Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Impact Of Chronic Poverty On Children's Behavioral Health And Learning Outcomes, Anna Catherine Rasmussen

Honors Program Theses

Chronic poverty is an unfortunate reality many children face every day. The current literature review evaluated the impact poverty has on children’s behavioral health and learning outcomes. Research consistently shows that children living in poverty experience higher rates of conduct problems, such as Conduct Disorder (CD), as well as increased learning problems, such as Specific Learning Disorders (SLD) and diminished academic success. There are several theories for this relation, encompassing both environmental and biological influences, which are reviewed herein. The overall conclusion is that living in poverty negatively impacts children’s behavioral and learning outcomes.