Unseen Poverty in Orange County

Add Sixteen-year-old Monica, left, plays solitaire on a laptop as her brothers Cesar and Jonathan watch TV in the tiny apartment they share with four additional family members. Stretches of Los Angeles and Orange counties have some of the most crowded housing in the country. (Christina House / For The Times)

Throughout the course I have learned how poverty has been a contributing factor to negative familial issues from the couple’s relationship to the children’s health and well-being. In module 12, a video is shown about a homeless, african american family that has to resort to sleeping in a homeless shelter and in their own car because the mom’s full-time job is insufficient to afford them an apartment. Bringing this back locally, there is another type of unseen poverty that people might not be aware happening around us in Orange County; overcrowding housing.

 

Overcrowded housing is basically different multiple families living under the same house. For instance, in many cases, a house with four bedrooms might have a different family per room. Most families are around 3 to 4 four family members. Thus, for just a 4 bedroom house we might be talking about 12 to 16 people under the same roof. I know this from experience. My last residence was the most overcrowded place my family has ever lived in. Every available space in the house was used including the living room, garage, and even the driveway as one person slept in their car. As a full-time student and my husband being the only breadwinner, we could not afford anything else. What is even worse, that in the same house we lived in, all  the couples were  both employed and still couldn’t afford suitable housing.

An article in the Los Angeles times by Reyes and Menezes describe the Los Angeles County and Orange County as having “more than half of the nation's most heavily crowded neighborhoods, with rising rents far outpacing incomes” (Reyes and Menezes,2014).  Overcrowding housing is an urgent issue that needs to be addressed. Reyes and Menezes describe in their article that “UCLA and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers have found that children in crowded homes have poorer health, worse scores on math and reading tests and more behavioral and emotional problems — such as tantrums and depression — even when poverty is taken into account” (2014).

It is extremely devastating having to live in this situation especially when one is doing all that is possible. I know I am. My family doesn’t take any type of governmental aid such as food stamps, wic, or calfresh. The only assistance we would want to have, while I finish my degree and bring in a second income, would be affordable housing. Unfortunately, in all of Orange County affordable housing lists are either closed or have a waiting list of around 10 years! Thus, as of now, we are just forced to make this sacrifice and trying to mitigate all the negative impacts it has on our family including our two preschool age boys.

One of the things I did not hear in the poverty videos in Module 12 was how public policy has a great impact in allowing families to have access to affordable housing. As a Public Administration major, I have supplemented my experience, by taking this course, as know I have knowledge on the sociological familial necessities for the families  health and well being. This is a great tool for me as a citizen and future public administrator to fulfill the needs of the community I live in and will be serving.

Works Citied:

Reyes, E. A., & Menezes, R. (2014). L.A. and Orange counties are an epicenter of overcrowded housing. Retrieved May 08, 2016, from http://articles.latimes.com/2014/mar/07/local/la-me-crowding-20140308

Verbal Abuse: A Form of Child Abuse

Source:Juvenile Protective Association

Before becoming a mom, I had my fair share of observing children getting yelled at and even spanked in public places. I would always feel enraged when the parent was using verbal aggression and profanity to discipline their child. I vowed I would never do such a demeaning act as a parent especially when I learned that verbal abuse is a form of child abuse. Although many parents might believe that verbal abuse is a form of discipline, in reality, verbal abuse is an aspect of child abuse  which is “any behavior or lack of behavior by parents and caregivers that results in deliberate harm to a child’s physical or psychological well-being”(Knox and Schacht,2014). What is most devastating are the negative long-term effects of verbal abuse such as “acts of rejection, condemnation, yelling, nagging, threats of violence, and slapping”(Hutchison and Mueller,2008). Therefore, it is extremely crucial for parents to become aware of the damage created from verbal abuse in order to refrain from using it as a form a discipline and instead learn of appropriate forms of discipline that will not damage their child’s psychological well-being.

Source: Thinstock Images/Comstock/Getty Images

A negative effect pertaining to verbal abuse of a child includes increased physical aggression as teenagers (Spillane-Grieco,2000). Spillane-Grieco has done research of verbal abuse of teenagers and he found that the teens in the study were victimized through verbal aggression mostly from their mothers which can suggest that it can lead to “serious negative effects on child and adolescent development and behavior” (Spillane-Grieco, 2000). For instance, teens that were crime offenders in comparison to non-offenders reported more that they had experienced verbal aggression from their parents. Unfortunately, children and teens that are verbally abused don’t bear bruises like those who are physically abused and thus often don’t get the help in time and instead start getting attention when they start to break the law.  

Surprisingly, another negative effect associated to child verbal abuse is that the children can “become [future] targets for further victimization at the hands of their peers” (Hutchinson and Mueller,2008). The findings of this study “indicate that parental emotional and verbal abuse is a significant predictor of peer-related victimization” especially since they develop a low self-esteem due the abuse. This might also be a reason why a victimized child can fall into an abusive relationship in their later years as adults.

Source: renewedhopecenter.org

Thus, there is a great need to help parents understand the damage of verbal abuse and informing them of methods of discipline which are most effective such as time-out or withdrawal of privileges (Knox and Schact,2014).  It is also important that parents make sure they provide their children with messages of love, encouragement, praise and acceptance (Knox and Schacht,2014).Now, as a mother of two and soon to be three, I begin to understand the importance of parenting adequately. Also, with the emergence of the Internet it is also possible of learning effective ways of parenting without leaving the house. Some sites I found useful were https://www.zerotothree.org/, https://childcareaware.org/,and                                             http://www.webmd.com/parenting/guide/discipline-tactics
 All in all, I am grateful that my mom never used verbal aggression towards me and never allowed my father to verbally abuse her because her actions helped me understand that such form of abuse is not only demeaning but intolerable.

Works Cited:

Hutchinson, L., & Mueller, D. (2008). Sticks and stones and broken bones: The influence of parental verbal abuse on peer related victimization.Western Criminology Review,9(1), 17.

Knox, D., & Schacht, C. (2014). Choices in relationships: An introduction to marriage and the family. S.l.: Wadsworth.

Spillane-Grieco, E. (2000). From parent verbal abuse to teenage physical aggression?. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 17(6), 411-430.

Gender Differences in Families:

Now and Then

Source Source

   The changes families and marriage have undergone  are undeniable and apparent. The strong family values seen in the past are decreasing and a person who decides to be single or child free has become acceptable even encouraged (Knox 24). Also, gender roles in families and marriages seem to have reversed; women keep taking an increased part in the workforce and men spending more time at home(24). The greater question is why have gender roles changed and what type of effects will come as a result of this change.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2003996/How-HALF-U-S-fathers-stay-home-dads.html

I come from a Mexican family where strong family values are an essential part of life not to mention the clearly defined gender roles. In a sense, my family is an example of the typical traditional family  in the 1950's.  When I was growing up I began to criticize the things women in my culture were expected to do along with the various things that were unacceptable. For instance, my mom had to stay at home and tend to household chores, children, and prepare all the meals. Whereas, my dad went to work and was the one who made all the decisions including financial decisions. My mom had no voice in decisions and working outside of home was out of the question. I definitely did not want to be in my mom's shoes  and preferred an egalitarian family structure. However, my family structure began changed when my dad's sole income was insufficient and my mom was encouraged to work. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bd2T_N0omC4(Video on Mexican gender roles)

According to an article in the Journal of Marriage and Family an increase of men's engagement with child care tasks has been linked to changes in the family's economy especially during the years of the Great Depression of 2007-2009. "What families looked like and how they formed continued to change,following trends set in motion decades earlier, by equal opportunity legislation and the expansion of women's employment, the implementation of no-fault divorce laws, increasing control over fertility and greater sexual freedom, and increased longevity"(Knop 284).  Thus, it took various factors to shift the gender roles in families but the economic recessions appear to have greater impact on the family structure and this was exactly what happened in my family. 

Men's increased engagement in child-care was a great benefit for families meet their "day-to-day responsibilities in the face of economic hardship "(Knop 291). In comparison to my family, my dad's contribution to child-caring helped our family's economy to grow as babysitting fees were avoided. The second question is what effects on the family do a change in gender roles have aside from the display of  father's flexibility  during economic instability. It is crucial to analyze the effects because  traditional family structure have decreased from 65% in 1960 to 22% in 2012 according to a graphic provided by Deseret News. 

Well, a study that promoted father engagement with children in Mexican American and European American families "showed positive effects on fathers' engagement with their children, couple relationship quality, and children's problem behaviors" (Cowan 663) compared to families that only received limited intervention.  This study makes a great emphasis that although father's play a greater role in child-caring compared to past decades, the positive effects  of father's engagement can be dramatically increased if father's participate in an intervention program that helps them understand the implications and responsibilities of father hood. The findings in this study definitely echo what happened in my family as my mom was now working evenings and my dad would care for my siblings and me. Although, the time my mom worked was only for a short period, my dad's involvement in child-caring was a difficult and stressful adjustment for the whole family.  If my parent's had assisted a parent's intervention program like the families in the study I believe we would have had greater benefits and a prolonged engagement from my dad even when my family was no longer  going through economic crises. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtLx20dLXpg (Video on risks of father's lack of involvement)

References:

Cowan, P. , Cowan, C. , Pruett, K. , Pruett, M. , Wong, J. , et al. (2009). Promoting fathers' engagement with children: Preventive interventions for low-income families. Journal of Marriage and Family, 71(3), 663-679.

Knop, B. and Brewster, K. L. (2016), Family Flexibility in Response to Economic Conditions: Fathers' Involvement in Child-Care Tasks. Journal of Marriage and Family, 78: 283–292. doi: 10.1111/jomf.12249

Knox, D., & Schacht, C. (2015). Choices in Relationships: Introduction to Marriage and the Family (12th ed.). Wadsworth Pub.