FOR RELEASE: Immediate
CONTACT: Pat Tremmel at (847) 491-4892 or [email protected]
Northwestern News on the World Wide Web: http://www.nwu.edu/univ-relations/media/
DEEP POVERTY IN EARLY CHILDHOOD PROFOUNDLY AFFECTS LATER ACHIEVEMENT
EVANSTON, Ill. --- Deep poverty in early childhood profoundly affects achievement in later years, according to a new study that examines schooling outcomes in relation to family incomes. The findings suggest that welfare reform and other policies directed at poor families should pay special attention to the ages of the children involved, according to Greg J. Duncan, the deputy director of the Northwestern University/University of Chicago Joint Center for Poverty Research.
Published in the June, 1998 issue of the American Sociological Review, "How Much Does Childhood Poverty Affect the Life Chances of Children?" was written by Duncan, professor of education and social policy and faculty fellow at the Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University; Wei-Jun J. Yeung, University of Michigan; Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, Columbia University; and Judith Smith, Fordham University.
"The economic status of most children improves as they grow up, but income fluctuations often move families into and out of poverty," said Duncan. "Periods of deep poverty occurring very early in a child's life should concern us the most." The official U.S. poverty line currently is $13,650 for a family of three.
Following 1,323 children from birth to early adulthood, the study is the first to use family incomes that reach all the way back to birth to understand their effects on later achievement.
The study estimates that a $400 change in a poor family's monthly income for the first five years of a child's life changes the odds of graduation from high school by 66 percent. Corresponding income changes in middle childhood or adolescence have much smaller apparent impacts.
The study utilized whole childhood data from the nationally-representative Panel Study of Income Dynamics to relate children's completed schooling and nonmarital fertility to income during middle childhood, adolescence and, for the first time, very early childhood.
Early childhood income mattered much more for schooling than for nonmarital fertility, a result consistent with a larger body of research suggesting that a child's ability and achievement are much more sensitive to family economic conditions than health and behavior.
The study's authors speculate that the profound effects of poverty on young children's later achievement is connected to preschool ability, which sets the stage for children's transition into the formal school system. Children who have not learned skills such as color naming, sorting, counting, letters and the names of objects are at a disadvantage compared with children who have mastered these skills. Schools tend to classify children very early, identifying those with potential school problems in the first year.
Consistent with previous research findings, the new data suggests that welfare policies should be most concerned with the elimination of deep and persistent poverty during a child's early years.
"Welfare reform and our booming economy have lifted many former recipients into the work force," Duncan said. "But soon increasing numbers of remaining recipient families will run up against sanctions and time limits. Welfare policies, unemployment and all-too-frequent family events like divorce expose children to economic risks. The good news from our study is that policies directed at young children cost less than policies directed at all children. We need to do a better job of ensuring that young children are not exposed to spells of severe economic deprivation."
-30- 6/1/98
RSS