7400:401 American Families in Poverty
Study Guide for Exam 1
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It is highly recommended that you follow this study guide as you read and as you study for the exam. I
will make every effort to adhere to this study guide when making the exam.
Important: Take notes on any videos, class discussions or guest presentations—exam questions may
come from these sources EVEN IF THEY ARE NOT COVERED ON THIS STUDY GUIDE.
Know Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory
Know how video Down and Out in America illustrated the systemic nature of poverty and economic
changes in the U.S.
What are the greatest myths about poverty?
How is the poverty rate currently defined? What are problems with the existing poverty measure(s)?
What changes to the poverty measure does the National Academy of Sciences recommend?
What is the difference between poverty thresholds and poverty guidelines?
Who is Mollie Orshansky? How did she propose we define poverty?
How was the poverty threshold revised in 1981? Have there been changes since then?
What is the “wealth gap”? How did the poverty rates change over the 1990’s?
What percentage of the U.S. falls under the poverty line? How many people are poor?
Which states are the most poor? What regions of the U.S. has the greatest proportion of poor?
What is causing the housing crisis in Ohio?
How have housing costs changed?
What are housing vouchers, and how well have they kept pace with housing costs?
How does the housing crisis affect families?
What are some of the primary challenges faced by working poor families?
What are some lending practices that can unfairly burden low income families?
What are the costs of a working poor family? At what point does an increase in income cease to
benefit families financially and why?
What is the Earned Income Tax Credit, and how does it help low income workers?
What is “predatory lending”?
What are some of the expenses that are particularly difficult for working poor? How does this affect
families’ abilities to meet basic needs?
What is the Earned Income Tax Credit, and how does it help low income workers?
What is a “right to work state”? How does this policy impact workers?
What is the Estate Tax, and how would its repeal be harmful?
How many women live below the official poverty line?
What factors contribute to poverty in women?
What factors contribute to the feminization of poverty? What are the implications of the feminization of
poverty?
What is the poverty rate for White Americans? African Americans? Hispanics? Asians?
Since the 1970s, what ethnicities have comprised the “new wave” of immigrants to the U.S.?
Terms: asylee, bilingual education, circular migration, first generation immigrant, refugee, second
generation immigrant, selective migration, undocumented immigrant, visa overstayer
What is the estimated percentage of im(migrant) school aged children for the year 2010?
What are some of the ways that the U.S. has tried to limit (im)migrant’s access to public resources
and programs? What are some problems with past and current U.S. immigration policy?
Why do minority groups experience a disproportionate share of poverty in the U.S.?
How is ethnicity linked to educational attainment of parents?
How do stereotypes affect ethnic/racial minorities?
What is the poverty rate for children?
How does poverty affect children’s health and development?
What are some risk factors associated with childhood poverty?
How has the poverty rate for children three and under changed in recent years?
Are children with an employed parent more or less likely to live in poverty now compared to earlier
decades?
How does single parenthood affect a child’s chance of growing up in poverty?
How does poverty affect the brain development of young children?
What are some of the causes of poor developmental outcomes across the lifespan?
What is the relationship between poverty and adolescent antisocial behavior?
How do multiple roles affect single parents? What is “role strain”?
How does poverty affect a person’s ability to parent?
What are some of the major challenges low-income families face? What are some of the
characteristics of parenting practices of low-income parents?
What percentage of household income does a typical single mother spend on child care?
What is the relationship between financial resources and stress?
How does stress affect a person’s ability to parent?
How is the household of poor families different in regard to cognitive stimulation of children?
Is extended parental leave more or less generous in the U.S. compared to other industrialized
countries?
How can parental leave policies help poor families? How do factors such as length of leave, level of
benefits, job protection, and provisions for quality child care affect the impact of such policies?
Terms: maternity leave, paternity leave, parental leave, child rearing leave, family leave
How does the U.S. Family Leave Act (12 weeks unpaid time off) compare to the family/parental leave
policies of other countries?
What are important statistical demographics of the older population.? Who are the “baby boomers?”
What will happen when they come of age? How has the number of people over 85 changed since
1970?
How common is poverty among the aging population? What percentage of people aged 60-90 will
experience poverty at some point during their later years? How does ethnicity affect this? gender?
Is health care a particular concern for poor older women? Why?
What responsibilities do women have that make the particularly more likely to be poor?
What are the living arrangements of older people? How many are institutionalized, live with family, or
live alone? What are the postive vs. negative outcomes of different types of caregiving for the elderly?
Has there been an increase in grandparents raising grandchildren? Why? What populations are most
affected? How does this affect the grandparents and the children respectively?
What is age discrimination? How common is it? How does it affect older people?
What is the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)?
What is the poverty rate for a person living alone? How many people have incomes below the official
poverty line? How to programs such as Social Security impact the elderly?
What is resilience? What are the personal protective factors of resilient individuals? What are some
characteristics of resilient families? communities?
Terms: androgyny, locus of control, autonomy
How can resilience be promoted?
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