Impact on Children

Question 1

What is the introduction?

Answer 1

In this essay, it will examine the impacts of income and wealth inequality on children. It will focus on crime, social exclusion, health, education and social mobility.

Question 2

What is one impact of poverty on children?

Answer 2

• One impact of poverty on children is health.

Question 3

Why are children’s health impacted?

Answer 3

• Children who live in deprived areas can have their health impacted horribly.
• It can impact their physical health as parents in poverty may not be able to afford healthier food for their kids and may only be able to afford junk food such as crisps or ready meals.

Question 4

What can poor health lead to in children?

Answer 4

• This could leave the child with weight problems like obesity or being malnourished which can lead to the child being bullied for being overweight and that could lead to mental health problems such as anxiety or depression later in life.

Question 5

What is the first example of Health?

Answer 5

• For example, a Scottish 2018 Survey found that 59% of parents in the most deprived areas could not afford to feed their child foods such as fruit and vegetables.

Question 6

What does the first example of health show us?

Answer 6

• This shows us that if a child is in poverty, it can impact both their physical and mental health badly.

Question 7

What is the second point about Health?

Answer 7

• Furthermore, if a child is in poverty, it can affect their life expectancy. `

Question 8

Why are children’s life expectancies lowered by poor health?

Answer 8

• This is because they may grow up in a poor household and continue to eat these unhealthy meals for two reasons:
• their parents may not be able to afford healthy foods as meals are rising in price,
• they may not be educated well enough on what foods are good to eat, because they wouldn’t have had a great education which has led them into the poverty cycle.

Question 9

What can growing up in a poor household with poor health lead to?

Answer 9

• This can lead to obesity, and more serious health problems such as diabetes and death, which can overall affect how long they might live.

Question 10

What is Glasgow?

Answer 10

• Glasgow City is a deprived area where children are in extreme poverty which can affect their health later on in life.

Question 11

What is the second example of poor health in children?

Answer 11

• For example, The Scottish Household Survey reports that post-pandemic in Glasgow City, 24.6% of children are living in relative poverty, and 20.2% of children are living in absolute poverty.

Question 12

What is the third example of poor health in children?

Answer 12

• This can also affect their life expectancy.
• Furthermore, another statistic from a 2019-2021 report the life expectancy was lowest in Glasgow City where it was 73.0 years for males and 78.0 years for females,
• this is compared to the life expectancy was highest in the Orkney Islands at 83.9 years for females and 80.4 years for males, from a place where it is less deprived.

Question 13

What do these statistics show for health?

Answer 13

• This shows that if you choose to eat unhealthily, or must because of poverty and food prices, you could face serious health consequences, either short-term or long-term.

Question 14

How is health linked to education?

Answer 14

• This is also linked to education, as if a child has a health condition brought on by poverty – type 2 diabetes, colds, pneumonia, nutrition issues, tooth decay and obesity, it can affect how good they may do in school.

Question 15

Are kids in and out of school, and could they drop out early?

Answer 15

• This is because they may be in and out of school to receive treatments or might often not be at school because of the symptoms.
• This could lead the child to drop out early or leave school with little to no qualifications.

Question 16

What is the final health example?

Answer 16

• The Scottish Government website shows that disabled people are more likely than non-disabled people to have low or no qualifications at SCQF level 4.

Question 17

What does the final health statistic show?

Answer 17

• This shows that children who grow up in poverty with medical conditions/disabilities are more likely to leave school with little qualifications, which can lead them back into the poverty cycle.

Question 18

What is the overall conclusion about health?

Answer 18

• Overall, the impact on children’s health through social inequalities is negative and potentially life-threatening.
• This is because parents cannot afford to feed their children healthy foods due to the high cost of living and have no other choice and must resort to this extent, which impacts their children’s health negatively.

Question 19

What is another impact of poverty on children?

Answer 19

• Another impact of inequalities on children is social exclusion.

Question 20

What happens if a child is living in poverty?

Answer 20

• If a child is in poverty and living in a deprived area, they might not be able to afford basic things had most kids have such as a mobile phone, trips to the cinema or swimming.

Question 21

How would being poor impact a child?

Answer 21

• This may impact the child negatively as they would feel left out and excluded as their peers can do things they can’t, which wouldn’t be the child’s fault.
• This can also lead to the child getting bullied for not having these things, which can impact their mental health badly.

Question 22

What is the first statistic of social exclusion?

Answer 22

• For example, a 2020 report from End Child Poverty found that 50% of families in the bottom income quintile would like, but cannot afford, to take their children on holiday for one week a year.

Question 23

What does the evidence from End Child Poverty show?

Answer 23

• This shows that children could feel socially excluded because they can’t do the same things as their richer peers, which impacts their education, health, and any chance of getting out of the poverty cycle.

Question 24

What does social exclusion link to, and why?

Answer 24

• This links to education and social mobility if a child is being bullied and socially excluded, this might affect their school life as their mental health would be depleting, meaning their grades would be declining as kids would struggle to focus on classes,
• which results in the child growing up to be stuck in the poverty cycle as they wouldn’t get enough high-quality qualifications to get to university to get a better job.

Question 25

What is the evidence to show that social exclusion and education link?

Answer 25

• For example a 2016 study found that more than a third of children in persistent poverty showed a tendency to play alone, compared with a quarter of children who have never experienced poverty.

Question 26

What does the evidence that links education and exclusion together show?

Answer 26

• This shows that bullying is frequently happening within schools and that schools aren’t doing enough to prevent this,
• which can affect their student’s education and social life, leading to the child repeating the poverty cycle as they wouldn’t get good qualifications in the end.

Question 27

What is another impact on children because of poverty?

Answer 27

• Another impact of social inequalities on children is crime.
• If a child grows up in a deprived area, they are more likely to experience crime.

Question 28

What is the first example for crime?

Answer 28

• For example, Glasgow City has the highest child poverty rates in Scotland and the highest crime rates in Scotland.

Question 29

What happens if a child grows up in a deprived area with crime?

Answer 29

• Furthermore, if a child grows up in a deprived area with parents in jail or friends doing crimes they may partake in it, or if they are in poverty, they might have to commit crimes to get the bare necessities such as food and clean water.

Question 30

What is the second statistic for crime?

Answer 30

• According to the 2019/20 Scottish Crime and Justice Survey, people living in the 15% most deprived areas in Scotland were more than 1.5 times more likely to experience crime than those living in the rest of Scotland.

Question 31

What does the second statistic for crime show?

Answer 31

• This shows that if a kid lives in a poorer area, they may not have the same chances at life as a more affluent person have, and may resort to crime to get by, which can affect how they grow up, and if they stay in the poverty cycle or not.

Question 32

What is a final impact of social inequalities on children?.

Answer 32

• A final impact of social inequalities on children is education and social mobility.

Question 33

What happens with education and deprived areas?

Answer 33

• If a child tends to be from a deprived area, they are more likely to leave school with little to no formal qualifications.

Question 34

Why can poor attainment levels happen?

Answer 34

• This can be because the deprived area the child lives in can have a poor school attainment level with no limited resources,
• and as the person may not be able to afford a tutor or buy extra resources, this can lead to the child struggling and eventually lead to going into the poverty cycle.

Question 35

What is the example for education + social mobility?

Answer 35

• For example, in St Andrews, Scotland Madras College had a 62% of children passing with 5 or more Higher qualifications with the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation with St Andrews being in the least deprived decile.
• This is compared to Levenmouth Academy in Fife, Scotland which has 17.5% of children passing with 5 or more Highers, with the catchment area being in the 20% most deprived area in Scotland.
• Take into account that these schools are less than 20 miles away from each other.

Question 36

What does the example for education + social mobility show?

Answer 36

• This shows that kids who live in deprived areas have a lesser chance at getting a good quality education compared to those in richer areas.

Question 37

What is the conclusion?

Answer 37

• In conclusion, the biggest impact of poverty on children is health. This is because health can affect children in many ways, and good health is what keeps children alive.
• As parents may be unable to afford healthy food for their children, this can lead to their kids getting obese or being malnutritional and can lead to serious health conditions, which can then affect their educational attainment, their social life and their mental health.
• These factors can then lead to crime if serious enough.