Growing Global Concern over Poverty

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The growing concern of poverty is a prevalent issue that prevents many individuals from succeeding. Often, it is the economic, social and political barriers that limit one's potential to succeed. A lot of these barriers affect individuals of all ages; however, youth in Canada are the ones at the most significant risk from being affected by poverty. The focus of the paper is to identify and recommend solutions to the issues of poverty associated with youth in Canada. The reason why youth poverty has the most substantial risk is that youths will become a leading generation that will face more significant issues such as global warming. By tackling youth poverty at a young age, it is possible to decrease the amount of poverty and increase the average income of Canadian's. To put Canadian youth poverty into perspective, one in five children live in poverty conditions and more than a third of food bank users across Canada were children in 2016 (Canada Without Poverty, 2017). It is vital that sociologists and healthcare professionals understand the income issues in Canada because it reflects the government's abilities to reduce economic inequality and the expensive medical treatments that are not covered (Siavash, 2018). If income issues were left as they are, the rich would only get richer as they would be able to afford healthcare and education for their offspring while the poor are left in a cycle of poverty. The cycle of poverty consists of a family impoverished for three generations and starts with the child born to a low-income family (Dubay, 2018). The lack of opportunity for advancement is the primary cause of this cycle as low-income families do not have access to the required resources to improve their living conditions ultimately affecting children (Dubay, 2018).

Impact on Income Issues in Canada

Income inequality in Canada is a significant issue that is particularly common among families facing poverty. To put it in a micro-sociological perspective, a youth's development heavily relies on their family and environment. By increasing income within families, we can consistently improve living conditions for families as youths will be able to adopt greater attitudes, gain better grades and attend post-secondary education. This has been supported as many studies have identified a positive correlation between income and youth development (The Vancouver Sun, 1998). With the increase in income, families can provide more to their children as they will have greater access to resources and food which will support their development. There is also a negative correlation to the amount of income and healthy eating of Youth Canada. It showed that children of low income have poor diet quality characterized by low consumption of the four food groups and high consumption of the other food categories (St John et al., 2008). The income issues in Canada associated with youth development has its effect on each youth as they do not have the required resources for success. As youth are dependent, income is a responsibility of parents. If parents do not have a good job to support their child, the child will not be able to gain a proper education and will continue to struggle through poverty throughout their life.

Parent-Offspring Conflict Theory

Conflict is present in our everyday lives and can have positive or negative effects. The importance of a parent-child relationship and its connection to society and the health care system is critical. The parent-offspring conflict theory (POCT) which is a sub-type of conflict theory examines the role of parent-child relationship and the increasing number of siblings to an increase of conflict. How POCT affects individuals at a smaller scale is that when there are more siblings, there is more conflict. Parents use a mild form of eugenics where they tend to invest more into the siblings that they feel will be more successful. This results in one sibling gaining the most benefit and love by parents while other siblings are neglected and given low expectations of success. In low-income families, this is evident as they do not have enough money to support the income of many children and would rely on the most successful child to take care of them when they are older (Veigh, 2017). The theory also identifies parental disruption which is a child living without biological parents (Schlomer, Ellis, Garber, 2010). Parentally disrupted families go through many processes that result in the unwillingness of parents to invest time, energy and resources into their children (Schlomer, Ellis, Garber, 2010). For example, parental deaths result in a loss of parental investment in children and divorced custodial parents who are commonly mothers tend to provide lower quality parental investment when compared to non-parental disrupted families (Schlomer, Ellis, Garber, 2010). This reflects society as low-income families tend to have more children. These children will grow up living either as low-income individuals or reliant on their parents for care. This will continue to keep the underachievers in poverty; however, the successful ones may also experience issues of income related to healthcare. As baby boomer parents enter their old age, there will be a need for increasing long-term care support for them. Parents often grow old and become dependent on their children for help. This puts a more significant financial strain on the child who may have a family of their own to support (Fogler, 2009). The increased costs result in older adults being discharged from community nursing homes as they end up in home-based nursing's usually at their child's house (Fogler, 2009). The healthcare system should be looking over this as a decrease in older adults in proper nursing homes will leave more nurses unemployed while continuing to have a financial strain on the child of older adults. From this theory, I learned that the lack of income has its short and long-term effects that can reflect society and the healthcare system. The actions individuals make result in many children receiving inadequate support and more children growing up to low-income jobs. In the focus of healthcare systems, unless they make affordable long-term health care for adults, many of these low-income family children will have a financial strain on them as they would opt for home care which is more economical. This would leave many nurses unemployed with an increasing number of older adults being discharged from facilities due to financial reasons.

Recommendations for the Future

Canada should be taking many actions to reduce poverty within youths. To do this, they must combat this issue by implementing many strategies and policies at a family level. Current statistics by Citizens for Public Justice (2018) show that poverty in Canada is highest (47.4%) for children in lone-parent families which has gone down from 50% since 2015. Statistics like these need a significant drop to decrease the amount of poverty affecting youths. Canada should be looking more than just providing jobs as a way of reducing poverty; the jobs should have enough hours and pay to support the number of children within the family (Citizens for Public Justice, 2018). The government should be focused on meeting target goals on reducing poverty as it'll help alleviate other economic consequences and allow for investments in other issues. Reducing poverty will also decrease health risks and break individuals free from the cycle of poverty. A policy that focuses on income, housing, health, food and education is what the Canadian government needs to reduce poverty (Millar, 2017). By doing so, the government will be supporting families and youths to improve their living conditions and create a better life for everyone as a long-term investment to society.

Throughout the research and writing of this assignment, I have come to understand better the types of patients I may face in my nursing career. Each patient has a unique background from where they come from as many of them live in poverty. It is clear to me that having an active role in reducing income is essential for myself and society. Everything relating to the government is connected and can ultimately affect ourselves even though we are not directly affected. A lot of patients have a rough history and what nurses need to do is provide comfort and trust. Patients should be able to feel safe in the hands of nurses because many of them have gone through some form of neglect or abuse in their life. Nurses should be respectful of others and try to accommodate their patients best. Reducing income inequality will only benefit everyone as many children will be able to afford care for their parents in nursing homes, youths will be able to gain a proper education and families will live a more satisfying life by supporting their children. Canada still has a long way to go before they can cross reducing poverty off their list of goals. With the help of nurses, they can provide the love, and care patients need to assist them to adequately getting their life together.

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Growing Global Concern over Poverty. (2019, Apr 16). Retrieved March 29, 2024 , from
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