Poverty potential risk factors affecting child development ¿Is it possible to prevent them?

RICHAUD, M.C.

Ciudad del Cabo

Congreso; Internacional Congress of Psychology; 2012

- Poverty potential risk factors affecting child development ¿Is it possible to prevent them?: A child is deemed to run environmental risk if his life experiences are substantially limited by poverty during early childhood, in connection with the development of his attachment with his care-givers, organization of the family, health care, nutrition and opportunities of physical and social stimuli (Epps & Jackson, 2000). Risk factors for adverse outcomes often co-occur, and they may have cumulative effects over time. The cumulative effect of poverty has a pervasive effect on the well being of young people. Werner (1996) indicated chronic poverty as the most significant environmental risk factor. Evidence has grown over the past years, of an ongoing interaction between the impact of a given environment and the intricate brain circuit. Several environmental factors may affect the processes of brain-development, although one of the most relevant is the impact caused by environmental stress. If the child develops in interaction with the environment, children at environmental risk are not on a par with those who are free from risk. This imbalance may be improved, albeit not compensated for with irregular intervention programmes. For intervention actions to achieve sustained results along infancy and adolescence, they must be intense and continuous along time. We will present results that indicate that an ongoing, intense and controlled work, supported by scientific theories of development, may attain huge progress on the psychological resources of children under environmental risk which will enable them to successfully cope with the challenges they will encounter in life.