Poverty and Adolescent Mental Health

NaTasha Evans and Juanita Adams

Cleveland State University 2121 Euclid Avenue Cleveland, Oh 44115

The problems that poverty have adolescent mental health issues.

Adolescent mental health issues are significantly effected by inequality, poverty, and disparities.

Economic Barriers
There are many economic barriers that prevent families that are living in poverty from obtaining or seeking health services that will deal with mental health. The six economic barriers are: Informational barriers, insufficient resources and problems of resource distribution, inappropriate resources, inflexible resources and poor timing of resources, and implications. Informational barriers exist when there are few mental health services to fit the criteria of the patients. There are little mental health resources that have been able to meet the characteristics and mental needs of people living in poverty. Insufficient resources and problems of resources are displayed when there are a shortage of mental health providers for adequate care. In 2001 there were 1000 adolescents per 1.6 psychiatrists. Inappropriate resources are when the services provided are not equal with the needs of the individuals. Adolescents living in poverty are the highest users of mental health services but the services do not meet there needs. Family interventions do not take into count the adolescents economic hardships. Services desired by families living in poverty are not provided. Inflexible resources and poor timing of resources do not address the needs of families living in poverty. They are also poorly coordinated. The resources that are helpful have late timing such as medical offices, school systems, child welfare, and the justice systems. In school systems, the nurses provide mental health education that sometimes meet the needs of the children living in poverty. Implication barriers are routine assessments, mentoring, and intervention programs. Intervention programs are between the families living in poverty and psychiatrists. Routine assessments test mental health problems in children at a young age. Mentoring programs would help detour the children from choosing the wrong path.

Poverty
Many definitions that define poverty have been criticized because many deprived families live above the threshold but in many cases families can barely survive and struggle each and everyday. Poverty is sometimes described as being disadvantaged, low income, poor, and having economic hardships. Poverty is also defined as the pretax monetary income of a family. An example of this type of definition is a family of four with two children with an income of $20, 444 is considered living in poverty. Currently the poverty definition by the federal government is narrow. The federal government base poverty on geographic location, number of family members and eligibility for federal programs. The current Federal government definition states that in order to live in poverty a family of four must live in the lower 48 states with two children earning an income of or less than $20,650. The international definition of poverty is a $1 per day. World Health Organization (WHO) Indicates that poverty indicators should be used instead of definitions because definitions vary.

Direct effects on adolescents living in poverty.

Poverty can affect mental health issues by limiting the quality of life and social adjustments of adolescents surroundings. Many adolescents feel ashamed of their situation. They feel inferior and helpless. Adolescents living in poverty are at great risk of committing suicide. They display negative behaviors such as violence, anxiety, depression and abusing substances. Many are exhibiting risky behaviors experimenting with sexual and criminal activities. Adolescents living in poverty have low achievement rates in school and on standardized tests. A peak in criminal activity usually occur in the late teens occur at age 18 because they lose benefits of certain programs. Once adolescents reach the age 18 they do not qualify for many programs that could be beneficial to them.

Global Issues dealing with poverty

The disparities between the rich and the poor are steadily increasing making the wedge grow wider. More families are experiencing economic hardships putting them below the poverty line. Economic hardships causes a health risk by affecting development and mental health stability. Mental health is improved with wealth and resources but many families living in poverty can not afford the health care fees. Poverty impact many different ethnic groups. Poverty affect adolescents behaviors and emotions which effect their mental health and well being. Mental health rates have increased among adolescents. Countries barely have enough money to fund mental health studies and institutions. Adolescent poverty rate can depend on the family structure. Adolescents living in a single parent household has a higher poverty rate.

Graphs

Indirect effects on adolescents living in poverty.

The indirect effects that poverty have on adolescents is the parentadolescent relationship. Poverty puts a strain on their relationship. The adolescent-parent relationship exhibits negative changes. Poverty contribute to the negative changes because the parents are not able to meet the children needs because of working long hours. The parents are either unemployed or underemployed and have to work twice as much to make ends meet. There is a lack of employment opportunities. The adolescents must take on an adult role and raise themselves instead of having guidance from their parents. The parents display harsh disciplinary actions. Usually the children drop out.

Neighborhood effects on adolescents living in poverty

Families that live in poverty can not afford decent housing. People refer the poor neighborhoods as being ghetto. The neighborhood housing that the families can afford are inadequate. The neighborhoods are deteriorating with low achievement schools. The neighborhoods have high crime rates, high drug activity, gangs, and violence.

Reference
1.Dashiff,Carol., DiMicco., Meyers, Beverly, & Sheppard, Kathy. Poverty and Adolescent Mental Health", Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing, Vol. 22, Num 1, February 2009. pp23-32 2.Wood, David, Halfon, Neal, Donald-Sherburne, Cathy, Mazel, Rebecca M., Schuster, Mark, et al. Increasing Immunization Rates Among Inner City, African American Children The Journal of the American Medial Association , Vol. 279, No. 1, January 7, 1998

Contact Information
1. NaTasha Evans, Department of Biology, Choose Ohio First Scholars na.evans@yahoo.com 2. Juanita Adams, Department of Biology, Chooses Ohio First Scholars to_you_he@yahoo.com

TEMPLATE DESIGN 2008

www.PosterPresentations.com