A Mixed Methods Investigation of the Experience of Poverty Among a Population of Low-Income Parenting Women

Abstract

This study sought to operationalize poverty in the context of parenting specific to a sample of low-income mothers; to examine how mothers describe sources of stress related to poverty; and to explore how these experiences affect mothers’ parenting practices. Mothers trained in research methods administered surveys to other mothers in community settings assessing parenting stressors, mental wellbeing, basic needs, and goals. Women reported difficulty obtaining basic needs. Qualitatively, women described financial hardship, housing, employment status, and transportation as sources of stress, which influenced their parenting practices. These findings connect a mother’s inability to meet her basic needs with parenting quality, and suggest that programs promoting early childhood development through building the capacity of parents must focus on basic needs and strategies to alleviate poverty. Healthcare providers may be able to glean specific terminology utilized by women when they inquire about basic needs and form partnerships with basic needs providers.

Multiple Marginality and the Variation in Delinquency and Substance use Among Adolescent Gang Members

“…Yet, family dynamics are often influenced by neighborhood and environmental factors. For example, poverty and economic insecurity among low-income families can impair parenting practices, prevent successful role-modeling or guidance, and increase parental substance use (Lange, Dáu, Goldblum, Alfano, & Smith, 2017). Youth from single-parent households and those with family incomes below the poverty line are more likely to join gangs (Pyrooz & Sweeten, 2015).…”

Women’s Experiences of the Effect of Financial Strain on Parenting and Mental Health

“…Our data also suggest that disrupted parenting is not a passive outcome that arises solely from parental distress but also from conscious choices women make to cope with economic hardship and to shield their children from it. Lange et al (2017) similarly found that women who experienced poverty reported that they did not parent the way they wanted to; however, they did not explore women's understanding of why they made these parenting changes or of how these parenting changes affected themselves. Our findings imply that to effectively apply the Family Stress Model, practitioners must acknowledge why parents make parenting changes and help them feel more empowered in their parenting.…”

“…Poverty and financial strain are associated with negative effects on maternal mental health (Dijkstra-Kersten et al, 2015;Wickham et al, 2017). For instance, researchers found that mothers with financial strain had more symptoms of depression (Lange et al, 2017), whereas researchers in other quantitative studies found that symptoms of depression were mediated by factors such as attitudes toward government assistance programs (Bergmans et al, 2018) and employment status (Bourke-Taylor et al, 2011). However, the mechanisms by which financial strain affects negative maternal mental health have not been rigorously studied (Luca et al, 2020;Simon et al, 2018).…”

Parenting and toddler self‐regulation in low‐income families: What does sleep have to do with it?

“…It is also possible, however, that negative parenting could contribute to toddlers’ poor sleep—the cross‐sectional nature of the current report does not allow us to distinguish the nature of the association, which could be bidirectional. Children experiencing insufficient sleep are likely to have a more difficult time regulating their emotions and behavior, which can prove challenging for parents who also may be experiencing concurrent sleep loss due to family stress (Lange, Dáu, Goldblum, Alfano, & Smith, ) and their child's poor sleep health (Moore & Mindell, ). In this dynamic context, caregivers may respond with more negative parenting, resulting in parent–child dyads becoming entrenched in patterns of negative affect and behavior that impede the parent–child relationship from optimally supporting children's development.…”