Poverty and Children′s Adjustment (Developmental Clinical Psychology and Psychiatry) - Softcover

Luthar, Suniya

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0761905197 ISBN 13: 9780761905196

Publisher: SAGE Publications, Inc, 1999

Synopsis

The effects of poverty, lack of education and other negative socioeconomic forces on children′s development are examined from an interdisciplinary perspective in this book. It provides an in-depth review of the literature on psychopathology among children faced with sociodemographic disadvantage, and integrates findings of empirical research conducted over the past 30 years, as well as suggested directions of future research.

About this title

About the Author:

Suniya S. Luthar is Professor of Clinical and Developmental Psychology at Columbia University’s Teachers College. She received her Ph.D. from Yale University in 1990. Dr. Luthar′s research involves vulnerability and resilience among various populations including youth in poverty and children in families affected by mental illness. Her recent work has focused on children in affluent communities, and her findings on problems among these youth―particularly pertaining to substance use and anxiety―have received much attention in the scientific community, among parents and school administrators, and in the national media. In addition to numerous peer-reviewed journal articles, Dr. Luthar’s books include Children in Poverty: Risk and Protective Forces in Adjustment; Developmental Psychopathology: Perspectives on Adjustment, Risk, and Disorder; and most recently, Resilience and Vulnerability in Childhood: Adaptation in the Context of Adversities. Dr. Luthar is Associate Editor of Developmental Psychology and Development and Psychopathology. She has served as Chair of a grant review committee at the National Institutes of Health and is currently a member of the Governing Council of the Society for Research on Child Development, and of the American Psychological Association′s Committee on Socioeconomic Status. For her distinguished contributions to science, she has been recognized as a Fellow of the American Association for Psychological Science (APS) and has received several awards including a Dissertation Award, and the Boyd McCandless Young Scientist Award, both from the American Psychological Association, a Research Scientist Development Award from the National Institutes of Health, and an American Mensa Education and Research Foundation Award for Excellence in Research on Intelligence.

Review:

Up-to-date, concise, and well-written, this book offers a thorough and thoughtful analysis of the impact of poverty on the social and emotional functioning of children. Looking at both risk factors and protective influences (the "mediators and moderators of adverse life circumstances"), the author critically and effectively integrates and synthesizes past and recent research in a form useful to both researchers and clinicians. Findings are viewed through a lens of culture and context, broadening and expanding our understanding. Attention is paid to the adaptive capacities of children who, with family, community, school, and neighborhood supports, are able to survive and thrive in spite of (or in response to) difficult early experiences. Highly recommended!--Steven Friedman, PhD, & Donna Haig Friedman, PhD, Ctr for Social Policy, McCormack Inst for Public Affairs, U of Massachusetts, Boston -- Readings, Vol. 14, No. 4, December 1999

About this edition

• Publisher: SAGE Publications, Inc
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0761905197
• ISBN 13: 9780761905196
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 144