Gloria Zamudio

Extended Bibliography: Low-income families and child development

The article “Factors Affecting Toddler Cognitive Development in Low-Income Families” describes a study done with 84 low-income mothers and their toddlers. The study revolved around three basic ideas that have been found to affect early child cognitive development in related research. These three factors were that level of maternal knowledge, maternal stress and maternal supportiveness during mother-child interactions. The results of this study were used to stress what factors should be focused on in intervention programs with low-income families. There was a correlation between low cognitive scores in two of the three areas. Maternal depression, surprisingly, had no affect on cognitive scores at either age.

            In the results of this experiment they mentioned a possible bias when comparing scores of cognitive development and maternal depression. The mothers and their baby’s were only video taped for twenty minutes and I believe that signs of incompetent mother-child interactions are subject to judgment. The conductors were very surprised by this result because they strongly believed the every day struggles of raising a child in a low-income family would cause a great deal of stress which would most likely lead to depression.

            The Baby Steps agency deals directly with many of the issues suggested in this experiment. They offer many education opportunities to teach mothers life skills and ways to improve the birth and development of their baby. I believe these types of programs are necessary to help mothers learn how to handle situations that are difficult and sometimes out of their hands. I think that teaching mothers how to deal with the stress of going to work, possibly living paycheck to paycheck, and raising a family is one of the most important things a program like Baby Steps can teach.

            I only disagreed with the experiment in the fact that they didn’t find a correlation between maternal depression and cognitive scores. Nurturing is a necessary part of a baby’s development and it would be hard for a mother to tend to his/her needs if she is sick herself. They did mention that they were not ready to say depression and cognitive scores were unrelated since a lot of previous research has shown otherwise. 

“Helping Women to be able to work.” http://views.washingtonpost.com. Avis Thomas-Lester, September 27, 2010. Web. Feb. 2011

In the article “Helping Women to be able to work” Avis Thomas describes a report released by the Women’s Economic Security Campaign (WESC) in September or last year. He says this report was to draw attention to the fact that low-income women cannot afford quality and reliable child care. With this problem at hand, low income women have a low chance of finding a good job and keeping it because of their fluctuating work schedules. They argue that this problem would eventually come around to affect businesses as well since “Disruptions in child care for working parents cost U.S. businesses approximately $3 billion each year.” Low income families also typically lack the resources necessary to the development of young children including books, music and other brain-stimulating materials.

This article expressed the need for help and attention when it comes to low-income mothers and their children. Thomas recognizes that these parents might not always be able to obtain the resources or the knowledge of raising a child and that it usually isn’t their fault. Thomas explains that parents will most likely take care of their children before worrying about work so if businesses don’t want to feel this pressure then something needs to be done so that child care for low-income families is affordable. This article seems to lean more toward single, low income mothers rather than families, which might include a father.

This article is expressing the need for programs such as Baby Steps. Baby Steps offers free child care given by graduates of the program. This allows parents to receive the kind of education they need to raise a healthy child without having to chase their kids around the whole time. The issue of low income mothers and reliable child care seems to be a nationwide problem that is quickly grabbing the attention of many people. I believe that it is important for researchers to point out to businesses that the affects of low income mothers without child care will come back around and cost them a lot of money. Unfortunately, that’s usually what it takes for people to start paying more attention. 

Chavis, Selena. “Lower Access to Care for Low-Income Mothers with Depression.” Psych Central September 2 2010. Web. 6 Feb. 2011.

            The Urban Institute did a study that revealed a scary statistic: “more than half of infants living in poverty are being raised by mothers suffering from depression (Chavis).” Low-income parents usually don’t have insurance to cover the cost of mental health treatment. This article explains that mental health services should be offered for mothers who cannot afford it since they are most likely already receiving WIC or food stamps. Problems with depression do not only affect low income parents in fact “Findings revealed that 41 percent of mother across all age and income brackets reported some symptoms of depression, and 7 percent reported severe symptoms.”

            This article was not only looking at low income mothers with depression but they were the main concern. Mothers who suffer from depression but receive more than low income wages have more of an opportunity to obtain treatment. The results from this study were very alarming and public health services are aiming to find more help for low income mothers with depression.

             During my orientation for Baby Steps, Diane, who is the coordinator of the program, mentioned a lot of different issues low income mothers face. She mentioned drug abuse, missing doctor’s appointments, and unreliable health care. The classes offered are not only to help a mother raise a healthy baby but also to help her stay healthy as well. I wondered at the time if the mothers participating in Baby Steps were ever tested for depression or other psychological illnesses because even after they graduate from the program mental illness will be a persisting problem that could get in the way of them advancing toward living successfully on their own. I would like to know more about the affects of depression and stress on a developing child and how those things make programs such as Baby Steps more necessary.