Poverty and Economic Strain

Poverty and economic strain have strong effects on early childhood development. Young children’s biology is shaped by poverty and they experience most of poverty’s effects via the family microsystem. Neighborhood factors influence this family system, and both are nested within the societal conditions that create economic disadvantage. This chapter uses an ecobiological framework to contextualize early childhood poverty and economic strain across biological, family, neighborhood, and societal systems. This multilevel approach ultimately indicates several avenues for interventions that can mitigate the more harmful aspects of economic adversity and amplify adaptive and protective mechanisms.