Does Poverty Impact Depression in African American Adolescents and the Development of Suicidal Ideations

Does Poverty Impact Depression in African American Adolescents and the Development of Suicidal ideations

Webster University

Calvin Brown

President Lyndon Johnson declared a War on Poverty in his State of the Union Address in 1964.  In 2014 child poverty has reached record levels and children of color are disproportionately poor.  Poverty is a lack of the usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions.  The "poverty threshold" is the most common measure of poverty in the U.S. and is set by the U.S. government. It recognizes poverty as a lack of those goods and services commonly taken for granted by members of mainstream society.  The official threshold is adjusted for inflation using the consumer price index.  Poverty is based on total income received according to the government. For example, the poverty level for 2014 was set at $23,850, total yearly income, for a family of four. Most Americans will spend at least one year below the poverty line at some point between ages 25 and 75.  Compared to suburban areas poverty rates are persistently higher in rural and inner city parts of the country.

In November 2012 the U.S. Census Bureau noted that more than 16% of the population lived in poverty, including almost 20% of American children, up from 14.3%, approximately 43.6 million, in 2009 and to its highest level since 1993. In 2008, 13.2%, 39.8 million, Americans lived in poverty. Beginning in the 1980s, relative poverty rates have consistently exceeded those of other wealthy nations.  In 2009 the number of people who were in poverty was approaching 1960s levels that led to the national War on Poverty. In 2011 extreme poverty in the United States, meaning households living on less than $2 per day before government benefits, was double 1996 levels at 1.5 million households, including 2.8 million children. This would be roughly 1.2% of the US population in 2011, presuming a mean household size of 2.55 people. Census data for 2011 showed that half the population qualified as low income.  California has a poverty rate of 23.5%, the highest of any state in the country.  Current U.S. census figures reveal that poverty remains high in Florida.  

One in every six Floridians was living in poverty last year, including one in four children, according to recent census data; numbers that are unchanged since 2011. The statewide income trend is more positive. Median household income increased by a statistically significant margin for the first time in years, reaching $46,036 in 2013; though it remains well below a pre-recession peak of $50,284. The numbers are less encouraging in Sarasota and Manatee counties, where poverty and income levels did not budge last year. Sarasota County's median household income of $48,263 and poverty rate of 12.8 percent remain at recession levels. Median income jumped in Manatee from 2011 to 2012 but stayed flat last year at $48,309, and the county poverty rate hasn't subsided since the recession.