Child Welfare
Research: Poverty’s Negative Impact on Children’s Mental Health
March 16, 2017 | Emily Taylor
A recent study in England tracked more than 6,000 families over time to measure the impact of poverty on the family members’ mental health. At the outset, none of families were in poverty and none had mental health problems when their child was 3 years old. By the time the children were 11 years old, 14 percent of the families had moved into poverty. The researchers found that the children who moved into poverty were 40 percent more likely to develop social, emotional or behavioral problems.