African American Children in Early Childhood Education by Iruka Iheoma U.;Curenton Stephanie M.;Durden Tonia R.;Durden Tonia R.;Iruka Iheoma U.;

Author:Iruka, Iheoma U.;Curenton, Stephanie M.;Durden, Tonia R.;Durden, Tonia R.;Iruka, Iheoma U.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited
Published: 2017-05-19T00:00:00+00:00

EPIDEMIOLOGY

Consistent with Shonkoff’s conceptualization, a preponderance of research underscores the vulnerability of African American children. First, the negative impact of poverty and its concomitants on children’s developmental outcomes has been extensively documented (Aber, Brown, Hoglund, & Jones, 2010; Duncan et al., 2010). Children have higher rates of poverty than any other demographic group, particularly young children under six years of age. In fact, 47% of young children live in low-income households (i.e., less than 200% of poverty threshold) and 24% live in poor households (i.e., below the poverty line). Further, the rates of young children in deep poverty (i.e., 50% or less of the federal poverty line) have increased (Ekono, Yang, & Smith, 2016; Jiang, Ekono, & Skinner, 2016).

African American children are disproportionately reared in impoverished environments (Jiang et al., 2016). According to the Pew Research Center’s recent analysis of the 2010–2013 U.S. Census Data, African American children’s rate of poverty has stabilized, whereas there has been a decline in the poverty rates of their White and Hispanic counterparts (Patten et al., 2014). Further, the most recent census data indicate that despite a decrease in poverty rates overall, almost one-third of African American children live in poverty (Proctor, Semega, & Kollar, 2016). Particularly relevant for this chapter, African American children under six years of age are more likely to be poor (i.e., 69%) than any of their counterparts in other racial/ethnic groups (Jiang et al., 2016).

Many early childhood adversities are associated with children being reared in impoverished environments. For example, the ACE study found that poor/near-poor children are twice as likely to have had three or more adverse experiences compared to their well-off peers (Felitti et al., 1998). In an analysis by Ekono et al. (2016), children living in poverty were more likely to live with mothers who had compromised physical and mental health as well as increased parenting stress. Poverty is a major risk factor for depression, the most common mental health disorder, with maternal depression rates as high as 52% reported in studies of low-income samples (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families, 2006; Zayas et al., 2002).

African American children may be a particularly vulnerable group in this regard, as their mothers may have higher rates of mental health challenges (Dailey & Humphreys, 2011). Ethnic minority women are disproportionately poor, single, and exposed to a range of chronic stressors associated with living in impoverished communities (Kramer, Séguin, Lydon, & Goulet, 2000; Williams & Jackson, 2005). For example, although the literature is ambiguous, there is some evidence that the prevalence of maternal depression in the United States is higher among African American and Hispanic women compared to European American women (Gavin et al. 2011; Melville, Gavin, Guo, Fan, & Katon, 2010; Rich-Edwards, 2006; Segre, O’Hara, Arndt, & Stuart, 2007). Other research suggests that in the United States, poverty is a more powerful predictor than race, and that for poor women, rates of depression are high regardless of ethnicity (Yonkers et al., 2001).

Young children who

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