More complex modelling
research has led to the emergence of two main perspectives in the literature to explain
how income matters for children’s development. They are the:
i. parental investment model;
ii. family stress model.
The parental investment model focuses on the effect of income in terms of the
family’s ability to invest resources in children’s development (Becker & Thomas,
1986; Haveman & Wolfe, 1994; Mayer, 1997)8. This perspective posits that income
enables parents to buy the materials, services and experiences that benefit
development and build human capital. According to the parental investment model
children from impoverished families tend to do less well in education and other
aspects of life because they have limited access to material resources such as
childcare, schools, food, housing and stimulating learning activities and
environments.
The second model, the family stress perspective, emphasises the effect of income
through its influence on family process in terms of their parenting behaviours and
practices as well as parents’ emotional well-being (for example, Conger et al., 2002).
In addition to restraining family material resources, economic hardship may affect the
ways in which parents monitor their children and respond to their needs (Brooks-
Gunn & Duncan, 1997; Huston, 1995). In contrast to the investment perspective, the
family stress perspective suggests that low family income is detrimental to children’s
development because of its association with parents’ non-pecuniary capacities,
diminishing parents’ ability to interact with, socialise with and teach their children.
For example, economic hardship adversely affects parents’ psychological well-being,
in turn, this psychological distress leads to less warm and supportive parenting, which
consequently has negative effects for healthy child development.
6.3. The mechanisms mediating the effects of poverty on
children’s intellectual development
6.3.1 Overview of the paper
Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), Guo and Harris
(2000) examined both material and non-material mediating factors in a general
ecological framework, focusing specifically on children’s intellectual development.
Their conceptual model can be seen in Box 12 below and specifies the mechanisms
mediating the effects of family poverty, and the links between poverty, the mediating
factors and intellectual development.
8 Other terms for this perspective include ‘human capital’, ‘financial resources’ or ‘investment model’.
75