Adversity and child development in South Africa: effects of socio-economic status and violence on functioning at age 4

African Studies Seminar series. Paper presented 19 February, 1996The social and political transformations currently under way in South Africa provide reasonable grounds for optimism about the future of this country and of most of its people. However the seeds of violence, social upheaval, and economic injustice planted and nurtured during the apartheid era continue to yield a bitter and abundant harvest. This enduring legacy of violence and poverty is endemic to the daily experiences of many African families(Ramphele) 1993). A purpose of this report is to review empirical data from an investigation of the development of South African children in order to determine whether socioeconomic status (marital status, educational status and access to material resources) and their concomitants (exposure to community and family violence) predict behavioral and emotional functioning. The central question to be addressed here can be stated as follows: By age 4 are the offspring of parents with limited access to material resources and who live in dangerous areas more likely to exhibit decrements or acquire competencies in behavioral and emotional domains than the offspring of their more advantaged counterparts

Social Risks and Psychological Adjustment: A Comparison of African American and South African Children

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/65266/1/1467-8624.00099.pd

Dedication

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/67964/2/10.1177_0095798499025003001.pd

The School Experiences of Children with Cancer: Views of Parents, Educators, Adolescents, and Physicians

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/51053/1/283.pd

Implications of Families' Struggles with Childhood Cancer

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/51100/1/332.pd

Dilemmas of Providing Help in a Crisis: The Role of Friends with Parents of Children with Cancer

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/51084/1/316.pd

Development of Boys and Young Men of Color: Implications of Developmental Science for My Brother's Keeper Initiative

This report describes the My Brother's Keeper Initiative. The report summarizes ideas gleaned from developmental science that may be useful in efforts to reach five of the six initiative's goals: school readiness; third-grade literacy; high school and college graduation; and reduction of violence. The authors discuss features of the initiative designed to promote more positive outcomes and highlight the contributions that developmental science may make to each. Policy recommendations are provided and a discussion about how developmental science may contribute to national dialogue and policy formation

Economic Status, Community Danger and Psychological Problems Among South African Children

An extensive literature links community violence and poverty in the US to psychological difficulties in children. To test the cross-national generalizability of these relationships, 625 young, South African mothers residing in black townships with different levels of community danger and material hardship rated their 6-year-olds on emotional functioning and behavioral problems. Most mothers were African, employed and of low educational attainment. Community danger was confirmed as a risk factor for anxiety, depression, aggression, opposition and low affability in children. A composite measure of socioeconomic status as indexed by education and job status was unrelated to behavioral and emotional adjustment. However, children experiencing material hardship had fewer problems related to behavioral self-control than children in families with greater access to material resources

The medical context of parental coping with childhood cancer

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/44017/1/10464_2004_Article_BF00911822.pd

The Social and Cultural Context of Coping with Sickle Cell Disease: II. The Role of Financial Hardship in Adjustment to Sickle Cell Disease

Recent evidence on the negative psychological effects of poverty suggests that economic status alone might account for the adjustment problems attributed to sickle cell disease (SCD). The relationship of SCD and financial hardship to adjustment was examined in 327 ill children and their parents. SCD and hardship contributed independently to impaired child and parental functioning. For parents, illness severity had more negative effects than did financial hardship, but forPeer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/66919/2/10.1177_0095798499025003003.pd