Arts Education as a Protective Factor for the Effects of Poverty and Parental Stress on Child Development

Arts Education As A Protective Factor For The Effects Of Poverty And Parental Stress On Child Development

Living in poverty has a whole host of well-documented negative effects on child development. In the U.S. there are more children in poverty than any other age group, with 16.1% of people under 18 living in poverty compared to 10.4% of people over 18 (U.S. Census Bureau). Poverty can exist consistently or transiently, but children who experience even one year of poverty may experience negative lasting effects as a result (Chaudhry & Wimer, 2016). Children who have been poor are more likely to struggle with learning disabilities, poor health, emotional and behavioral difficulties, and high levels of stress; they are also at a higher risk for lower academic success and lower lifetime earnings (Pollak & Wolfe, 2020). Data shows that not only are poverty rates highest in early childhood, but also that children are most vulnerable to the effects of poverty during this developmental period (Chaudhry & Wimer, 2016). Child development is influenced not just by the environment but also through parenting, which can have significant effects on a child’s growth and success.

The environment of stress created by economic hardship can negatively impact the quality of parenting; everything from providing basic needs to providing emotional and academic support. Brain maturation occurs throughout childhood and adolescence, but research on the association between poverty and child wellbeing establishes that “the processes by which poverty increases parental stress might be especially important in the earliest years when the home environment and parenting are primary forces shaping children’s biological, neurological, and psychosocial pathways” (Chaudry & Wimer, 2016, p. S26). Particularly in this early stage, the indirect effects of poverty on child development through parenting may be stronger than the direct effects of poverty. To understand child development in conditions of poverty, the state of parenting under poverty must be examined.

The United States defines poverty by using an official poverty measure, which compares total income to household size. Poverty and low socioeconomic status (SES) are often used interchangeably, but they are two separate constructs with a lot of overlap. Poverty is a measure of income and governmental assistance, whereas SES is more concerned with a person’s level of education, race, and job prestige (Pollak & Wolfe, 2020). Due to racial discrimination, a black person and a white person could both be below the poverty line and the white individual is likely to have a higher socio-economic status. The operational definition of poverty in the present body of research varies. Some studies measure material hardships, others measure income or maternal education; most use multiple measures. The distinction between SES and poverty is occasionally important despite the lack of consensus measures because some aspects of parenting are more informed by SES than income level.

In this review, parenting will be discussed generally but it is important to note that single mothers constitute a large portion of poor parents and suffer greater amounts of stress than households with multiple parental figures. Single mothers of color bear the brunt of this burden due to systems of racial and gender discrimination. The most recent U.S. Census reported that women earn an average of $10,000 less than men per year, and African Americans and Hispanics earn the lowest median household income out of any racial group (U.S. Census Bureau, 2022). Much of the research cited in this review used the term “parenting,” but measured parent-child relationships and parenting skills by gathering data from mothers. Additionally, many studies measured poverty through overall household income but measured SES by maternal education level.