While homelessness has been a problem in the United States for many years, economic trends in recent decades have resulted in more families having unstable housing than ever before. The article reviewed research in the effect of this on childhood academic success as well as touching on some experiments involving attempts to alleviate the damage done when children lose their homes. This research has been of increasing importance as a significant percentage of children have been homeless for at least a short period of time, and many of them are never able to recover the ground they lose academically as a result (Masten et al, 2014).
Overall, the authors' research has shown that homeless children had poorer academic outcomes than children …show more content…
Because parenting styles are partially learned from a parent's own childhood experiences, and partially influenced by the stresses of a parent's life both in and out of the home, the parenting style practiced by parents of low SES is likely to be less ideal for the development of academic success than that of parents of high SES. According to Seigler et al., the most effective parenting style is authoritative parenting, in which the adults have high expectations of their children's behavior but are sensitive to their children's needs and problems (2014, Section 12.2). This style of parenting is more often practiced by parents of high SES, while parents of low SES often practice authoritarian parenting which is less effective. Long term economic stress also decreases parental involvement for a variety of reasons (Siegler et al, 2014, Section 12.2). Masten et al. explored several of these concepts when discussing the impact of parenting behavior on the resilience of homeless children. They noted that good parenting helped children who were otherwise at high risk to do well in school, while children who were frequently criticized by their parents had significant problems (Masten et al, 2014, p204). According to the text, however, economic stress is likely to decrease the quality of parenting …show more content…
According to the text, Robert Bradley and Bettye Caldwell developed a system called HOME (Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment) to measure aspects of a child's home environment which had an impact on intellectual development (Siegler et al, 2014, section 8.4). These aspects are strongly correlated with the child's academic success. The basic assumption of the system, however, is that the child has a home. Elements of the child's environment which predict academic success include organization and safety of the living space, and possession of books. When the family is homeless, many of these measurements must inherently be at the lowest possible level. Therefore the studies reviewed by Masten et al. (2014) involve a collection of families in which the scores on those subscales are held constant, while only the parental interaction scores are varied. Unsurprisingly, the variations in parenting are then highly correlated with the differences in outcomes. Homeless children as studied by Masten et al. present an extreme example of the impact of environment on academic and intellectual achievement. The achievements of the group as a whole lagged significantly behind the median for their age group, but the children with high-quality parental interaction and involvement performed much better than those without, exactly as
Overall, the authors' research has shown that homeless children had poorer academic outcomes than children …show more content…
Because parenting styles are partially learned from a parent's own childhood experiences, and partially influenced by the stresses of a parent's life both in and out of the home, the parenting style practiced by parents of low SES is likely to be less ideal for the development of academic success than that of parents of high SES. According to Seigler et al., the most effective parenting style is authoritative parenting, in which the adults have high expectations of their children's behavior but are sensitive to their children's needs and problems (2014, Section 12.2). This style of parenting is more often practiced by parents of high SES, while parents of low SES often practice authoritarian parenting which is less effective. Long term economic stress also decreases parental involvement for a variety of reasons (Siegler et al, 2014, Section 12.2). Masten et al. explored several of these concepts when discussing the impact of parenting behavior on the resilience of homeless children. They noted that good parenting helped children who were otherwise at high risk to do well in school, while children who were frequently criticized by their parents had significant problems (Masten et al, 2014, p204). According to the text, however, economic stress is likely to decrease the quality of parenting …show more content…
According to the text, Robert Bradley and Bettye Caldwell developed a system called HOME (Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment) to measure aspects of a child's home environment which had an impact on intellectual development (Siegler et al, 2014, section 8.4). These aspects are strongly correlated with the child's academic success. The basic assumption of the system, however, is that the child has a home. Elements of the child's environment which predict academic success include organization and safety of the living space, and possession of books. When the family is homeless, many of these measurements must inherently be at the lowest possible level. Therefore the studies reviewed by Masten et al. (2014) involve a collection of families in which the scores on those subscales are held constant, while only the parental interaction scores are varied. Unsurprisingly, the variations in parenting are then highly correlated with the differences in outcomes. Homeless children as studied by Masten et al. present an extreme example of the impact of environment on academic and intellectual achievement. The achievements of the group as a whole lagged significantly behind the median for their age group, but the children with high-quality parental interaction and involvement performed much better than those without, exactly as