspect of breaking the cycle of poverty must directly build resourceful social connections among the caregivers of poor children. Resourceful social connections are those that are rich in social resources, like social support (e.g., listening to problems or plans for the future), social control (e.g., maintaining consistent expectations among parents and others within the social network), advice and information (e.g., regarding program eligibility, effectiveness of teachers and other institutional agents), and commonplace reciprocal exchanges (e.g., car pooling, child care) ( Domina 2005 ; Thoits 2011 ; Small 2009 ). As many low-income families know all too well, it takes a lot of effort, energy, and human capital to take advantage of the benefits the state provides ( Edin & Lein 1997 ). Building resourceful social connections within high-poverty neighborhoods can make these tasks less daunting by spreading information about how to determine eligibility, sharing in child care responsibilities, and providing transportation to government agencies, doctors’ offices, school, and other institutions designed to help poor families. Additionally, perhaps by investing in the social resources of communities devastated by high rates of poverty, we can empower residents to fight for policy changes they identify for themselves as immediately warranted.

Sociological research is not unequivocal about the benefits of tight social networks. Similar to the depiction of “disposable ties” describe above, Portes and Landolt (1996) argue that we are remiss when failing to consider the pitfalls of close relationships in areas of concentrated disadvantage. Thus, merely connecting parents to each other may not be enough to benefit children. The quality of those connections is tantamount as well. One example of a community-based program that targets parental social resources for low-income families is Families and Schools Together (FAST). FAST is a multi-family group intervention developed using family stress theory, family systems theory, social ecological theory, and community development strategies ( McDonald and Frey 1999 ). Four randomized controlled trials of the program show that, compared to control groups, FAST participants exhibit reduced aggressive and withdrawal behaviors, increased academic competence, and more developed social skills ( Abt Associates 2001 ; Kratochwill et al. 2004 ; McDonald et al. 2006 ; Gamoran et al. 2012 ). The effect of FAST on child outcomes is mediated in part through its effect on parent social networks ( Turley et al. 2012 ). Parents who participate in FAST are more likely to know other parents in their child’s school, to report that other parents share their expectations for their children, and to participate in reciprocal exchanges with other parents ( Turley et al. 2012 ).

The FAST program and others like it take direct aim at the quantity and quality of parents’ social connections. Social resource interventions may break down insidious hurdles that may be difficult for children from low-income families to overcome than by intervening through income supplementation or skill acquisition alone. Of course, the success of these types of programs will be undercut by the high rates of residential mobility currently experienced in low-income neighborhoods. Thus, indirect investments in social resources, for example through expanding housing vouchers to enable more poor families to pay their rent and avoid eviction ( Desmond 2016 ), should be considered a requisite for a truly enriched community approach to combating child poverty.

SECTION VIII: Emerging research questions

Poverty is a persistent problem for over 20% of the children in the United States ( DeNavas-Walt & Proctor 2015 ). Child development is shaped by children’s interactions within and across social contexts ( Bronfenbrenner 2002 ). The social contexts in which children from impoverished backgrounds live can be devastatingly harmful: growing up in poverty exposes children to more stress or abuse in the home, neighborhood crime, and school violence ( Duncan and Brooks-Gunn 1997 ). Exposure to environmental conditions associated with poverty profoundly shapes their development, and the effects become more pronounced the longer the exposure to poverty ( Duncan et al., 1998 ; Foster & Furstenberg 1999 ). Empirical studies from multiple social science disciplines including sociology, psychology, economics, have consistently documented crippling disadvantages across a number of developmental domains, showing that the disadvantages associated with poverty are entrenched, wide-reaching, and constitute an immediate and pressing policy challenge.

Moving the field forward are emerging questions about who sets the anti-poverty policy and programmatic agendas (e.g., Bradshaw 2007 ; O’Connor 2001 ), what cultural and behavioral assumptions are made by specific policy and program components (e.g., Edin & Kefalas 2005 ; Steensland 2006 ), and how policies and programs interact with the ways in which poor people engage various institutions, each other, and those who profit from their disadvantaged status (e.g., Desmond 2016 ). Furthermore, as argued here, an examination of the ways that neighborhood institutions support or erode the social connectivity of low-income neighborhoods is key. Researchers should continue to centrally locate the analysis of the impact of policy and programs not only on individual children but also on the social ecological environments in which they live and learn. Investing in the communities in which poor parents and caregivers live may enhance the positive effects of anti-poverty policy and early childhood interventions. Poverty scholars should examine how institutional features shape the social networks of families in financial trouble, and how children fare under different organizational arrangements. In Unanticipated Gains , his study of day care centers in New York City, Mario Small (2005) offers a theoretical framework to think about how organizational features of institutions can promote the kinds of stable ties that benefit families with young children. Small documents the social network benefits of certain centers that, by virtue of the particular institutional conditions in place, connect families to each other and provide families, particularly single mothers with young children, relationships that support their health and well being. Rather than the “unanticipated gains” like those that were observed in Small’s study, we may find we can anticipate these gains as we invest in the social and economic opportunities for the poor.

These emerging research questions will bring us closer to an understanding what policies will work best for addressing the high rates of overall child poverty, the disproportionality of child poverty, and the most cost-effective mechanisms for buffering children from the negative effects of poverty and its associated conditions.

Acknowledgments

This work is supported by a National Institutes of Health T32 award (5T32HD049302-08) from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).

1 These estimates are from American Community Survey data, whereas official estimates come from the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement. The numbers are slightly different for overall poverty (21.7% vs 21.1%). These differences reflect the different samples included in the poverty universe: The ACS includes the civilian and military household population and excludes group quarters (e.g., nursing homes and college dormitories), whereas the CPS includes the civilian non-institutionalized population ( US Census Bureau 2014 ).

2 The logic behind defining the threshold this way reflects research in the 1950s that showed families spent a third of their annual budget on food ( Haveman et al. 2015 ).

3 The official child poverty rate reported in Short (2015) is 21.5%, which differs from the official rate of 21.1% reported by DeNavas-Walt and Proctor (2015) . This is because Short includes unrelated individuals under the age of 15 in her calculation of the official rate among families with children.

4 Though single father families and cohabiting partners have increased in recent years, the overwhelming majority of children in single-parent homes live with their mothers ( Mather 2010 ).

5 During the 1970s, middle class families on average spent about $3,700 per year on investments in their children, compared to today’s average of $9,300 per year. Poor parents have not been able to keep pace with these increases in investments, so that contemporary poor children lag further behind their affluent counterparts of fifty years prior. The current average annual spending of $1,400 on investments in children among poor families is not even twice the 1970s average of $880 per year ( Duncan and Murnane 2011 )

• Abt Associates. National Evaluation of Family Support Programs. Vol. B: Research Studies: Final Report. Cambridge, MA: Abt Associates; 2001. [ Google Scholar ]
• Aber JL, Bennett NG, Conley DC, Li J. The Effects of Poverty on Child Health and Development. Annual Review of Public Health. 1997; 18 (1):463–483. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Adamson P. Measuring Child Poverty: New League Tables Of Child Poverty In The World’s Richest Countries. Florence, Italy: UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre; 2012. [ Google Scholar ]
• Administration for Children and Families. [8 February 2016]; Head Start Program Facts: Fiscal Year 2014. 2014 Retrieved from: http://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc/data/factsheets/2014-hs-program-factsheet.html .
• Aikens N, Kopack Klein A, Tarullo L, West J. Getting Ready for Kindergarten: Children’s Progress During Head Start. Faces 2009 Report. Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S., Department of Health and Human Services; 2013. [ Google Scholar ]
• Attewell PA, Levin DE. Passing the Torch: Does Higher Education for the Disadvantaged Pay Off Across the Generations? New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation; 2007. [ Google Scholar ]
• Autor D. Skills, Education, and the Rise of Earnings Inequality Among the Other 99 Percent. Science. 2014; 344 (6186):843–351. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Avellar S, Paulsell D, Sama-Miller E, Del Grosso P, Akers L, Kleinman R. Home Visiting Evidence of Effectiveness Review: Executive Summary. Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; 2015. [ Google Scholar ]
• Bailey MJ, Dynarski SM. Inequality in Postsecondary Education. In: Duncan GJ, Murnane RJ, editors. Whither Opportunity? Rising Inequality, Schools, and Children’s Life Chances. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation; 2011. pp. 117–132. [ Google Scholar ]
• Bartfield J, Gundersen C, Smeeding TM, Ziliak JP, editors. Snap Matters: How Food Stamps Affect Health and Well-Being. Redwood City, CA: Stanford University Press; 2015. [ Google Scholar ]
• Becker G. A Treatise on the Family. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; 1991. [ Google Scholar ]
• Bennett F. The LBW, premature infant. In: Gross R, Spiker D, Haynes C, editors. Helping Low Birth Weight, Premature Babies: The Infant Health and Development Program. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press; 1997. pp. 3–6. [ Google Scholar ]
• Bjorklund A, Jantti M. Intergenerational Income Mobility and the Role of Family Background. In: Salvedra W, Nolan B, Smeeding TM, editors. The Oxford Handbook of Income Inequality. New York, NY: Oxford University Press; 2009. pp. 491–521. [ Google Scholar ]
• Blair C, Raver CC, Granger D, Mills-Koonce R, Hibel L, Family LPKI. Allostasis and Allostatic Load in the Context of Poverty in Early Childhood. Development & Psychopathology. 2011; 23 (3):845–857. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Bradshaw T. Theories of Poverty and Anti-Poverty Programs in Community Development. Community Development. 2007; 38 (1):7–25. [ Google Scholar ]
• Bronfenbrenner U. Preparing a World for the Infant in the 21st Century: The Research Challenge. In: Gomes-Pedro J, Nugent K, Young JG, Brazelton TB, editors. The Infant and the Family in the 21st Century. New York, NY: Brunner-Routledge; 2002. pp. 45–52. [ Google Scholar ]
• Bronfenbrenner U, Morris PA. The Ecology of Developmental Processes. In: Damon W, Eisenberg N, editors. Handbook of Child Psychology. New York: Wiley: John Wiley & Sons Inc; 1997. pp. 993–1028. [ Google Scholar ]
• Brooks-Gunn J, Duncan GJ. Income Effects Across the Life Span: Integration and Interpretation. In: Duncan GJ, Brooks-Gunn J, editors. Consequences of Growing Up Poor. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation; 1997a. pp. 596–610. [ Google Scholar ]
• Brooks-Gunn J, Duncan GJ. The Effects of Poverty on Children. The Future of Children. 1997b; 7 (2):55–71. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Brooks-Gunn J, Duncan GJ, Klebanov PK, Sealand N. Do Neighborhoods Influence Child and Adolescent Development. American Journal of Sociology. 1993; 99 (2):353–395. [ Google Scholar ]
• Cancian M, Danziger S. Changing Poverty and Changing Anti-Poverty Policies. FOCUS. 2009; 26 (2):2–5. [ Google Scholar ]
• Cancian M, Reed D. Family structure, childbearing, and parental employment: Implications for the level and trend in poverty. In: Cancian M, Danziger S, editors. Changing Poverty, Changing Policies. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation; 2009. pp. 92–121. [ Google Scholar ]
• Case A, Lubotsky D, Paxson C. Economic Status and Health in Childhood: The Origins of the Gradient. American Economic Review. 2002; 95 (2):1308–1334. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Chen A, Oster E, Williams H. Why is Infant Mortality Higher in the Us Than in Europe? [21 Mar 2016]; American Economic Journal: Policy. Forthcoming. Retrieved From: https://www.brown.edu/research/projects/oster/sites/brown.edu.research.projects.oster/files/uploads/Why_is_Infant_Mortality_Higher_In_US.pdf . [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ]
• Citro C, Michael R. Measuring Poverty: A New Approach. Washington, DC: National Academy Press; 1995. [ Google Scholar ]
• Coleman JS. Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital. American Journal of Sociology. 1988; 94 (S):S95–S120. [ Google Scholar ]
• Corman H, Grossman M. Determinants of Neonatal Mortality Rates in the Us: A Reduced Form Model. Journal of Health Economics. 1985; 4 (3):213–236. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Costello EJ, Compton SN, Keeler G, Angold A. Relationships Between Poverty and Psychopathology: A Natural Experiment. JAMA. 2003; 290 (15):2023–2029. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Council on Community Pediatrics. Poverty and Child Health in the United States. [9 Mar 2016]; Pediatrics. 2016 Retrieved From: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2016/03/07/peds.2016-0339 . [ PubMed ]
• Cuellar A. Preventing and Treating Child Mental Health Problems. Future of Children. 2015; 25 (1):111–134. [ Google Scholar ]
• Cunha F, Heckman JJ, Lochner L, Masterov DV. Interpreting the Evidence on Life Cycle Skill Formation. In: Hanushek EA, Welch F, editors. Handbook of the Economics of Education. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier B. V; 2006. [ Google Scholar ]
• Currie J. Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise: Socioeconomic Status, Poor Health in Childhood, and Human Capital Development. Journal of Economic Literature. 2009; 47 (1):87–122. [ Google Scholar ]
• Currie J, Lin W. Chipping Away At Health: More on the Relationship Between Income and Child Health. Health Affairs. 2007; 26 (2):331–344. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Currie J, Stabile M. Child Mental Health and Human Capital Accumulation: The Case of ADHD. Journal of Health Economics. 2006; 25 (6):1094–1118. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Curtis K. Spatial Variation in Poverty-Generating Processes: Child Poverty in the United States. Social Science Research. 2012; 41 (1):146–159. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Danese A, McEwen BS. Adverse Childhood Experiences, Allostasis, Allostatic Load, and Age-Related Disease. Physiology & Behavior. 2012; 106 (1):29–39. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Danziger S, Danziger SK. The Us Social Safety Net and Poverty. In: Bane MJ, Zenteno R, editors. Poverty and Poverty Alleviation Strategies in North America. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; 2009. pp. 233–261. [ Google Scholar ]
• Danziger S, Wimer C. The State of the Union: Poverty and Inequality Report. Stanford, CA: Stanford Center for Poverty and Inequality; 2014. Poverty; pp. 15–20. [ Google Scholar ]
• Delaney L, Smith JP. Childhood Health: Trends and Consequences Over the Life Course. The Future of Children. 2012; 22 (1):43–63. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• DeNavas-Walt C, Proctor B. Income and Poverty in the United States: 2014. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, Washington DC; 2015. [ Google Scholar ]
• Desmond M. Disposable Ties and the Urban Poor. American Journal of Sociology. 2012; 117 (5):1295–1335. [ Google Scholar ]
• Desmond M. Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City. New York, NY: Crown Publishers; 2016. [ Google Scholar ]
• DiMaggio P, Garip F. Network Effects and Social Inequality. Annual Review of Sociology. 2012; 38 (1):93–118. [ Google Scholar ]
• DiPrete T, Eirich G. Cumulative Advantage as a Mechanism for Inequality: A Review of Theoretical and Empirical Developments. Annual Review of Sociology. 2006; 32 :271–297. [ Google Scholar ]
• Domina T. Leveling the Home Advantage: Assessing the Effectiveness of Parental Involvement in Elementary School. Sociology of Education. 2005; 78 (3):233–249. [ Google Scholar ]
• Duncan GJ, Brooks-Gunn J. Consequences of Growing Up Poor. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation; 1997. [ Google Scholar ]
• Duncan GJ, Brooks Gunn J, Klebanov PK. Economic Deprivation and Early Childhood Development. Child Development. 1994; 65 (2):296–318. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Duncan GJ, Magnuson K. Pathways. 2011a. Winter. The Long Reach of Early Childhood Poverty; pp. 22–27. [ Google Scholar ]
• Duncan GJ, Magnuson K. The Nature and Impact of Early Achievement Skills, Attention Skills, and Behavioral Problems. In: Duncan GJ, Murnane RJ, editors. Whither Opportunity? Rising Inequality, Schools, and Children’s Life Chances. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation; 2011b. pp. 47–69. [ Google Scholar ]
• Duncan GJ, Magnuson K, Kalil A, Ziol-Guest K. The Importance of Early Childhood Poverty. Social Indicators Research. 2012; 108 (1):87–98. [ Google Scholar ]
• Duncan GJ, Magnuson K, Votruba-Drzal E. Boosting Family Income to Promote Child Development. Future of Children. 2014; 24 (1):99–120. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Duncan GJ, Murnane RJ. Introduction: The American Dream, Then and Now. In: Duncan GJ, Murnane RJ, editors. Whither Opportunity? Rising Inequality, Schools, and Children’s Life Chances. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation; 2011. pp. 3–23. [ Google Scholar ]
• Duncan GJ, Yeung WJ, Brooks-Gunn J, Smith JR. How Much Does Childhood Poverty Affect the Life Chances of Children? American Sociological Review. 1998; 63 (3):406–423. [ Google Scholar ]
• Duncan GJ, Ziol Guest KM, Kalil A. Early Childhood Poverty and Adult Attainment, Behavior, and Health. Child Development. 2010; 81 (1):306–325. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Durlauf S, Young HP, editors. Social Dynamics. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press; 2001. [ Google Scholar ]
• Edin K, Kefalas M. Promises I Can Keep: Why Poor Women Put Motherhood Before Marriage. Berkeley: University of California Press; 2005. [ Google Scholar ]
• Edin K, Lein L. Making Ends Meet. New York: NY: Russell Sage Foundation; 1997. [ Google Scholar ]
• Elder G. Life Course Dynamics: Trajectories and Transitions. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press; 1985. [ Google Scholar ]
• Entwisle DR, Alexander KL, Olson LS. First Grade and Educational Attainment By Age 22: A New Story. American Journal of Sociology. 2005; 110 (5):1458–1502. [ Google Scholar ]
• Evans GW, Wachs TD. Chaos and Its Influence on Children’s Development: An Ecological Perspective. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association; 2010. [ Google Scholar ]
• Foster EM, Furstenberg FF. The Most Disadvantaged Children: Trends over Time. Social Service Review. 1999; 73 (4):560–578. [ Google Scholar ]
• Fox L, Wimer C, Garfinkel I, Kaushal N, Waldfogel J. Waging War on Poverty: Poverty Trends Using a Historical Supplemental Poverty Measure. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management. 2015; 34 (3):567–592. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Gamoran A. Social Factors in Education. In: Alkin M, editor. Encyclopedia of Educational Research. New York, NY: Macmillan; 1992. pp. 1222–1229. [ Google Scholar ]
• Gamoran A, Turley RNL, Turner A, Fish R. Differences Between Hispanic and Non-Hispanic Families in Social Capital and Child Development: First-Year Findings From an Experimental Study. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility. 2012; 30 (1):97–112. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Garner AS, Shonkoff JP. Early Childhood Adversity, Toxic Stress, and the Role of the Pediatrician: Translating Developmental Science Into Lifelong Health. Pediatrics. 2012; 129 (1):e224–31. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Goldin CD, Katz LF. The Race Between Education and Technology. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press; 2008. [ Google Scholar ]
• Halfon N, Houtrow A, Larson K, Newacheck PW. The Changing Landscape of Disability in Childhood. The Future of Children. 2012; 22 (1):13–42. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Hanson D, Simms M. Children of Immigrants: 2011 State Trends Update. Washington, DC: Urban Institute; 2014. [1 December 2015]. Retrieved from: http://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/alfresco/publication-pdfs/413113-Children-of-Immigrants--State-Trends-Update.pdf . [ Google Scholar ]
• Harding DJ. Counterfactual Models of Neighborhood Effects: The Effect of Neighborhood Poverty on Dropping Out and Teenage Pregnancy. American Journal of Sociology. 2003; 109 (3):676–719. [ Google Scholar ]
• Haveman R, Blank R, Moffitt R, Smeeding T, Wallace G. The War on Poverty: Measurement, Trends, and Policy. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management. 2015; 34 (3):593–638. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Haveman R, Smeeding T. The Role of Higher Education in Social Mobility. The Future of Children. 2006; 16 (2):125–150. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Heckman JJ, Moon SH, Pinto R, Savelyev PA, Yavitz A. The Rate of Return to the High/Scope Perry Preschool Program. Journal of Public Economics. 2010; 94 (1):114–128. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Hertz T, Jayasundera T, Piraino P, Selcuk S, Smith N, Verashchagina A. The Inheritance of Educational Inequality: International Comparisons and Fifty-Year Trends. BE Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy. 2008; 7 (2):1–47. [ Google Scholar ]
• Hertzman C. The Biological Embedding of Early Experience and its Effects on Health in Adulthood. In: Adler NE, Marmot M, McEwen BS, Stewart J, editors. Socioeconomic Status and Health in Industrial Nations. New York, NY: New York Academy of Sciences; 1999. pp. 85–95. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Hout M. Social and Economic Returns to College Education in the United States. Annual Review of Sociology. 2012; 38 :379–400. [ Google Scholar ]
• Institute of Medicine. How Far Have We Come In Reducing Health Disparities?: Progress Since 2000: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press; 2012. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Jacobs J. The Death and Life of Great American Cities. New York, NY: Random House; 1961. [ Google Scholar ]
• Jargowsky P. Concentration of Poverty in the New Millennium: Changes in the Prevalence, Composition, and Location of High Poverty Neighborhoods. New York: NY: The Century Foundation; 2013. [ Google Scholar ]
• Jiang Y, Ekono M, Skinner C. Basic Facts About Low-Income Children: Children Under 18 Years, 2013. New York, NY: National Center for Children in Poverty; 2015. [ Google Scholar ]
• Kids Count. [19 October 2015]; Children in Poverty by Race and Ethnicity. 2015 Retrieved from: http://datacenter.kidscount.org/data/tables/44-children-in-poverty-by-race-and-ethnicity#detailed/1/any/false/869,36,868,867,133/10,11,9,12,1,185,13/324,323 .
• Kratochwill TR, McDonald L, Levin JR, Young BT. Families and Schools Together: An Experimental Analysis of a Parent-Mediated Multi-Family Group Program for American Indian Children. Journal of School Psychology. 2004; 42 (5):359–383. [ Google Scholar ]
• Kuh D, Shlomo B. A Life Course Approach to Chronic Disease Epidemiology. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2004. [ Google Scholar ]
• Ladd CO, Hout RL, Thivikrama KV, Neneroff CB, Meaney MJ, Plotsky PM. Long-Term Behavioral and Neuroendocrine Adaptation to Adverse Early Experience. In: Mayer EA, Saper CB, editors. Progress in Brain Research: The Biological Basis for Mind Body Interactions. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Elsevier Science; 2000. pp. 81–102. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Lareau A. Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press; 2003. [ Google Scholar ]
• Lee CM, Solon G. Trends in Intergenerational Income Mobility. Review of Economics and Statistics. 2009; 91 (4):766–772. [ Google Scholar ]
• Lin N. Inequality in Social Capital. Contemporary Sociology. 2000; 29 (6):785–795. [ Google Scholar ]
• MacDorman M, Mathews TJ, Mohangoo AD, Zeitlin J. International Comparisons of Infant Mortality and Related Factors: United States and Europe, 2010. National Vital Statistics Reports. 2014; 65 (5):1–6. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Mather M. US Children in Single-mother Families. Washington, DC: Population Reference Bureau; 2010. [1 December 2015]. Retrieved from: http://www.prb.org/pdf10/single-motherfamilies.pdf . [ Google Scholar ]
• Mather M, Dupuis G. Rising Share of U.S. Children Living in High-Poverty Neighborhoods. Washington, DC: Population Reference Bureau; 2012. [5 June 2014]. Retrieved from: http://www.prb.org/Publications/Articles/2012/us-high-poverty-neighborhoods.aspx . [ Google Scholar ]
• McDonald L, Frey HE. Families and Schools Together: Building Relationships. Washington, DC: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; 1999. [ Google Scholar ]
• McDonald L, Moberg DP, Brown RB, Rodriguez-Espiricueta I, Flores NI, Burke MP, Coover G. After School Multifamily Groups: A Randomized Controlled Trial Involving Low-Income, Urban, Latino Children. Children & Schools. 2006; 28 (1):25–34. [ Google Scholar ]
• McKernan S, Ratcliffe CE. The effect of specific welfare policies on poverty. Washington, DC: The Urban Institute; 2006. [21 Mar 2016]. Retrieved from: http://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/alfresco/publication-pdfs/411334-The-Effect-of-Specific-Welfare-Policies-on-Poverty.PDF . [ Google Scholar ]
• McLeod JD, Shanahan MJ. Trajectories of Poverty and Children’s Mental Health. Journal of Health and Social Behavior. 1996; 37 (3):207–220. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Merikangas KR, Nakamura EF, Kessler RC. Epidemiology of Mental Disorders in Children and Adolescents. Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience. 2009; 11 (1):7–20. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Mickelson KD, Kubzansky LD. Social Distribution of Social Support: The Mediating Role of Life Events. American Journal of Community Psychology. 2003; 32 (3–4):265–281. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Michalopoulos C, Lee H, Duggan A, Lundquist E, Tso A, Crowne SS, Burrell L, Somers J, Filene JH, Knox V. A Mother and Infant Home Visiting Program Evaluation: Early Findings on the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program. A Report to Congress. Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; 2015. [ Google Scholar ]
• O’Connor A. Poverty Knowledge: Social Science, Social Policy, And The Poor In Twentieth Century U.S. History. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press; 2001. [ Google Scholar ]
• O’Hare WP. The Forgotten Fifth: Child Poverty in Rural America. Manchester, NH: Carsey Institute; 2009. [ Google Scholar ]
• O’Hare W, Mather M. Child poverty is Highest in Rural Counties in US. Washington, DC: Population Reference Bureau; 2008. [1 December 2015]. Retrieved from: http://www.prb.org/Publications/Articles/2008/childpoverty.aspx . [ Google Scholar ]
• Perou R, Bitsko RH, Blumberg SJ, Pastor P, Ghandour RM, Gfroerer JC, Hedden SL, Crosby AE, Visser SN, Schieve LA. Mental Health Surveillance Among Children—United States, 2005–2011. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 2013; 62 (Suppl 2):1–35. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Piketty T, Saez E. Inequality in the Long Run. Science. 2014; 344 (6186):838–843. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Portes A, Landolt P. The Downside of Social Capital. The American Prospect. 1996; 26 (94):18–21. [ Google Scholar ]
• Puma M, Bell S, Cook R, Heid C, Broene FJ, Mashburn A, Downer J. Third Grade Follow-Up to the Head Start Impact Study: Final Report. Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, US Department of Health and Human Services; 2012. [ Google Scholar ]
• Raphael S, Smolensky E. Immigration and Poverty in the United States. FOCUS. 2009; 26 (2):27–31. [ Google Scholar ]
• Ratcliffe C, McKernan S. Childhood poverty persistence: Facts and consequences. Washington, DC: Urban Institute; 2010. [21 Mar 2016]. Retrieved from: http://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/alfresco/publication-pdfs/412126-Childhood-Poverty-Persistence-Facts-and-Consequences.PDF . [ Google Scholar ]
• Reardon S. The Widening Academic Achievement Gap Between the Rich and the Poor: New Evidence and Possible Explanations. In: Duncan GJ, Murnane RJ, editors. Whither Opportunity? Rising Inequality, Schools, and Children’s Life Chances. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation; 2011. pp. 91–115. [ Google Scholar ]
• Sastry N. Neighborhood Effects on Children’s Achievement: A Review of Recent Research. In: Maholmes V, King R, editors. The Oxford Handbook of Poverty and Child Development. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press; 2012. pp. 423–447. [ Google Scholar ]
• Sastry N, Pebley AR. Family and Neighborhood Sources of Socioeconomic Inequality in Children’s Achievement. Demography. 2010; 47 (3):777–800. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Shaefer HL, Edin K, Talbert E. Understanding the Dynamics of $2-a-day Poverty in the United States. RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences. 2015; 1 (1):120–138. [ Google Scholar ]
• Sharkey P. The Intergenerational Transmission of Context. American Journal of Sociology. 2008; 113 (4):931–969. [ Google Scholar ]
• Sharkey P, Elwert F. The Legacy of Disadvantage: Multigenerational Neighborhood Effects on Cognitive Ability. American Journal of Sociology. 2011; 116 (6):1934–1981. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Shonkoff JP, Phillips DA, editors. From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development. Washington, D.C: National Academy Press; 2000. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Short K. The Research Supplemental Poverty Measure: 2014. Washington, DC: US Census Bureau; 2015. [ Google Scholar ]
• Small ML. Unanticipated Gains: Origins of Network Inequality in Everyday Life. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2009. [ Google Scholar ]
• Small ML, Harding DJ, Lamont M. Reconsidering Culture and Poverty. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 2010; 629 (1):6–27. [ Google Scholar ]
• Soss J, Schram SF, Vartanian TP, O’Brien E. Setting the Terms of Relief: Explaining State Policy Choices in the Devolution Revolution. American Journal of Political Science. 2001; 45 (2):378–395. [ Google Scholar ]
• Starfield B. Childhood Morbidity: Comparisons, Clusters, and Trends. Pediatrics. 1991; 88 (3):519–526. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Steensland B. Cultural Categories And The American Welfare State: The Case Of Guaranteed Income Policy. American Journal of Sociology. 2006; 111 (5):1273–1326. [ Google Scholar ]
• Stokes C, Melendez T, Rhodes-Reed G, editors. Race in 21st Century America. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press; 2001. [ Google Scholar ]
• The Anne E Casey Foundation. Measuring Access to Opportunity. Baltimore, MD: Anne E. Casey Foundation; 2015. [21 Mar 2016]. Retrieved from: http://www.aecf.org/m/resourcedoc/aecf-MeasuringAccesstoOpportunityKC2-2015.pdf . [ Google Scholar ]
• Thoits PA. Perceived Social Support and the Voluntary, Mixed, or Pressured Use of Mental Health Services. Society and Mental Health. 2011; 1 (1):4–19. [ Google Scholar ]
• Thompson RA. Stress and Child Development. The Future of Children. 2014; 24 (1):41–59. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Turley RNL. When Do Neighborhoods Matter? The Role of Race and Neighborhood Peers. Social Science Research. 2003; 32 (1):61–79. [ Google Scholar ]
• Turley RNL, Gamoran A, Turner A, Fish RM. Causal Effects of Social Capital on Child Outcomes. Presentation. Research Committee on Social Stratification (RC28) of the International Sociological Association; Hong Kong. May 2012.2012. [ Google Scholar ]
• US Census Bureau. [7 Nov 2015]; Fact Sheet: Differences Between CPS ASEC and ACS. 2014 Retrieved from: http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/about/datasources/factsheet.html .
• US Census Bureau. [15 Jan 2016]; State and County Quick Facts. 2015 Retrieved from: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html .
• Van Kippersluis H, O’Donnell O, van Doorslaer E. Long-Run Returns to Education. Journal of Human Resources. 2011; 46 (4):695–721. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Vandell DL, Pierce KM. After-School Programs and Structured Activities That Support Children’s Development. In: Garner R, editor. Hanging Out: Community-Based After-School Programs for Children. Westport, CT: Greenwood; 2002. pp. 167–178. [ Google Scholar ]
• Vernon-Feagans L, Garrett-Peters P, DeMarco A, Bratsch M. Children Living in Rural Poverty: The Role of Chaos in Early Development. In: Maholmes V, King R, editors. The Oxford Handbook of Poverty and Child Development. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press; 2012. pp. 448–446. [ Google Scholar ]
• Voss PR, Long DD, Hammer RB, Friedman S. County Child Poverty Rates in the Us: A Spatial Regression Approach. Population Research and Policy Review. 2006; 25 (4):369–391. [ Google Scholar ]
• Wagmiller RL, Lennon MC, Kuang L, Alberti PM, Aber JL. The Dynamics of Economic Disadvantage and Children’s Life Chances. American Sociological Review. 2006; 71 (5):847–866. [ Google Scholar ]
• Wight VR, Thampi K, Chau M. Poor Children by Nativity. New York, NY: National Center for Children in Poverty; 2014. [7 Nov 2015]. Retrieved from: http://www.nccp.org/publications/pub_1006.html . [ Google Scholar ]
• Wilson WJ. When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor. New York, NY: Knopf; 1996. [ Google Scholar ]

• Understanding Poverty

Poverty Reduction a Win-Win

Climate change adaptation and poverty reduction go hand in hand, a new World Bank book argues. So why not kill two birds with one stone?

Publication

Inequality in the Labor Market

The World Development Report of 2013 measures, perhaps for the first time, inequality of opportunity to labor market outcomes in a discrete setting. It focuses on Europe and Central Asia.

You have clicked on a link to a page that is not part of the beta version of the new worldbank.org. Before you leave, we’d love to get your feedback on your experience while you were here. Will you take two minutes to complete a brief survey that will help us to improve our website?

Feedback Survey

Thank you for agreeing to provide feedback on the new version of worldbank.org; your response will help us to improve our website.

Thank you for participating in this survey! Your feedback is very helpful to us as we work to improve the site functionality on worldbank.org.

• Global Warming Paper Topics Topics: 184
• Climate Essay Topics Topics: 260
• Climate Change Essay Topics Topics: 317
• Suicide Topics Topics: 203
• Success Research Topics Topics: 206
• Stress Research Topics Topics: 268
• Slavery Research Topics Topics: 203
• Safety Topics Topics: 390
• Racism Topics Topics: 229
• Psychology Research Topics Topics: 624
• Marriage Research Topics Topics: 262
• Gender Paper Topics Topics: 569
• Energy Research Topics Topics: 249
• Disease Essay Topics Topics: 567
• Cognitive Development Paper Topics Topics: 128

205 Poverty Essay Topics & Examples

Poverty is one of the most pressing global issues affecting millions of individuals. We want to share some intriguing poverty essay topics and research questions for you to choose the titles of your paper correctly. With the help of this collection, you can explore the intricate dimensions of poverty, its causes, consequences, and potential solutions. Have a look at our poverty topics to get a deeper understanding of poverty and its implications.

💸 TOP 7 Poverty Essay Topics

🏆 best poverty essay examples, 👍 catchy poverty research topics, 🧐 thought-provoking poverty topics, 🎓 interesting poverty essay topics, ❓ research questions about poverty.

• Poverty as a Social Problem
• Poverty: Causes and Solutions to Problem
• “What Is Poverty” by Dalrymple
• The Eliminating Poverty Strategies
• The Orthodox and Alternative Poverty Explanations Comparison
• Poverty Effects on Mental Health
• Empowerment and Poverty Reduction
• Poverty Effects on an Individual People work hard to meet their needs. However, this does not necessary mean escape from poverty. Poverty can cause extensive damage on one’s life.
• Global Poverty and Nursing Intervention It is evident that poor health and poverty are closely linked. Community nurses who are conversant with the dynamics of the health of the poor can run successful health promotion initiatives.
• Relationship Between Poverty and Crime The paper makes the case and discusses inequality rather than poverty being the prime reason for people committing crimes.
• Poverty and Theories of Its Causes Poverty in schools is a significant barrier to education that needs to be overcome to improve teaching and learning.
• Degrading Consequences of Poverty in “The Pearl” by John Steinbeck Poverty is identity in John Steinbeck’s The Pearl, and the main character Kino, a poor fisherman, manifests a transformation in his identity,
• The Poverty as an Ethical Issue Looking at poverty as an ethical issue, we have to consider the fact that there are people who control resource distribution, which then leads to wealth or poverty in a community.
• Urbanization and Poverty in “Slumdog Millionaire” Film Boyle’s movie, “Slumdog Millionaire,” is one of many successful attempts to depict the conditions in which people who are below the poverty level live.
• Poverty from Christian Perspective Christians perceive poverty differently than people without faith, noting the necessity for integrated support to help those in need.
• Effects of Divorce and Poverty in Families In the event of a divorce children are tremendously affected and in most cases attention is not given to them the way it should.
• Vicious Circle of Poverty In this essay, the author describes the problem of poverty, its causes and ways of optimizing the economy and increasing production efficiency.
• Poverty in Ghana: Reasons and Solution Strategy The analysis provided in the paper revealed some internal and external factors that deter better economic and human development in Ghana.
• The Ideal Society: Social Stratification and Poverty The paper argues social classes exist because of the variations in socioeconomic capacities in the world; however, an ideal society can eliminate them.
• Poverty: The Negative Effects on Children Poor children often do not have access to quality healthcare, so they are sicker and more likely to miss school. Poor children are less likely to have weather-appropriate clothes.
• Child’s Development and Education: Negative Effects of Poverty Some adverse effects of poverty on a child’s development and education are poor performance academically, stagnant physical development, and behavioral issues.
• The Analysis of Henry George’s “Crime of Poverty” Reviewing Henry George’s Crime of Poverty, which was written in 1885, in its historical context can shed light on socio-political developments within the country.
• Poverty and Its Negative Impact on Society Poverty affects many people globally, experiencing poor living conditions, limited access to education, unemployment, poor infrastructure, malnutrition, and child labor.
• Christ’s Relationships with Wealth and Poverty This paper attempts to examine Christ’s relationships with wealth, money and poverty and provide an analysis of these relationships.
• Poverty from Functionalist and Rational Choice Perspectives Poverty is a persistent social phenomenon, which can be examined from both the functionalist and rational choice perspectives.
• Poverty in “Serving in Florida” and “Dumpster Diving” “Serving in Florida” by Barbara Ehrenreich describes the harsh reality of living in poverty while concentrating on the pragmatic dimension of the issue
• Diana George’s Changing the Face of Poverty Book Diana George’s book, Changing the Face of Poverty, begins with a summary of several Thanksgiving commercials and catalogs.
• Should People Be Ashamed of Poverty? People on welfare should not feel ashamed because the definition of poverty does not necessarily place them in the category of the poor.
• The Problem of Poverty in Art of Different Periods Artists have always been at the forefront of addressing social issues, by depicting them in their works and attempting to draw the attention of the public to sensitive topics.
• Poverty in “On Dumpster Diving” by Lars Eighner Essay “On Dumpster Diving” by Lars Eighner evokes compassion and prompts individuals to think about social problems existing nowadays.
• Bullying in Poverty and Child Development Context The aim of the present paper is to investigate how Bullying, as a factor associated with poverty, affects child development.
• How Access to Clean Water Influences the Problem of Poverty Since people in some developing countries have insufficient water supply even now, they suffer from starvation, lack of hygiene, and water-associated diseases.
• Homelessness and Poverty in Developed and Developing Countries All states across the globe need to undertake all possible efforts to reduce the rates of poverty and homelessness.
• How Poverty Affects Early Education? A number of people live in poor conditions. According to the researchers of the Department of Education in the United States, poverty influences academic performance in an adverse way.
• Poverty: Resilience and Intersectionality Theories This paper assesses the impact of poverty on adult life, looking at risk and protective factors and the impact of power and oppression on the experience of poverty.
• How Does Poverty Affect Crime Rates? On the basis of this research question, the study could be organized and conducted to prove the following hypothesis – when poverty increases, crime rates increase as well.
• Chronic Poverty and Disability in the UK The country exhibits absolute poverty and many other social issues associated with under-developed states. The issue is resolvable through policy changes.
• Christian Perspective on Poverty Several Christian interpretations have different ideas about poverty and wealth. This paper aims to discuss the Christian perspective on poverty.
• Correlation Between Poverty and Juvenile Delinquency Crime significantly impacts the standard of life across the world, a case study of the United States reveals that crime has grown into a very expensive venture.
• Poverty in Young and Middle Adulthood According to functionalism, poverty is a dysfunctional aspect of interrelated components, which is the result of improper structuring.
• Trade Effect on Environmentalism and Poverty This is a research paper about the effect of trade on the environment and the way in which trade has contributed to the improvement of living standards.
• Effects of Poverty on Education in the USA Colleges It is clear that poverty affects not only the living standards and lifestyle of people but also the college education in the United States of America.
• Poverty in Puerto Rico and Eradication Measures Studying Puerto Rican poverty as a social problem is essential because it helps identify the causes, effects, and eradication measures in Puerto Rico and other nations.
• Poverty and Homelessness Among African Americans Even though the U.S. is wealthy and prosperous by global measures, poverty has persisted in the area, with Blacks accounting for a larger share.
• Rutger Bregman’s Statement of Poverty The paper states that Bregman’s approach to poverty and the proposal of guaranteed regular income is more suitable for developing countries.
• “Promises and Poverty”: Starbucks Conceals Poverty and Deterioration of the Environment “Promises and Poverty” talks about Starbucks’ working practices that promise good coffee with a better quality of life but conceal poverty and deterioration of the environment.
• Poverty and Social Causation Hypothesis There are two identified approaches to poverty on cultural and individual levels as formulated by Turner and Lehning
• Global Issues of World Poverty: Reasons and Solutions The term ‘world poverty’ refers to poverty around the world and is not only limited to developing and under-developed nations.
• Poverty and Mental Health Correlation The analysis of the articles provides a comprehensive understanding of the poverty and mental health correlation scale and its current state.
• American Dream and Poverty in the United States The concept of the American dream and its component has changed over the years and remains different for different people.
• The Link Between Poverty and Criminal Behavior Both deviance and crime represent a deviation from societal norms but become separated only by the degree of nonconformity to acceptable behavior.
• Attitudes to Poverty: Singer’s Arguments Singer argues against the observation by the rich than helping one poor person can repeat over and over again until the rich eventually becomes poor.
• Are MNCs Responsible for Poverty and Violence in Developing Nations? MNCs play a big role in the development of economies in developing countries, and they are responsible for much of the poverty and violence in some developing countries.
• How Poverty Impacts on Life Chances, Experiences and Opportunities for Young People The paper specifically dwells on the social exclusion, class, and labeling theories to place youth poverty in its social context.
• The Government of Bangladesh: Corruption and Poverty This paper describes how constitutional, economic, educational, and legal reforms can eradicate absolute poverty and corruption in a developing country such as Bangladesh.
• Drug’s, Poverty’s and Beauty’s Effects on Health Some serious health outcomes emanate from frequent consumption of drugs, poverty, and a stringent adherence to the global trends of beauty.
• Response to How Poverty Ends by Bannerjee and Duflo The political backlash results in the emergence of populist politicians who promote remedies they claim would work like miracles.
• Problem of Poverty in the United States The problem of poverty remains complex, multifaceted, contradictory, and intractable. The U.S. ranks first among industrialized nations.
• Poverty as a Social Phenomenon This paper discusses the subject of poverty, its relationship to other social concepts such as knowledge, and the differences between different social classes.
• What Does Poverty Mean? The paper states that poverty is not a problem for a person but for the whole nation. Poverty eradication is vital for the growth of the country.
• The Issue of the Poverty in the USA The most sustainable technique for poverty elimination in the United States is ensuring equitable resource distribution, education, and healthcare access.
• Poverty and How This Problem Can Be Solved Poverty is one of the global social problems of our time, existing even in the countries of the first world despite the generally high standard of living of people.
• Poverty: An Interplay of Social and Economic Psychology The paper demonstrates an interplay of social and economic psychology to scrutinize the poverty that has given rise to a paycheck-to-paycheck nation.
• Refugees: Poverty, Hunger, Climate Change, and Violence Individuals struggling with poverty, hunger, climate change, and gender-based violence and persecution may consider fleeing to the United States.
• The Extent of Poverty in the United States The paper states that the issue of poverty in the USA is induced by a butterfly effect, starting with widespread discrimination and lack of support.
• The Issue of Poverty in Savannah, Georgia The paper addresses a serious issue that still affects Savannah, Georgia, and it is poverty. This problem influences both individuals and society.
• Human Trafficking and Poverty Issues in Modern Society The problem of human trafficking affects people all over the world, which defines the need for a comprehensive approach to this issue from the criminology perspective.
• The City of Atlanta, Georgia: Poverty and Homelessness This project goal is to address several issues in the community of the City of Atlanta. Georgia. The primary concern is the high rate of poverty and homelessness in the city.
• Human Trafficking and Poverty Discussion This paper synthesize information on human trafficking and poverty by providing an annotated bibliography of relevant sources.
• Economic Inequality and Its Relationship to Poverty This research paper will discuss the problem of economic inequality and show how this concept relates to poverty.
• Discussion of Poverty and Social Trends The advances and consequent demands on society grounded on social class and trends profoundly influence poverty levels.
• Life of Humanity: Inequality, Poverty, and Tolerance The paper concerns the times in which humanity, and especially the American people, live, not forgetting about inequality, poverty, and tolerance.
• Poverty, Its Social Context, and Solutions Understanding past and present poverty statistics is essential for developing effective policies to reduce the rate of poverty at the national level.
• Evaluating the “Expertness” of the Southern Law Poverty Center The Southern Law Poverty Center has garnered controversy for its list of so-called “hate groups” and how it spends its half-billion-dollar budget.
• Poverty in the US: “Down and Out in Paris and London” by Orwell The essay compares the era of George Orwell to the United States today based on the book “Down and Out in Paris and London” in terms of poverty.
• Is It Possible to Reduce Poverty in the United States? Reducing poverty in the United States is possible if such areas as education, employment, and health care are properly examined and improved for the public’s good.
• Poverty Among Seniors Age 65 and Above The social problem is the high poverty rate among older people aged 65 and above. Currently, there are millions of elderly who are living below the poverty line.
• Poverty in 1930s Europe and in the 21st Century US The true face of poverty may be found in rural portions of the United States’ South and Southwest regions, where living standards have plummeted, and industries have yet to begin.
• Poverty and Homelessness in Jackson, Mississippi This paper will review the statistics and information about poverty and homelessness in Jackson, MS. The community of Black Americans is suffering from poverty and homelessness.
• Social Issue of Poverty in America The paper states that poverty is not an individual’s fault but rather a direct result of social, economic, and political circumstances.
• Poverty, Housing, and Community Benefits The community will benefit from affordable housing and business places, creating job opportunities for the residents and mentoring and apprenticeship.
• Racial Discrimination and Poverty Racial discrimination and poverty have resulted in health disparities and low living standards among African Americans in the United States.
• The Uniqueness of the Extent of the Poverty Rate in America The United States ranked near the top regarding poverty and inequality, and compared to other developed countries, income and wealth disparity in the United States is high.
• Globalization and Poverty: Trade Openness and Poverty Reduction in Nigeria Globalization can be defined as the process of interdependence on the global culture, economy, and population. It is brought about by cross-border trade.
• Inequality and Poverty in the United States One of the most common myths is that the United States (US) is a meritocracy, where anyone can succeed if they maintain industriousness.
• Poverty, Politics, and Profit as US Policy Issue Poverty remains one of the most intractable problems to deal with, both in the international community and in the United States.
• Poverty and Problematic Housing in California The question is what are the most vulnerable aspects of the administrative system that lead to an aggravation of the situation of homelessness.
• Race, Poverty, and Incarceration in the United States The American justice system, in its current form, promotes disproportionally high incarceration rates among blacks and, to a lesser degree, Latinos from poor urban neighborhoods.
• Poverty and Inequality: Income and Wealth Inequality The Stanford Center of Poverty and Inequality does an in-depth job of finding causes and capturing statistics on poverty and inequality.
• Global Poverty and Factors of Influence This paper introduces a complex perspective on the issue of global poverty, namely, incorporating economic, social, cultural, and environmental factors into the analysis.
• Poverty Causes and Solutions in Latin America This paper aims to understand the importance of the interference of Europe in Latin American affairs and its referring to the general principles of poverty.
• Gary Haugen’s Speech on Violence and Poverty In his speech, Gary Haugen discusses the causes of poverty and concludes that violence is a hidden problem that should be addressed and eliminated.
• The Child Poverty Problem in Alabama Alabama has a very high rate of child poverty, where a quarter or 24% of all children can be categorized as poor.
• Lessons Learned From the Poverty Simulation The main lesson learned from the poverty simulation is that poverty is far more serious than depicted in the media, which carelessly documents the numbers of poor people.
• Poverty Among Blacks in America Poverty is a major social problem in the US and disproportionately affects the Black ethnicity leading to adverse effects on their quality of life.
• Hard Questions About Living in Poverty or Slavery The paper aims to find the answers to several questions, for example, how to remain human while living in the conditions of extreme poverty or slavery.
• Solving the Problem of Poverty in Mendocino County Poverty is among the major areas of needed improvement in Mendocino County, the adult and children are affected by the inability to cover basic expenses.
• Wealth and Poverty Sources in America This paper explains the causes and consequences of poverty in the United States, programs and systems to combat it, and government benefits to support families in distress.
• Global Poverty and Economic Globalization Relations Globalization is a necessary change in our history, as it has endowed us with abundant and fruitful life and various facilities and possibilities.
• Global Poverty and Education Economic theories like liberalization, deregulation, and privatization were developed to address global poverty.
• Poverty Prevalence and Causes in the United States This essay will discuss the problem of poverty in the United States, its primary causes, the reasons for its prevalence, and how society can alleviate it.
• Policy Development to Overcome Child Poverty in the U.S. The minors below the age of five are especially vulnerable and experience significantly higher rates of poverty than older children do.
• Global Poverty: Tendencies, Causes and Impacts This paper aims to examine poverty globally, including definitions, related facts and tendencies, its causes and impacts, associated issues, and potential solutions.
• The Impact of Poverty on Children and Minority Groups The problem of poverty, not only among children but also among adults, has plagued this planet for a long time.
• Habitat for the Homeless: Poverty The paper states that Habitat for the Homeless comes to fulfill American values by ensuring that Americans can afford houses at a low price.
• Poverty: Behavioral, Structural, Political Factors The research paper will primarily argue that poverty is a problem caused by a combination of behavioral, structural, and political systems.
• The Problem of Poverty Among Children
• Poverty and Poor Health: Access to Healthcare Services
• African American Families in Poverty
• Poverty, Faith, and Justice: ”Liberating God of Life” by Elizabeth Johnson
• Effects of Poverty on Health Care in the US and Afghanistan
• Wealth, Poverty, and Systems of Economic Class
• Teenage Pregnancy After Exposure to Poverty: Causation and Communication
• Poverty and Covid-19 in Developing Countries
• Poverty in America: Socio-Economic Inequality
• Love and Poverty in My Papa’s Waltz by Theodore Roethke
• Poverty and Its Effects Upon Special Populations
• Carl Hart’s Talk on Racism, Poverty, and Drugs
• Global Poverty and Education Correlation
• Changing the Face of Poverty
• The Cost of Saving: The Problem of Poverty
• Sociological Issues About Social Class and Poverty, Race and Ethnicity, Gender
• Speech on Mother Teresa: Poverty and Interiority in Mother Teresa
• Poverty: Causes and Reduction Measures
• Global Poverty and Human Development
• Federal Poverty, Welfare, and Unemployment Policies
• Aid Agency Discussing Different Solutions to Poverty in Urban Areas
• Poverty Elimination in Perspective
• Marriage and Divorce: Poverty Among Divorced Women
• The U.S. Education: Effect of Poverty
• Is Debt Cancellation the Answer to World Poverty?
• Reduction of Poverty in the Rural Areas Through ICT
• Poverty Relation With Immigrants
• Gay and Poverty Marriage
• “Combating Poverty in Latin America” by Robyn Eversole
• “Globalization, Poverty and Inequality” by Kaplinsky
• Poverty in America: Issue Analysis
• Poverty and Homelessness in Canada
• Economic Development in LDCs and Eradication Absolute Poverty

🌶️ Hot Poverty Ideas to Write about

• Economic Development in LDCs and Sufficient Conditions to Eradicate Absolute Poverty
• Social Policy and Welfare – Poverty and Deprivation
• Poverty in New York City and Media Representation
• Global Poverty, Inequality, and Mass Migration
• India’s Policies to Tackle Poverty and Inequality
• Poverty and Inequality Reducing Policies in China
• Donald Trump’s Policies of Poverty and Human Rights
• The Concept of Poverty
• Poverty and Homelessness: Dimensions and Constructions
• Henry George’s “Progress and Poverty” Book
• World Poverty as a Global Social Problem
• Poverty from a Sociological Standpoint
• Poverty: “$2.00 a Day” Book by Edin and Schaefer
• Poverty Among the USA Citizens and Reduction Efforts
• Standards of the Ethical Code: Children and Poverty
• Household Energy Use and Poverty
• Can Marriage End Poverty?
• Grameen Banking System Alleviating Poverty
• Brazil’ Poverty and Inequality
• Child Poverty Assessment in Canada
• National Conversation about Poverty
• Poverty and Welfare Policies in the United States
• Utilitarianism: Poverty Reduction Through Charity
• Poverty in “The Bottom Billion” by Paul Collier
• Modern Slavery, Human Trafficking and Poverty
• Poverty and Violence During the Mexican Revolution
• Affordable Housing Programs in “Poverty in America”
• Poverty in the “LaLee’s Kin” Documentary
• School System: Poverty and Education
• Poverty in “I Beat the Odds” by Oher and Yaegar
• Inequality in Australia: Poverty Rates and Globalism
• The Issue of World Poverty and Ways to Alleviate the Poverty in the World
• Immigrant Children and Poverty
• Can Authorization Reduce Poverty Among Undocumented Immigrants?
• Can Higher Employment Levels Bring Lower Poverty in the EU?
• Are Private Transfers Poverty and Inequality Reducing?
• Can Group-Based Credit Uphold Smallholder Farmers Productivity and Reduce Poverty in Africa?
• Can Anti-Poverty Programs Improve Family Functioning and Enhance Children’s Well-Being?
• Can Laziness Explain Poverty in America?
• Are Social Exclusion and Poverty Measures Interrelated?
• Can Increasing Smallholder Farm Size Broadly Reduce Rural Poverty in Zambia?
• Can Crop Purchase Programs Reduce Poverty and Improve Welfare in Rural Communities?
• Does Aid Availability Affect Effectiveness in Reducing Poverty?
• Can Employer Credit Checks Create Poverty Traps?
• Are the Poverty Effects of Trade Policies Invisible?
• Can Foreign Aid Reduce Poverty?
• Are Education Systems Modern as Well as Practical Enough to Eliminate Unemployment, and Thus Poverty?
• Can High-Inequality Developing Countries Escape Absolute Poverty?
• Are Inequality and Trade Liberalization Influences on Growth and Poverty?
• Can Globalisation Realistically Solve World Poverty?
• Are Urban Poverty and Undernutrition Growing?
• Can Big Push Interventions Take Small-Scale Farmers Out of Poverty?
• Can Civilian Disability Pensions Overcome the Poverty Issue?
• Are Poverty Rates Underestimated in China?
• Does Agriculture Help Poverty and Inequality Reduction?
• Can Agricultural Households Farm Their Way Out of Poverty?
• Are Income Poverty and Perceptions of Financial Difficulties Dynamically Interrelated?
• Are Bangladesh’s Recent Gains in Poverty Reduction Different From the Past?
• Can Cash Transfers Help Households Escape an Intergenerational Poverty Trap?
• Are Remittances Helping Lower Poverty and Inequality Levels in Latin America?
• Can Foreign Aid Reduce Income Inequality and Poverty?
• Can Child-Care Subsidies Reduce Poverty?
• Can Income Inequality Reduction Be Used as an Instrument for Poverty Reduction?

Cite this post

• Chicago (N-B)
• Chicago (A-D)

StudyCorgi. (2021, September 9). 205 Poverty Essay Topics & Examples. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/poverty-essay-topics/

"205 Poverty Essay Topics & Examples." StudyCorgi , 9 Sept. 2021, studycorgi.com/ideas/poverty-essay-topics/.

StudyCorgi . (2021) '205 Poverty Essay Topics & Examples'. 9 September.

1. StudyCorgi . "205 Poverty Essay Topics & Examples." September 9, 2021. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/poverty-essay-topics/.

Bibliography

StudyCorgi . "205 Poverty Essay Topics & Examples." September 9, 2021. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/poverty-essay-topics/.

StudyCorgi . 2021. "205 Poverty Essay Topics & Examples." September 9, 2021. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/poverty-essay-topics/.

These essay examples and topics on Poverty were carefully selected by the StudyCorgi editorial team. They meet our highest standards in terms of grammar, punctuation, style, and fact accuracy. Please ensure you properly reference the materials if you’re using them to write your assignment.

This essay topic collection was updated on June 24, 2024 .

9 Questions You Have Asked About Poverty

Dec 13, 2016

Poverty across the USA is a systematic problem that touches all walks of life, including people in your own community. Consider your thoughts each time you see a homeless person. Have you ever wondered if they are on drugs or why don’t they just get a job?

Poverty is most commonly defined as lacking financial resources. The Federal Poverty Guidelines  is how most public assistance is determined. For a family of four, earning less than $24,000 per year, they are considered 100% below the poverty line. The problem with this definition is that is doesn’t account for things such as lack of reliable transportation, mental and physical health, social capital, and emotional stress.

Here are nine important questions you may have asked about poverty and some insights to get you thinking.

Question #1: Why Does Poverty Still Exist? Unfortunately, the cycle of poverty is nearly impossible to climb out of, especially for those born into it. There are several factors that contribute to why poverty still exists. The economy, cost of living, education, wages, health insurance, housing, transportation, and mental health all play a role. One of the biggest barriers for self sufficiency is what’s known as The Cliff Effect. This is where they lose their assistance faster than they can make up the difference. Check out this great video.

Question #2: Isn’t Poverty a Choice? Living in poverty is often not a choice for many people. The majority of those in poverty are working very hard to get out, especially here in Utah County. Some are born into it (intergenerational poverty) and end up sacrifice schooling and other opportunities to just help their family survive. Others fall into it after an unexpected medical emergency or other unforeseen circumstance (situational poverty). They work hard at often stressful, low paying jobs that barely pay the rent. People with disabilities, single parents, international students, veterans and even maybe your next door neighbor all have their own insurmountable barriers whether visible or not. That’s why everything we do at Community Action is centered around providing the education, resources and support to achieve self-reliance.

Question #3: Is Poverty an Issue In Utah County? Yes, the fact is 14% of Utah County lives in Poverty. This means that there are over 70,000 of our own neighbors and friends struggling to make ends meet, including 22,000 children. We see the faces of young families, single moms, and seniors enter our doors every day. This not only impacts them, but our community as a whole. It impacts our schools, jobs, housing market, healthcare and future generations.

Question #4: Aren’t Most Homeless People Drug Addicts? Granted, the high toll drugs take on people’s lives can often lead to chronic homelessness, not everyone who is homeless has problems with drug abuse. Homelessness in Utah County looks very different that you might imagine. Most of Utah residents struggling with homelessness are what are referred to a vicariously housed. This means they are not necessarily living on the street but 14 days away from being evicted or are doubled up in a home somewhere. They might be facing eviction, living with a friend for a limited amount of time, paying for a motel until they can find affordable housing. While chronic homelessness is an issue in Utah County, precariously housed is the bigger issue. We recommend checking out this study for further understanding.

Question #5: Doesn’t The LDS Church Take Care of Everything? The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints does their part to help people in need and they do a really good job. Despite their incredible efforts, there are people who have needs not met by the LDS Church Welfare system. They recognize this and partner with many organization that have similar missions. The LDS Church also refers people to local organization like Community Action Services and Food Bank. It’s a personal decision when it comes to how and when you give. Do your research about the causes you care about and see if you have something to offer.

Question #6: Aren’t People On Welfare Just Lazy? No, in fact they are often some of the hardest working. They are master problem solvers, creative, and can survive in circumstance that many of us could barely function. They are often forced to make difficult decisions such as having heat in the winter or paying rent. It might surprise you to know that an estimated 73 percent of welfare recipients are actually working families that are struggling to make ends.

Question #7: Why Aren’t My Tax Dollars Doing More? The fact of the matter is that it’s complicated. The federal tax that people pay is supposed to fund public services. According to the Center On Budget and Policy Priorities, it’s split between public programs like Social Security, Medicare, defense of our country, international assistance, and other safety net programs that provide assistance to families. It may seem like an endless amount of money, but it’s spread thin between many places. A way that you can take change of the situation is to donate directly to organizations that you feel make a difference.

Question #8: What Does Generational Poverty Mean? Generational poverty is defined as a family living in poverty for two or more generations. The state report on inter-generational poverty shows that nearly 290,000 kids are at risk of a life on welfare if nothing is done. Lieutenant Governor Spencer Cox weighs in on how important this issue is in this article. The sad fact is that for many families getting out of poverty is a full time job. Hopefully with more assistance programs aimed at improving the education of our youth, with more opportunities to go to college, eventually this type of poverty will be eliminated. That’s the goal to end generational poverty. Utah specifically has a five and ten year plan to get rid of inter-generational poverty which you can read in their 20 page plan for a stronger future.

Question #9: How Can I Help? This is probably the absolute best question you can ask! The best thing you can do is do your research and act. Educate yourself on the needs in your own community and find an organization that matches your passion. Go to city council meetings, be informed about the regulations in question, talk to your neighbors, schools, and find out the issues on the minds of those with low-income. At Community Action Services and Food Bank we are always looking for passionate people willing to give through time, in-kind donations or monetary donations. You can visit the site to find out how you can do more to help those in great need.

Featured Topics

Featured series.

A series of random questions answered by Harvard experts.

Explore the Gazette

Read the latest.

How to help urban young people progress? Nurture hope.

‘I hope they take their time in their recovery’

Worried about violence, threats as election nears? Just say no.

Robert Sampson, Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences, is one of the researchers studying the link between poverty and social mobility.

Rose Lincoln/Harvard file photo

Unpacking the power of poverty

Peter Reuell

Harvard Staff Writer

Study picks out key indicators like lead exposure, violence, and incarceration that impact children’s later success

Social scientists have long understood that a child’s environment — in particular growing up in poverty — can have long-lasting effects on their success later in life. What’s less well understood is exactly how.

A new Harvard study is beginning to pry open that black box.

Conducted by Robert Sampson, the Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences, and Robert Manduca, a doctoral student in sociology and social policy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the study points to a handful of key indicators, including exposure to high levels of lead, violence, and incarceration as key predictors of children’s later success. The study is described in an April paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“What this paper is trying to do, in a sense, is move beyond the traditional neighborhood indicators people use, like poverty,” Sampson said. “For decades, people have shown poverty to be important … but it doesn’t necessarily tell us what the mechanisms are, and how growing up in poor neighborhoods affects children’s outcomes.”

To explore potential pathways, Manduca and Sampson turned to the income tax records of parents and approximately 230,000 children who lived in Chicago in the 1980s and 1990s, compiled by Harvard’s Opportunity Atlas project. They integrated these records with survey data collected by the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods, measures of violence and incarceration, census indicators, and blood-lead levels for the city’s neighborhoods in the 1990s.

They found that the greater the extent to which poor black male children were exposed to harsh environments, the higher their chances of being incarcerated in adulthood and the lower their adult incomes, measured in their 30s. A similar income pattern also emerged for whites.

Among both black and white girls, the data showed that increased exposure to harsh environments predicted higher rates of teen pregnancy.

Despite the similarity of results along racial lines, Chicago’s segregation means that far more black children were exposed to harsh environments — in terms of toxicity, violence, and incarceration — harmful to their mental and physical health.

“The least-exposed majority-black neighborhoods still had levels of harshness and toxicity greater than the most-exposed majority-white neighborhoods, which plausibly accounts for a substantial portion of the racial disparities in outcomes,” Manduca said.

“It’s really about trying to understand some of the earlier findings, the lived experience of growing up in a poor and racially segregated environment, and how that gets into the minds and bodies of children.” Robert Sampson

“What this paper shows … is the independent predictive power of harsh environments on top of standard variables,” Sampson said. “It’s really about trying to understand some of the earlier findings, the lived experience of growing up in a poor and racially segregated environment, and how that gets into the minds and bodies of children.”

More like this

Cities’ wealth gap is growing, too

Racial and economic disparities intertwined, study finds

The study isn’t solely focused on the mechanisms of how poverty impacts children; it also challenges traditional notions of what remedies might be available.

“This has [various] policy implications,” Sampson said. “Because when you talk about the effects of poverty, that leads to a particular kind of thinking, which has to do with blocked opportunities and the lack of resources in a neighborhood.

“That doesn’t mean resources are unimportant,” he continued, “but what this study suggests is that environmental policy and criminal justice reform can be thought of as social mobility policy. I think that’s provocative, because that’s different than saying it’s just about poverty itself and childhood education and human capital investment, which has traditionally been the conversation.”

The study did suggest that some factors — like community cohesion, social ties, and friendship networks — could act as bulwarks against harsh environments. Many researchers, including Sampson himself, have shown that community cohesion and local organizations can help reduce violence. But Sampson said their ability to do so is limited.

“One of the positive ways to interpret this is that violence is falling in society,” he said. “Research has shown that community organizations are responsible for a good chunk of the drop. But when it comes to what’s affecting the kids themselves, it’s the homicide that happens on the corner, it’s the lead in their environment, it’s the incarceration of their parents that’s having the more proximate, direct influence.”

Going forward, Sampson said he hopes the study will spur similar research in other cities and expand to include other environmental contamination, including so-called brownfield sites.

Ultimately, Sampson said he hopes the study can reveal the myriad ways in which poverty shapes not only the resources that are available for children, but the very world in which they find themselves growing up.

“Poverty is sort of a catchall term,” he said. “The idea here is to peel things back and ask, What does it mean to grow up in a poor white neighborhood? What does it mean to grow up in a poor black neighborhood? What do kids actually experience?

“What it means for a black child on the south side of Chicago is much higher rates of exposure to violence and lead and incarceration, and this has intergenerational consequences,” he continued. “This is particularly important because it provides a way to think about potentially intervening in the intergenerational reproduction of inequality. We don’t typically think about criminal justice reform or environmental policy as social mobility policy. But maybe we should.”

This research was supported with funding from the Project on Race, Class & Cumulative Adversity at Harvard University, the Ford Foundation, and the Hutchins Family Foundation.

Share this article

You might like.

Youth development specialist promotes holistic approach to healing, growth of individuals, communities amid poverty, drugs, trauma

Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian, held for 544 by Iran, offers advice to three Americans just released by Russia

Key is for leaders, voters to stand in solidarity against it, political scientists say 

Garber to serve as president through 2026-27 academic year

Search for successor will launch in 2026

Finding right mix on campus speech policies

Legal, political scholars discuss balancing personal safety, constitutional rights, academic freedom amid roiling protests, cultural shifts

Good genes are nice, but joy is better

Harvard study, almost 80 years old, has proved that embracing community helps us live longer, and be happier

Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World

Read our research on:

Full Topic List

Regions & Countries

Publications

• Our Methods
• Short Reads
• Tools & Resources

Read Our Research On:

Key facts about Asian Americans living in poverty

Burmese (19%) and Hmong Americans (17%) were among the Asian origin groups with the highest poverty rates in 2022.

1 in 10: Redefining the Asian American Dream (Short Film)

Of the 24 million Asians living in the United States, about 2.3 million live in poverty. This short film explores their diverse stories and experiences.

The Hardships and Dreams of Asian Americans Living in Poverty

About one-in-ten Asian Americans live in poverty. Pew Research Center conducted 18 focus groups in 12 languages to explore their stories and experiences.

Wealth Surged in the Pandemic, but Debt Endures for Poorer Black and Hispanic Families

About one-in-four Black households and one-in-seven Hispanic households had no wealth or were in debt in 2021, compared with about one-in-ten U.S. households overall.

What the data says about food stamps in the U.S.

The food stamp program is one of the larger federal social welfare initiatives, and in its current form has been around for nearly six decades.

Financial Issues Top the List of Reasons U.S. Adults Live in Multigenerational Homes

Nearly four-in-ten men ages 25 to 29 now live with older relatives.

Most Black Americans say they can meet basic needs financially, but many still experience economic insecurity

Fewer than half of Black adults say they have a three-month emergency fund, and some have taken multiple jobs to make ends meet.

One-in-Ten Black People Living in the U.S. Are Immigrants

Immigrants – particularly those from African nations – are a growing share of the U.S. Black population.

Most Americans support a $15 federal minimum wage

About six-in-ten Americans (62%) say they favor raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, including 40% who strongly back the idea.

In the pandemic, India’s middle class shrinks and poverty spreads while China sees smaller changes

The course of the pandemic in India and China will have a substantial effect on changes in the distribution of income at the global level.

REFINE YOUR SELECTION

• D’Vera Cohn (7)
• Drew DeSilver (7)
• Daniel Dockterman (6)
• Eileen Patten (5)
• Rakesh Kochhar (5)
• Richard Fry (5)
• Seth Motel (4)
• Anna Brown (3)
• Felisa Gonzales (3)
• Gabriel Velasco (3)
• Jens Manuel Krogstad (3)
• Mark Hugo Lopez (3)
• Neil G. Ruiz (3)
• Ziyao Tian (3)
• Adam Nekola (2)
• Antonio Flores (2)
• Gustavo López (2)
• Juliana Menasce Horowitz (2)
• Jynnah Radford (2)
• Shannon Greenwood (2)
• Shirin Hakimzadeh (2)
• Amina Dunn (1)
• B. Lindsey Lowell (1)
• Christine Tamir (1)
• Deja Thomas (1)
• Jodie T. Allen (1)
• Katie Simmons (1)
• Khadijah Edwards (1)
• Kiley Hurst (1)
• Kim Arias (1)
• Kim Parker (1)
• Kristen Bialik (1)
• Mohamad Moslimani (1)
• Monica Anderson (1)
• Paul Taylor (1)
• Pew Research Center Staff (1)
• Rachel Minkin (1)
• Renee Stepler (1)
• Rich Morin (1)
• Roberto Suro (1)
• Tom Rosentiel (1)

Research Teams

• Race and Ethnicity (34)
• Social Trends (19)
• Politics (7)
• Global Migration and Demography (6)
• Religion (5)
• Data Labs (2)
• Internet and Technology (2)
• Journalism (2)
• Methods (2)
• Pew Research Center (2)
• Science (2)

901 E St. NW, Suite 300 Washington, DC 20004 USA (+1) 202-419-4300 | Main (+1) 202-857-8562 | Fax (+1) 202-419-4372 |  Media Inquiries

Research Topics

• Email Newsletters

ABOUT PEW RESEARCH CENTER  Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of  The Pew Charitable Trusts .

© 2024 Pew Research Center

Poverty Environment Network

• Go to CIFOR-ICRAF.org
• CIFOR-ICRAF’s website cifor-icraf.org features
• About CIFOR
• Research staff
• Research associates
• Procurement
• Annual reports
• Financial Statements
• Work with us

About CIFOR-ICRAF

• ABOUT CIFOR-ICRAF
• Common Board of Trustees
• Our Strategy
• Merger FAQs

Column-3 Ourwork

• ANONYMOUS REPORTING HOTLINE
• RESEARCH TEAMS
• Climate change, energy and low-carbon development
• Equal opportunities, gender, justice and tenure
• Sustainable landscapes and livelihoods
• Value chains, finance and investment
• PROJECT WEBSITES
• GLOBAL LANDSCAPES FORUM
• FORESTS, TREES AND AGROFORESTRY (FTA)
• OTHER CGIAR RESEARCH PROGRAMS
• Latin America and the Caribbean
• Publications
• Forests News
• Presentations
• Projects database
• Upcoming events
• Past events

Featured events

• Landscape News
• Social media
• Corporate news
• Press releases
• Media coverage
• News update
• Media inquiries

Latest news

• Global Landscapes Forum
• GCS: Global Comparative Study on REDD+
• The Sustainable Wetlands Adaptation and Mitigation Program (SWAMP)
• Community-Based Fire Prevention and Peatland Restoration
• Governing Multifunctional Landscapes
• Yangambi Engagement Landscape
• Water towers
• View all project
• CIFOR – ICRAF merger FAQ
• Board of Trustees
• Management group
• Contact our experts
• About our research
• West and Central Africa

• Justification

Key Research Questions

The overall research question for PEN is: What is the current role of forests in poverty alleviation, and how can that role be enhanced through better policy formulation and implementation? This question needs to be made more specific to become researchable. PEN will do this by looking at several dimensions of the forest-poverty link:

• the role in rural livelihoods (regular consumption, insurance, or poverty reduction):
• the role for different groups (degrees of poverty, but also other indicators, e.g. age, household headship, migrants);
• the role in different forest environments (forest abundance, condition, type, management etc.);
• the role in different institutional contexts (e.g., tenure regime and local management);
• the role in different market contexts (market access integration, competitiveness in forest products markets, etc.).

By carefully investigating how these dimensions determine the forest-poverty relationship, PEN can answer several more specific research questions, for example:

• What is the relationship between forest use/dependency and household income/assets in different forest environments (similarities and differences)?
• What are the common characteristics of high forest income across the different environments? Are the poor universally more forests dependent than the better-off households?
• Has local forest ownership and management increased the local forest benefits (and for which groups)?
• How does forest dependency shift (e.g., from products to services) with economic development and market integration?
• Is forest dependency just a temporary phenomenon that disappears when other opportunities arise?
• How do forest products markets shape the people-forest relationship (investments, management, degradation)?
• Is there something special (market and policy failures) about forests that prevent utilizing the full potential in poverty alleviation, and if so what is that?

Funding Partners

Stay connected

Diam habitant integer ultricies nonummy ducimus voluptatum parturient nec molestiae distinctio nascetur montes vitae! Torquent, cubilia.

What Is Poverty? Good Question.

• January 2007
• This person is not on ResearchGate, or hasn't claimed this research yet.

Discover the world's research

• 25+ million members
• 160+ million publication pages
• 2.3+ billion citations

No full-text available

To read the full-text of this research, you can request a copy directly from the author.

• Kenia Hatsue
• Silva Parsons

• Adrian Gauci

• Ahmed M. Ragab
• Khaled M. Fahmy

• Nanak Kakwani
• Recruit researchers
• Join for free
• Login Email Tip: Most researchers use their institutional email address as their ResearchGate login Password Forgot password? Keep me logged in Log in or Continue with Google Welcome back! Please log in. Email · Hint Tip: Most researchers use their institutional email address as their ResearchGate login Password Forgot password? Keep me logged in Log in or Continue with Google No account? Sign up

Money blog: Blue Light discount anger as teachers added; pound falls for four straight weeks

Welcome to the Money blog, your place for personal finance and consumer news/tips. Today's posts include four weeks of falls for the pound and this week's Money Problem - you can submit yours (remember to leave contact details or we can't look into it) below.

Monday 12 August 2024 14:48, UK

• Pound falls for four straight weeks - here's what it means
• Blue Light discount for teachers prompts backlash - but poll suggests public support move
• Unusually cheap package holidays on offer - but travel writer dismisses Russia theory
• Compensation for poor water service to double
• Revolution Bar's restructuring plan approved by court

Essential reads

• Money Problem : 'I cancelled swimming lessons and they are keeping my money - do I have any rights?'
• Is this the end of the British pub?
• The rise of 'doom spending' - what it is and how to stop
• Where kids can eat for free or cheap
• Best of the Money blog - an archive of features

Ask a question or make a comment

A revamped Waitrose store in north London will reopen soon with fancy new features - including a parmesan bay - as the upmarket grocer unveils its new store concept.

The John Barnes store on Finchley Road has undergone a major six-week refurbishment and is set to reopen on 21 August.

According to Retail Gazette , the store will have a number of new features including a new look and feel bakery, an in-branch baguette station and even a "dedicated parmesan bay".

The supermarket chain said it would also be the first to have a hot wok counter serving ready-to-go meals.

The John Barnes site is being used as a tester for its new concepts, it added.

On Friday we reported on teachers being given access to the Blue Light discount scheme - which appeared to elicit a backlash on social media...

We had scores of reader comments - all but one onside with the backlash (see below).

This morning, we asked our followers on LinkedIn for their view. The poll is still active , but the results so far suggest a level of support for teachers...

The discrepancy between the way people are voting on LinkedIn and the comments here in the Money blog could be interpreted in several ways. Sky News could be followed by different demographics on the two platforms, or perhaps it is that those who feel most angry at something are far more likely to leave a comment.

Whatever the explanation, here's a selection of comments that sum up the general feeling in our inbox...

If you change it to key workers then you would have to open it to shop workers, waste disposal workers, plumbers and electricians. Dave

Blue light is in the name. Shift workers who work long unsociable hours in a responsive role. Pure greed by the administrators of the scheme. Shawhome

How long have teachers been an emergency service? I don't remember them being on the front line during COVID. I haven't seen them during the riots. Swiftrider

Teaching is NOT an emergency service. I'm a carer to a child and get paid peanuts, no Blue Light card for me. Joseph Morgan

As a gas emergency engineer who is safeguarding life and property who has an hour from the reported time to get to the gas escape... we get there quicker than the ambulance service and occasionally police but we can't get a Blue Light card. Just wondering why? Senseirick

Teachers do a good job, but to actually class them as blue light is shameful. When was the last time a teacher went home and wept after loosing a patient or had to stand in a line behind a shield getting bricked by a mob? Or being shot at in a foreign land? Ianstu

Farmers feed the nation, when will they be entitled to a Blue Light Card? Greatauntbleach

An emergency service is available 24 hours a day. 365 days per year. Teachers are not. They are valuable in society, absolutely, but they are not an emergency service with a blue light. Joanna Clark

Wow. 30 years as a prison officer, working very unsociable hours, getting abused, assaulted. Nowhere near the amount of time off that teachers get. Police, NHS, armed services deserve this, not teachers. Noslop17

We did have one correspondent backing teachers - and of course our inbox is still open if you want to share your view...

Good to see teachers getting the Blue Light card as an essential service for children's future - and also what about teaching assistants, lunch supervision and school club staff. If schools shut, the whole country is affected, especially parents not working, during strikes or bad weather. Southwest lady

Blue Light hits back

Blue Light Card hit back on Friday, saying: "Teachers are not just educators; they are mentors, guides and inspirations that are helping shape the future for our children. They are fully deserving members of our blue light community."

What kind of offers can a Blue Light card get you?

There's too many to list but among the offers is 12% off at Fenty Beauty and 15% off at Bose.

Users can also get a £30 gift card if they spend more than £1,000 at British Airways or a £110 voucher if they sell their car via Carwow.

Or if getting fit is more your thing, you can get 50% off an annual subscription to the Body Coach.  

The pound last week completed its fourth consecutive weekly fall against the US dollar – something that will have worried British tourists heading to the US this summer.

Since hitting a high for the year of $1.3044 on 17 July, sterling slipped to a low of $1.2662 last Thursday, but has since rallied to as much as $1.2782 this morning.

Against the euro, the pound has traded similarly. It hit a peak of €1.1927 on 17 July but then fell to as low as €1.1584 last Thursday before rallying to as much as €1.1703 today.

The reason for these reverses is pretty straightforward.

Since the Bank of England cut interest rates on 1 August, for the first time since 2020, the markets have started to price in the prospect of at least one further interest rate cut between now and the end of the year. That obviously has implications for the pound.

It is important to put this recent weakness into context.

Until last month, sterling had been one of the best performing currencies globally so far this year, hitting its highest level for a year last month. That reflected the strength of the UK economy which, during the first half of this year, had been the best performing economy in the G7.

So the recent weakness, such as it is, is really not that remarkable – and analysts still think, all other things being equal, that the "bull case" for sterling remains intact.

By Sarah Taaffe-Maguire , business reporter

It looks set to be a quieter week on the markets compared with last week which started with a global market sell-off prompted by fears of the US economy being in recession and worries of tech company performance. 

But there'll be plenty of new information for investors to chew over as latest inflation, economic growth and employment data is released over the coming four days. 

As stock market values rebounded, so too did the benchmark oil price. A barrel of Brent crude now costs $80.09, greater than at any point last week, spelling more expensive fuel refilling for motorists. 

The pound has come off the highs against the dollar seen earlier in the summer. One pound now buys $1.2768. Similarly it is weaker against the euro with £1 equal to €1.1689.

Both of the UK's major stock market indexes started the week up. The Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) 100 index of most valuable companies on the London Stock Exchange rose 0.57%, while the larger and more UK-based FTSE 250 index was up 0.34%. 

Compensation for customers experiencing poor service from their water providers is to more than double under new government proposals.

The plans will see compensation paid in more circumstances - including automatic payments for people who are told to boil their water in certain areas or when firms miss scheduled appointments.

Earlier this year, residents in the Devon town of Brixham were told to boil their water for eight weeks after the local supply was hit by a parasite outbreak. 

People affected by an incorrect notice telling them their supply will be interrupted could also see their payout rise from £20 to £50, while those being reimbursed for internal flooding from sewers could see a maximum payment of £2,000 rather than the current £1,000.

It's hoped the proposals - which are now subject to an eight-week consultation - will "turn the tide on the destruction of our waterways", Environment Secretary Steve Reed said.

Every Monday the Money team answers your Money Problems or consumer disputes. Find out how to submit yours at the bottom of this post. Today's question is...

I had a frustrating issue with my kids' swimming lessons. We had to pay in advance, but when your child says they don't want to go any more, that's it, they don't go. I asked the club if we can get a refund for the remaining month that they won't attend but the club just say, 'Your child is eligible to come for the next four weeks.' Doesn’t seem quite fair.  Richard Wallace, West Sussex 

Hi Richard, we can understand why this doesn't seem fair. You are trying to cancel with what sounds like a reasonable amount of notice and yet you're getting nowhere.

This is a common occurrence and many readers will have been in a similar situation.

The law says that you can cancel a service you've booked online or by phone (or by mail order) within a 14-day cooling-off period.

This might be a cleaner or electrician or surveyor.

This cooling-off period also applies if a business approached you away from their premises if the service costs £42 or more.

The bad news in your case, though, is that the above does not apply to accommodation, delivery services, vehicle hire or - and this is the relevant one here - leisure or catering activities for specific dates.

In these cases, you'd be relying on their being a generous cancellation policy - so you should check their T&Cs.

It might not be a dead end, though.

You should try to negotiate with them - it's generally accepted this can be done when a cancellation charge seems unfair or when a business is withholding more money than needed to cover their losses.

Ask them if they're part of a trade association, which you could request help from in negotiating.

Beyond this, they might be a member of an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) scheme. Again, it's worth asking. If not, you could choose a Trading Standards-approved ADR scheme yourself to approach.

We suspect the sums involved here are not big enough for you to consider going to court - but if this was an avenue you wanted to explore here or in future, keep records of all the above steps. 

As a last resort you can take your case to the Small Claims Court in England and Wales - or use the respective legal routes in  Scotland and Northern Ireland .

Further help

The Citizens Advice consumer helpline is a great resource - it's 0808 223 1133. You can also use  an online form . 

If you're in Northern Ireland, contact  Consumerline .

This feature is not intended as financial advice - the aim is to give an overview of the things you should think about. Submit your dilemma or consumer dispute via:

• The form above - you need to leave a phone number or email address so we can contact you for further details;
• Email [email protected] with the subject line "Money blog";
• WhatsApp us here.

Unusually cheap package holiday deals have been popping up for August.

The Money team found deals for between £300 and £400, including a week-long trip to Rhodes from Edinburgh for £365 and a holiday to Corfu from the East Midlands for £325. 

The Independent's travel journalist Simon Calder has been looking into what's behind bargain prices - and the veracity of a rumour that a lack of international travel from Russia due to the war in Ukraine means hotels are having to cut prices to attract tourists.

In a nutshell, it's not true.

Calder says that, yes, places that are popular with Russians, such as Cyprus, Venice, Monaco, Nice and Turkey, are missing some of those guests.

"Yet I am also seeing good value in places such as Benidorm and Lanzarote, which were not visited by significant numbers of tourists from Russia and Ukraine before the conflict began," he writes in this article .

So what is the reason?

"Nothing is so perishable as a plane seat that departs empty and a hotel room that remains unoccupied," says Calder. "Holiday companies, with commitments of aircraft and accommodation, can cut prices for late sales to whatever is needed to fill the booking void.

"Since the end of the pandemic, holiday prices have soared.

"Tempted by big profit margins, companies have piled on capacity. But growing unwillingness by the travelling public to pay outlandish prices, combined with pressure on household budgets, means buyers need to be lured by cheaper deals." 

Troubled bar firm Revolution is to close some of its sites after gaining High Court approval for its restructuring plan. 

The firm argued the plan was needed to save the business from collapsing into insolvent administration. 

The court was told that Revolution Bars Limited, part of a group owning the Revolucion de Cuba and Peach Pubs brands, was "heavily loss-making" and "deeply unprofitable". 

Lawyers said it was forecast to "run out of cash" this month, and was reliant on funding from the group to survive. 

Like other hospitality businesses, the Revolution group was "adversely affected by the COVID pandemic and suffered significant losses as a result," Tom Smith KC, representing the company, said.

The approved restructuring scheme will amend Revolution Bars Limited's obligations under a fully drawn £30m "revolving credit facility" with NatWest bank and extend the time to pay its tax debt, its legal team told the judge.

It will also feature the "right-sizing" of a portfolio of leases "in order to create a sustainable business".

Around 15 bars will close, while Revolution will restructure its debt and see a rent reduction across some of its other locations.

Following completion of the Plan, the business will operate 27 Revolution Bars, 15 Revolucion de Cuba Bars, 22 Peach Pubs and one Founders & Co. site.

The Money blog is back for another week of consumer news, personal finance tips and the latest on some big updates in the economy.

This is how the week is shaping up...

Monday: This week's Money Problem  is about whether you're entitled to your money back if you cancel an activity you'd booked.

Tuesday : We'll have jobs data first thing in the morning - remember, the Bank of England keeps a close eye on this when it decides what to do with the base rate. We're also continuing a new series to investigate whether some of your favourite sweets and treats from the past will ever return - we've called it Bring It Back and it'll run every Tuesday until we, or you, run out of ideas. We'll also have our regular Tuesday Basically...  feature.

Wednesday : Inflation data for July is released at 7am. This will give a measure of where we're at with the cost of living crisis and, again, the figures influence what could happen with interest rates. And we are back in London for this week's  Cheap Eats , in which top chefs reveal their favourite spots to get a meal for two for less than £40.

Thursday : Quarterly GDP figures will provide a picture of how the UK economy is doing. Here in Money, Savings Champion  founder Anna Bowes will be back with her weekly insight into the savings market.

Friday : We'll have everything you need to know about the mortgage market this week with industry experts - plus the best available rates with Moneyfactscompare.co.uk .

Bookmark  news.sky.com/money  and check back from 7am each weekday - and look out our weekend reads every Saturday.

The Money team is Bhvishya Patel, Jess Sharp, Katie Williams, Brad Young, Ollie Cooper and Mark Wyatt, with sub-editing by Isobel Souster. The blog is edited by Jimmy Rice.

By Brad Young , Money reporter

Mourning his mother's death and celebrating her life at the Old Neighbourhood Inn was the obvious choice for Martin Leach, 72, from Chalford Hill, near Stroud. 

The wood-beamed pub opposite his home had been woven into the fabric of the village for 150 years, so it made sense for 90 friends and family members to gather there in 2015 to say their final goodbyes to Nellie "Lilian" Leach. 

But seven years later, the village would say goodbye to the Old Neighbourhood too; its only pub shuttering its doors in a scene playing out hundreds of times over across the UK – and at an accelerating pace. 

"Entirely pissed off," said Mr Leach, when asked how he felt about the closure of the pub, which had once played host to local bands, mobile bakeries, artisan vendors and an affectionate black Labrador. 

"The pub was all that was left to represent that [village] community, and that's gone. And I think it's important to have that sense of community otherwise we just turn into a bunch of hamsters in cages."

Some 239 pubs closed in England and Wales during the first three months of the year, according to government figures – 56% more than in the same period in 2023. 

"There's a sense of death by a thousand cuts or 'what fresh hell is this?'" said Dr Thomas Thurnell-Read, a sociology expert at Loughborough University who has extensively researched pub closures. 

"Everything cumulatively is building up and that's why, sadly, there isn't a magic bullet for the problems in the sector."

Gen Z's changing habits 

Young people are more health and fitness conscious and more time-poor than their parents were, said Dr Thurnell-Read. 

The financial burden of university is rising, meaning students are taking part-time jobs and reducing the social time when drinking habits could form, he said. 

Freshers' week, once a party-filled gateway to three years of drinking, has become a box to tick and leave behind. 

"A generation of young people are finding other ways to socialise without automatically reaching for alcohol."

COVID played some part in this trend, said Dr Thurnell-Read. His students who started their degrees during social restrictions don't routinely go for big nights out or spontaneous, post-lecture pints. 

Between 2011 and 2022, the proportion of non-drinkers increased from 16% to 19%, according to Drinkaware's analysis of NHS data.

It's a trend driven by 16-24-year-olds (26%) and resisted by adults aged between 55 and 64 (14%).

Less cash, more alternatives 

"The younger generation don't drink as much. That's definitely a noticeable thing, but I don't think anyone really does any more. I don't really see the culture of when people used to go out and drink – like properly drink," said Simon Goodman, 44, owner of the Duke of Cumberland Arms, Henley.

The publican, who has been in the industry for 18 years, said that trade between the start of the year and the start of summer was "the quietest I have ever seen it". 

"People just weren't around. It's very bizarre after being in the business like this for so long."

The public have little money left over after paying their bills and more places to spend it, said Tom Stainer, chief executive of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA). 

This was a trend that began in 2003, when the Licensing Act gave new types of venues the right to sell alcohol, not just pubs and clubs. 

Now the cost of living crisis looms large. One in five people who would usually go weekly to pubs and restaurants said they were doing so less often in a survey by consultancy firm CGA in April.

At the same time, skyrocketing rents and mortgages have led to a squeeze on leisure time, with people spending longer commuting in order to afford homes in cheaper locations, added Dr Thurnell-Read. 

"The big shift I think has been home entertainment. One of the other effects of COVID was it showed everyone how easy it was to get just about everything delivered to your front door," Mr Stainer said. 

This is a setback profoundly familiar to the manager of the Queen Inn, Great Corby, in Carlisle, which closed on 30 June.

Punters thinned out because they had a "vast amount of options at their fingertips" at home and supermarket alcohol was significantly cheaper, said Katie Wilkinson.

"It's a big shame," Ms Wilkinson said: "It means the village won't have a pub anymore and a lot of people rely on coming in each night for that social aspect."

She said this was particularly important for older people: "They see each other every night and now they won't.

"I think as we move forward more and more smaller village pubs will be closing."

The real estate incentive

As pubs become less profitable, companies that own the land are knocking them down to cash in on the real estate value "time and time again", said Dr Thurnell-Read.

"Pubs are being closed against the will of the people who run them and often against the will of the community who need them."

One of those community members is Tricia Watson, who moved to Chalford Hill, Stroud, as a new mum and used the Old Neighbourhood as a hub to connect with other parents. 

Now a Stroud district councillor representing the area, she has joined a campaign group fighting to stop the landlord's plans to convert it into a residential property. 

The Old Neighbourhood has been deemed an asset of community value under the 2011 Localism Act, meaning local groups like the Chalford Hill Community Benefit Society must be given time to make a bid to buy it for the community. But, ultimately, the owner can reject it. 

"The asset of community value regulations are absolutely toothless. So any community that wants to keep their pub going is at the mercy of the markets," she said, adding the site is worth £300,000 more as housing than as a pub. 

Without outside support, community efforts to purchase closing pubs have a success rate of less than 10%, according to the Plunkett Foundation, a charity promoting community-owned businesses. 

"Sadly that picture is very recognisable," said CAMRA's Mr Stainer. "It was recognisable pre-COVID and COVID has accelerated the process."

He added: "I think a lot of property owners are being tempted to take the fast buck."

Pub companies often finance buying pubs in such a way that they need to make big returns to service the debts, which can either be done by raising rents or selling off parcels of land, he said. 

"It is the tenants and the pubs that suffer because they are the ones that get chucked out of their business and often their homes."

'Daily struggle' of doing business 

The last four years have been "incredibly intense" for the industry, said Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA). 

She lists off some of the "thousand cuts" Dr Thurnell-Read was referring to: the pandemic, war in Ukraine, pressures on supply chains, the energy crisis, cost inflation and customers who are far worse off than they were 2019.

Mr Goodman, of the Duke of Cumberland Arms in Henley, lists the impacts of these wounds: "The price of food, alcohol, wages, electric, gas - it's never ending." 

He said: "It is definitely the trickiest the industry has ever been I think. It is a daily struggle."

Food costs in particular have been "insane since the beginning of the year", rising by at least 15%, and in some cases doubling since 2019.

And they are completely unpredictable: "The prices can just change overnight, quite drastically as well."

It's not just food. Despite wholesale energy costs easing, Ofgem research published in March found 88% of hotel and catering businesses were still concerned about the impact of energy prices on their business. 

Fixed energy contracts have come to an end at five Cornish pubs run by Chris Black and his husband Jason, who face new tariffs costing 25% to 50% more.

"Pubs are not particularly energy efficient. I think that can be a massive factor in where money is basically being wasted quite easily," said Mr Black, 39.

He went on to echo an argument being made across the industry: while world events may not be in the government's gift, taxation is, and pubs are being "overly taxed". 

"I don't think there has been enough done to support pubs and that's evident in the number of pubs that are closing," he said. 

Alcohol duty, a tax levied on booze, is worth approximately 54.2p in a pint of 5% ABV draught beer (38p in a 3.5% pint, 75.9p for 7%).

Food and drink served in pubs is also subject to 20% VAT (though this was reduced to 5% and 12.5% at different stages of the pandemic). 

Pubs contribute 2.5% of all business rates collected by the government, but generate 0.5% of total business turnover, which CAMRA and the BBPA argue equates to a £500m overpayment. 

Taken together, Ms McClarkin estimates £1 in every £3 goes "straight to the tax man". 

COVID loans hangover and WFH 

During his research, Dr Thurnell-Read was told by many publicans they could have survived COVID or the cost of living crisis – but not both. 

The term perfect storm is overused, but for CAMRA's Mr Stainer, it's the only appropriate description. 

The pandemic burned through pubs' savings and forced them to take on more debt, just before the cost of energy and ingredients rose dramatically and the amount of money customers had to spend plummeted. 

Now, loans taken out and rents deferred during COVID are being called in, said Mr Stainer. 

"Many pubs have survived COVID but maybe are in danger of not surviving the long-term effects of the lockdown."

Introduced in March 2020, the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan was a scheme whereby the government would encourage banks to loan up to £5m to businesses by guaranteeing 80% of the money and paying any interest or fees for the first year. 

"It is definitely a contributing factor to these failures, the inability to be able to pay back these loans," said Ms McClarkin, of the BBPA.

She said some smaller brewers had gone into administration because they "simply cannot pay them back". 

Loans aren't the only COVID hangovers facing pubs, according to Ms McClarkin: "Working from home culture has definitely damaged the pub sector, to the point where some pubs simply don't open Monday, Tuesday."

The pub lunch has dwindled in cities and big towns, and some establishments are choosing to close early on weekdays and open earlier on weekends, she said, as customers switch to less frequent outings. 

Fewer, more costly staff

Staffing has been a problem since Brexit, says Jane Pendlebury, chief executive of the Hospitality Professionals Association (HOSPA). 

She explained the end of freedom of movement has made it more difficult to find staff - and choose the right ones. 

"The friendliness, the smiles, charm, the willingness to pour a drink or deliver some food with a smile on your face will take them [pubs] a long way, but... if you can't get the right staff then you're not going to be delivering that." 

Minimum wage increases, while great for workers, have added to the outgoings for struggling pubs, she said. 

April's increase (£1.02-£1.26 more per hour for each employee) will see the sector's salary bills rise by £3.2bn, according to trade body UKHospitality. 

"People's wages have gone up, and that's absolutely acceptable and they should go up, but when it all adds up in this industry, when do you start going out and you're paying over £50 on a steak?" said Mr Goodman, of the Duke of Cumberland Arms. 

Cornish publican Mr Black said: "We've run a lot tighter on labour to try and keep the cost down because labour costs can be real money down the drain if you've got too many staff on at the wrong times."

Exhaustion 

For HOSPA's Ms Pendlebury, it's important to remember pubs are run by people – and they have a limit. 

"People that run pubs, own pubs, are just exhausted. 

"They were enormously under pressure [during COVID] and then as the guests came back, they were more difficult to deal with because their expectations were so high.

"So I think they are at their wits' end."

It's the smaller, more independent pubs that are closing, she said.

The scale of pub companies means more favourable borrowing rates, supply-chain priority and better value for money when bulk buying stock like menus, cutlery and loo roll, she said. 

They may have their own property managers – rather than more costly local tradespeople - and staff to manage their online reputation. 

"If it's all chains then we would, probably, ultimately lose some of our character as a country," said Ms Pendlebury.

It's not all bad

Walk across the River Ver, St Albans, north of London, almost 1,000 years ago and you would have seen the same building where Ronan Gaffney serves pints today. 

Pop into Ye Olde Fighting Cocks for an ale 400 years ago and you might even have bumped into Oliver Cromwell, who was said to have spent a night at the inn during the mid-1600s.

But centuries of history could not save the pub in February 2022, when the Fighting Cocks, the only inn to be officially recognised as the oldest in Britain, closed (though this was a title so disputed in the industry that Guinness dropped the category entirely in 2000).

Mr Gaffney, 27, and his colleagues lost their jobs in the pub where he – and generations before him - bought his first pint. 

But this isn't the story of another lost community asset: the pub reopened two months later, and Mr Gaffney was there to welcome the community back – with a promotion. 

The establishment's manager and head chef had banded together to take over the lease with a third business partner.

"It was super rewarding being able to reopen the doors and have been back in," said Mr Gaffney, now general manager.

"It was lovely to see the local community come in and say they're glad we're open again. A lot of people do have a lot of memories in this pub."

The pub is now in a much for comfortable position, though they must remain "very cautious on a daily basis", he said. 

He put its success down to attention to detail, big events, pricing and luck.

Bars can't get by on day trade anymore: birthdays, weddings and other large bookings are essential, he said.

"That is definitely one thing that our pub is not only very good at, but we're also almost reliant on it for a certain amount of our turnover."

Unless your pub is next to a train station, food is a must: "Being a simple boozer any more doesn't really seem to exist." 

He said he pays close attention to how staff are trained, products are bought and prices are set.

A lot of alcohol and food will return very slim – if any – margins, so you've got to make up for it on soft drinks, crisps and nuts, he said.

The same applies to the low and no alcohol products that have become so popular among younger people as they steer away from heavy drinking.

"It was quite strange," said Mr Gaffney. 

"It's not too rare for a pub to close or reopen these days, but it was quite rare to be able to be on both sides of that."

Be the first to get Breaking News

Install the Sky News app for free