Evidence mounting that poverty causes lasting physical and mental health problems for children, By David Templeton, November 24, 2013, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: “Sheila Good faced the decision most mothers dread. Should she spend more time raising her son or earning a paycheck? Should she be a better mom or a better provider? For her 6-year-old son, Benjamin, a little redhead dedicated to baseball, either choice would induce stress. It’s one of those puzzles of poverty with health impacts on children. Three recent studies add to mounting evidence that poverty can exact a lasting toll on a child’s mental and physical well-being, with stress representing a key pathway. Those studies focus on poverty’s impact on a child’s brain volume, the adverse impact of childhood poverty on adult health, and the mental and behavior problems associated with substandard housing…”
Day: November 27, 2013
Mental Health Screening for Children
Screening children for mental health issues may not guarantee care, By Chelsea Conaboy, November 25, 2013, Boston Globe: “Six years after the state launched an unprecedented effort to address the mental and developmental needs of young children, doctors in Massachusetts are screening more children for behavioral health concerns than any other state. Nearly 7 in 10 Massachusetts children under age 6 in low-income families were screened in 2011 and 2012 — more than twice the rate in the United States as a whole, according to data released this month by the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center as part of the national Kids Count report. Doctors in North Carolina, which had the second highest rate, screened just over half of this group of children…”