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This paper is about will explore the psychological, sociological, and cultural perspectives of childhood poverty in the United States. Why focus on children rather than the poor people as a whole? Children raised in poverty generally fare worse than those from higher-income families on measurements of health, emotional well-being, school achievement, and cognitive development (Morgan and Kickham, 2001, p. 479). Children are the future of our society, and minimizing poverty would provide a great benefit to our society. Another argument would be that children have basic inherent rights as human beings, but are not in a position to advocate those rights for themselves.

On the psychological aspect, there are several risk factors that affect a child's emotional, behavioral, and cognitive development. For example, "low-income children are exposed to more violence, family disruption, and separation from their family" than children of higher incomes (Evans, 2004, p. 78). Low-income kids come into contact with violent peers in their neighborhood 40% more frequently than their middle-class counterparts (Evans). Studies show that they are also more likely to spend time in foster care and live in broken home (Evans).

Another risk factor that poor children are more exposed to is detached parents with harsher, more castigating disciplinary actions (Evans). One study showed that low-class parents were almost twice as likely as parents of higher socioeconomic standing to spank their children (Evans). Research has also shown that 26% of low-income parents are unresponsive to their infants and toddlers, compared to 15% of higher class parents (Evans). According to Evans (2004), "Fathers in jobs that are less complex and have lower decision latitude tend to encourage conformity and discourage self-directedness in their children (p. 79).

These are just a few of the risk factors that impact children's development. It has been shown that these factors along with others such as less exposure to reading activities and more time watching television affects socioemotional and cognitive development, as well as behavioral conduct (Evans, 2004, p. 86). Children from low-income families are exposed to the risk factors more often and with greater intensity than middle-income children (Evans). "Thirty-five percent of the low income toddlers in the Liaw and Brooks-Gunn study had been exposed to six or more risk factors, as opposed to 5% of the middle-income toddlers" (Evans). This exposure to

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