Socioeconomic inequalities and mental health problems in children and adolescents: A systematic review

This article considers the implications for prevention science of recent advances in research on family poverty and children's mental, emotional, and behavioral health. First, we describe definitions of poverty and the conceptual and empirical challenges to estimating the causal effects of poverty on children's mental, emotional, and behavioral health. Second, we offer a conceptual framework that incorporates selection processes that affect who becomes poor as well as mechanisms through which poverty appears to influence child and youth mental health. Third, we use this conceptual framework to selectively review the growing literatures on the mechanisms through which family poverty influences the mental, emotional, and behavioral health of children. We illustrate how a better understanding of the mechanisms of effect by which poverty impacts children's mental, emotional, and behavioral health is valuable in designing effective preventive interventions for those in poverty. Fourth, we describe strategies to directly reduce poverty and the implications of these strategies for prevention. This article is one of three in a special section (see also Biglan, Flay, Embry, & Sandler, 2012; Munoz, Beardslee, & Leykin, 2012) representing an elaboration on a theme for prevention science developed by the 2009 report of the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine.

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The Effects of Poverty on the Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Health of Children and Youth: Implications for Prevention.

A Roadmap to Reducing Child Poverty

Rapid urbanization globally threatens to increase the risk to mental health and requires a rethinking of the relationship between urban poverty and mental health. The aim of this article is to reveal the cyclic nature of this relationship: Concentrated urban poverty cultivates mental illness, while the resulting mental illness reinforces poverty. The authors used theories about social disorganization and crime to explore the mechanisms through which the urban environment can contribute to mental health problems. They present some data on crime, substance abuse, and social control to support their claim that mental illness reinforces poverty. The authors argue that, to interrupt this cycle and improve outcomes, social workers and policymakers must work together to implement a comprehensive mental health care system that emphasizes prevention, reaches young people, crosses traditional health care provision boundaries, and involves the entire community to break this cycle and improve the outcomes of those living in urban poverty.

Mental Health and Poverty in the Inner City

PROBLEM: School officials throughout the United States have adopted zero tolerance policies to address student discipline, resulting in an increase in out-of-school suspensions and expulsions. The introduction of police on school campuses also increased the referral of students to the juvenile courts.Although school personnel generallyviewzerotolerancepoliciesasaconstructivemeasure,thisapproachdenies recent research on adolescent brain development that mischief is a foreseeable derivative of adolescence. METHODS: A case study method examined one juvenile court’s innovative multi-integratedsystemsapproachrelatedtotheadversetrendsassociatedwithzero tolerance policies. FINDINGS: A multi-disciplinary protocol resulted in more effective youth assessmentsthatreducedout-of-schoolsuspensionsandschoolreferrals;increasedgraduation rates by 20%; and decreased delinquent felony rates by nearly 50%. The resulting protocol changed how the system responds to disruptive students by significantly reducing out-of-school suspensions and school referrals, and putting into place alternatives as well as providing community resources to address the underlying causes of the behavior. CONCLUSION: A multi-systems approach that targets the reasons for disruptive behavior improves student educational and behavioral outcomes.

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A Study of Zero Tolerance Policies in Schools: A Multi‐Integrated Systems Approach to Improve Outcomes for Adolescents

PROBLEM: Poverty and accelerations of inequality, manifested by the increasing difference between the richest and poorest populations, have significant effects on the mental health of vulnerable groups. Adolescents are vulnerable to the effects of poverty. As a time of change and transition for youth and their families, adolescence creates both challenges and opportunities to intervene in the effects of poverty.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this article is to discuss the significance of poverty and its impact on adolescent mental health and mental health services.

SOURCES: An interdisciplinary literature search was conducted on the topic of poverty and adolescent mental health.

CONCLUSIONS: Results indicated that nurses need to remain active participants in the provision of mental health services to adolescents in poverty and increase their advocacy for the creation of policy changes that address mental health needs of this population.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1744-6171.2008.00166.x

Wendy DiMicco

Papers

Poverty and adolescent mental health.

The case for a student honor code and beyond