Children, Education, & Socioeconomic Status

 

    From the previous post, I discussed how people with lower socioeconomic status have a lack in obtaining health stability due to limited access in health care. Because having low SES not only affects a person's overall health status, I have decided to do some mild research on how socioeconomic status, in general, affects a person's everyday lifestyle. A person's socioeconomic status is commonly consisted with the combination of education, income, and occupation. By analyzing the definition, a person may easily conclude that SES can determine if you are successful in life.Furthermore, by definition, we can say that through examining socioeconomic status', one can tell whether or not a person will have access to certain resources besides health care insurance.

     Besides socioeconomic status affecting individuals health wise, research has shown that children who grow up from low SES households and communities are known to have slow progress in terms of academics compared to those people who are fortunate enough to achieve a higher socioeconomic status. People who are able to financially support themselves have access to various resources. However, communities who are financially unstable and communities that include people who have low socioeconomic status' most likely do not have the materials and resources to educate the children accordingly compared to communities who consist of people with a higher SES. Typically, the school systems in low-SES areas lack resources which consequently, affect the students' academic abilities. Although lack of resources could be a huge factor on why children from low-SES families suffer academically, it has been said that initial academic skills are correlated with the child's home environment. A child's ability can be influenced by low literacy environments due to stress. In my opinion, I feel that lack of resources is a huge problem but I believe that parents also play a role on a child's academic success. I feel that it is not a child's fault if he/she suffers because parents should be the biggest motivators to help their child succeed in whatever they do in life. However, because parents are responsible for their low socioeconomic status, they are probably too busy to focus on their children's academic achievements due to so much pressure from work trying to make ends meet. Despite the lack of resources from school systems, I feel that parents are huge contributors on perpetuating the lack of education in low socioeconomic status communities.
   
   Everyone is familiar with the saying, "children are the future." It is extremely disappointing to know that even though people are aware of the fact that children are huge factors in order to change the world in the future, no one is investing and taking the time to teach them. It is understandable that those who have a lower socioeconomic status are extremely busy making sure that they are able to feed their children and being able to provide a roof for them. However, what about education? What about being able to help their child practice their intellectual abilities? By definition, SES is measured by a person's overall education which consequently determines the outcome of their careers. I strongly believe that education is the stem that affects a person's overall stability when it comes to socioeconomic status because there has been increasing evidence that supports the link between lower SES and negative psychological outcomes that affect academic achievement. According to the American Psychological Association, children from lower SES households are about twice as likely as those from high-SES households to display learning-related behavior problems. (Morgan er al., 2009). Also, identifying a part of a lower/working class in college has been associated with feelings of not belonging in school and intentions to drop out before graduation (Langhout, Drake, & Rosselli, 2009). These facts are so disturbingly moving yet not much has been done to improve the school systems for those under low-SES communities. Children should not have to deal with the stress and pressures that their parents have to endure because they did not choose to be living economically and financially unstable. Children should just feel obligated to worry about succeeding in school to be able to leave the low socioeconomic status world. In conclusion, children are still the future, so people need to take the time to invest in them and their education. Children should not have to suffer academically because of their parents' inability to provide for them. Children should be able to turn their unfortunate present to have a brighter future.
   

For more facts on how children are affected academically, check out:

http://www.apa.org/pi/ses/resources/publications/factsheet-education.aspx

SES and Health Care

From reading articles and journals on the common effects socioeconomic status, health effects seems to be the least common to come up. I feel that people do not pay attention to a person's SES when measuring health stability. However, socioeconomic status is considered one the most influential factors on a person's overall health status. There has been a direct correlation that people who obtain low SES usually encounter diseases and have a much higher rates or mortality compared to people who obtain a high SES. The common health conditions associated with socioeconomic status are cardiovascular diseases, infant and maternal mortality, unintended injury, homicide and suicide, arthritis, hypertension, and chronic bronchitis. It is unfortunate to have a long list of diseases related to SES because I believe this issue could be resolved if it weren't for the limited access to health care.
 
     Socioeconomic differences in terms of health can easily be the result of constrained access to health care. Based on the article I have read from the "Future of Children," the authors have suggested there is a "paradox" when it comes to demands and resources since not everyone who has a low SES suffer with higher risks of mortality. They explained that those who obtain a lower social status in life have the tendency to encounter "social and community demands" while having or not having any resources such as money, access to medical care, and social support. Therefore concluding, that demands and resources play a big role on why those with lower socioeconomic status have such a variation in health stability.

   With that being said, I think it is unfortunate that the demands for resources based on the current situation is what is causing such a great difference between those with high SES and low SES in terms of overall stability. People are aware that the limited access health care could be the main factor that can cause the variation but what can people do to change it? Honestly, I do not even know where to begin but it is just really frustrating that the current health policies are what is causing people's health stability to decrease. As much as doctors would like to help those who cannot afford health insurance, the ability to have health coverage depends solely on the government. Sure there are programs such as WIC that cater to Women, Infants and Children who obtain low SES, but it is hard to draw conclusions as to how far such programs will be able to improve social status. SO WHAT.... What am I really getting at? All I am really trying to say is that people should be aware of what's going on. Those living comfortable lives, I am guilty of it, should stop and think of those living on the edge. Nowadays, people are under the impression that "ignorance is bliss" when it is really is not. I'm not saying that people should start rallying and protesting against the health policy that the government has placed, but I believe the first step to solving problems is awareness.

Until my next post.. For more information on SES and health related effects check out...

http://futureofchildren.org/futureofchildren/publications/journals/article/index.xml?journalid=60&articleid=374&sectionid=2510

Intro: My initial thoughts on SES on health stability

     As a college student who is studying to be an upcoming nurse, health stability is always on my mind. To start the series of posts I will be relaying on the effects of a person's socioeconomic status on being healthy, I would like to put my thoughts about it first. How does one maintain health stability? Besides, nutrition, in terms of consuming the appropriate meals, I very much believe that a person's economic status could also be a huge factor in being able to maintain a person's overall health stability. I come from a family who is fortunate enough to have been able to periodically go to the doctor's and have a yearly physical. Every time I would feel under the weather as well as the rest of my family, we have the luxury of going to the doctor due to the beauty of insurance. Due to the annual physicals I have, the doctors are able to tell me whether I am healthy or not. However, what about those families who don't have the privilege to see a doctor? Now, I am taking out the people who are fortunate to have health benefits but refuse to take advantage of them. From using myself as an example, maintaining health stability is not a hardship but it could be for a lot of people. I have worked in many clinics and family practices and I hear stories about families who do not have insurance, so they just decide not to see a doctor even though it is very much necessary.
      Health benefits typically come from employers nowadays. Generally, the people who receive these health benefits could, assuming, be very well off. By "well off" I mean these people have graduated college and have great careers.. While those who have lower class jobs do not receive these health benefits mainly because they cannot afford them. Because the economy is experiencing an ongoing struggle, families from the lower class are unable to attain financial stability. Being secured in terms of finances is important because there could be emergencies such as, car breaking down, house maintenance, and of course, health issues. While some people are blessed enough to eat junk food everyday and still be considered healthy, there are a lot of people who must intake nutritious meals to maintain healthy. Everyone knows junk food is more cost-friendlier than nutritious food. Families who are financially unstable may turn to unhealthy meals in exchange of something healthier just to be able to make ends meet money wise. How are people going to maintain being healthy if they keep consuming "bad" food? Next question, hiow do people maintain health stability when they are not even able to maintain their finances? I, myself, wish had the answer to my own questions because I believe it is a problem that will continually rise. As a nursing student, promoting good health will always be a priority.