Feature Channels: Poverty

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An award-winning study has documented how homeless, mentally ill women in India face a vicious cycle:

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Those fortunate enough to be somewhere warm during this recent cold snap might wonder how Philadelphia’s homeless population can survive the frigid outdoor conditions, said Stephen Metraux, PhD, associate professor of health policy and public health at University of the Sciences

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Some time this century, the era of cheap and abundant energy will end, and Western industrial civilization will likely begin a long, slow descent toward a resource-limited future characterized by "involuntary simplicity."

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Young people growing up in impoverished neighborhoods who perceive their poor communities in a positive light report better health and well-being than those with worse perceptions of where they live, new research led by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health suggests.

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Treatments for homelessness are increasingly community-focused, yet little is known about whether those who are currently or formerly homeless are accepted by their communities.

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New UT Austin study shows women are more likely than men to become obese in midlife due to socioeconomic disadvantage

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Poverty—rather than biased reporting—seems to account for the higher rates of child abuse and neglect among black children, reports a study in the September Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, the official journal of the Society for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

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Financial hardship, or feeling that one can’t make ends meet, may be more predictive of health risk behaviors than actual income levels for people with low-incomes, finds a recent study in the American Journal of Health Promotion.

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A UCLA study finds that California diabetics who live in low-income neighborhoods are up to 10 times more likely to lose a limb than patients in more affluent areas. Earlier diagnosis and proper medical care could prevent these amputations.

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Socioeconomic adversity during childhood increases the likelihood of both depression and higher body mass index (BMI) in early adolescence, which can worsen and lead to illness for young adults, according to a new report in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

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Kindergarteners from lower-income families who were babies when their mothers went to work outside the home fare as well as or even better than children who had stay-at-home moms, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association.

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When the economy declines, African Americans are more likely to be seen as “Blacker” and to bear stereotypical features, according to a new study by psychology researchers at New York University.

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It’s long been accepted – with little science to back it up – that people should spend roughly a third of their income on housing. As it turns out, that may be about how much a low-income family should spend to optimize children’s brainpower.

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New initiatives on campus provide socks, hygiene kits to the homeless.

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Researchers followed nearly 800 Baltimore school children for a quarter of a century and discovered that their fates were substantially determined by the economic status of the family they were born into.

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In the Friday (May 30) edition of the journal Science, researchers find that early childhood development programs are particularly important for disadvantaged children in Jamaica and can greatly impact an individual’s ability to earn more money as an adult.

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Although the nation is spending more on welfare than ever before, most of that money is going to better-off families rather than the very poorest, a researcher found.

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When the Earned Income Tax Credit was expanded in 1993, supporters hoped it would reward poor parents for working while critics feared that it might discourage single mothers from marrying or incentivize women to have more children to boost their tax refund. A new collaborative study done by the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Cornell University reveals the EITC has helped the working poor but hasn’t affected personal choices.

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Researchers found that restaurants in public housing develops serve fewer healthy meals. Roughly 75 percent of those entrées at restaurants near housing developments were unhealthy.

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Poverty and Health: A Crisis among America’s Most Vulnerable is a collection of in-depth essays examining health issues facing poor people in the United States, including the crucial factor of place in relation to health.

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Is the American Dream slipping away? Maybe, says Mark R. Rank, PhD, one of the country’s foremost experts on inequality and social justice. “More than at any time in our past,” Rank says, “there are serious questions regarding the American Dream and its applicability to everyday people.” Rank's new book, “Chasing the American Dream: Understanding What Shapes Our Fortunes” (Oxford University Press 2014) is released.

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People who care about justice are swayed more by reason than emotion, according to new brain scan research from the University of Chicago Department of Psychology and Center for Cognitive and Social Neuroscience.

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Despite evidence that people don’t leave impoverished, segregated areas even when offered large housing subsidies, a well-structured voucher program can help inner city residents feel comfortable enough in a more affluent area to want to stay, researchers found.

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A program designed to move families out of high-poverty neighborhoods resulted in reduced rates of depression and conduct disorder among girls, but increased rates of depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and conduct disorder among boys, according to a study published in the March 5 issue of JAMA.

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Research on urban neighborhoods must take into account differences among cities and rely on some techniques that have not been used extensively by sociologists studying neighborhood effects, according to Mario Small, professor of sociology at the University of Chicago.

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As the Great Recession deepened and income inequality became more pronounced, county-by-county rates of child maltreatment – from sexual, physical and emotional abuse to traumatic brain injuries and death – worsened, according to a nationwide study by Cornell University.

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Communities across the United States experienced an unprecedented decline in crime in the 1990s. But for counties where Wal-Mart built stores, the decline wasn’t nearly as dramatic. The study, titled “Rolling back prices and raising crime rates? The Wal-Mart effect on crime in the United States,” released last month in the British Journal of Criminology, was written by Scott Wolfe, assistant professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of South Carolina.

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American Heart Association CEO Nancy Brown issued the following comments on the Agricultural Reform and Risk Management Act of 2013, passed by Congress today.

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Silverman, an associate professor of urban and regional planning, is leading a project to make recommendations about where the government should place affordable housing in 10 of the fastest-shrinking U.S. cities.

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Thirty-nine percent of unemployed Americans are experiencing long-term unemployment in the wake of the 2008 recession, which is more than double the percent unemployed more than six months but actively seeking work in 2007, according to new research about trends in long-term unemployment since the recession from the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire.

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One of Florida State University’s nationally recognized experts is ready to answer media questions and provide analysis on how the efforts to end poverty in the U.S. have been stymied in light of the 50th anniversary of LBJ's declaration of war on poverty.

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Urban children with asthma are fighting a daily battle to breathe. Their families are finding little help to remove the mold and cockroach infestation in their homes, which can cause asthma attacks. But according to the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) there is help for these families – help which shouldn’t be kept a secret.

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As the United States marks the 50th anniversary of the War on Poverty this month, a new report suggests one recent weapon in the battle has been a disappointing failure.

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Poverty may have direct implications for important, early steps in the development of the brain, saddling children of low-income families with slower rates of growth in two key brain structures, according to researchers from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

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A new concept and policy framework urges G20 countries to lead on making greater investments in neglected tropical diseases in light of new era in global health and development.

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. In the past, SNAP has been shown to reduce poverty among the poorest Americans and generate economic activity. However, according to a new study from researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts, SNAP benefits alone may not be enough to provide its beneficiaries with the long-term food security or dietary quality they need.

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Does the use of government assistance by parents make their children more likely to use welfare, too? Yes, suggests research coauthored by University of California, San Diego economist Gordon Dahl. The question has been a difficult one and has fueled policy debates for decades

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The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics commends recent efforts by the United States Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service to lay the foundation for increasing access to healthy, nutritious foods in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and to improve the program’s integrity.

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Affluent girls residing in two-parent homes are much less likely to be sexually assaulted than other female youth, according to a new study conducted by University of Iowa School of Social Work professor Amy Butler. The results appear in the Journal of Child Abuse & Neglect.

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Students with the greatest need for financial aid for college are the least prepared to submit the applications early enough to receive it, according to a study conducted at the University of Illinois at Chicago .

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