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Cycle of poverty hard to break - study

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Wed, 18 Jan 2012 9:12a.m.

Kids born into poor families are far more likely than wealthier peers to be poor

Kids born into poor families are far more likely than wealthier peers to be poor

Kids born into poor families are far more likely than wealthier peers to be poor, drug-addicted, benefit-dependent and incarcerated 30 years on, research confirms.

A large-scale long-term study of 1265 Christchurch families has confirmed the widely held belief that parents, whether skint or moneyed-up, pass their financial situation on to the next generation.

Children born into families that were poor in the child's first decade of life earned $25,000 a year less than kids born into rich families.

These people were also more likely to have a criminal record, mental health problems as adults or become parents themselves before the age of 20.

In the poorest 20 percent of families, 40 percent of kids left school without any qualifications, compared with less than 10 percent of those from the richest homes.

Study director Professor David Fergusson says the results show parents' income can be a powerful decider in a child's future.

He says it's unlikely the money itself provides the boost for kids, but rather that wealthier parents are better positioned to offer role-modelling, time and resources to help their children succeed.

The results were released in a newsletter published by Children's Commissioner Dr Russell Wills.

The study findings will contribute to a new ministerial committee on poverty to be set up by Deputy Prime Minister Bill English and Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia under a post-election agreement between the two parties.

Key findings from the Otago University study include:

- About 35 percent of the poorest kids had committed a violent or property crime by the age of 30, compared to just over 15 percent of the richest kids.

- Teenaged pregnancies were more than three times higher among the poorest group of kids.

- The wealthiest kids earned an average of $60,000 at age 30, compared to about $35,000 for the poorest.

NZN

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Comments

23 Jan 2012 07:25a.m.

moral outrage wrote:

Well @John the latest educational advance by the govt is to put untrained teachers in low decile schools in South Auks. Low paid staff for kids of low paid parents.

18 Jan 2012 07:43p.m.

John wrote:

Once education is privatised, you can easily add it to the list of things only *really* available to the wealthy. We used to be a country that looked after it's own, no matter where they existed on the great ladder of luck. While I am furnishing my comfortable middle-sized house and living off enough money to pay for my groceries and petrol, I have no problem with paying income taxes relative to my position on the ladder as long as those taxes make the groceries cheaper for everybody - NOT simply make Key's wallet fatter. If Key didnt get that tax cut, hundreds of families would be eating home made sandwiches for dinner instead of sharing a can of baked beans or a scoop of chips. And show me some proof this election wasnt rigged like the Americans - I know a diverse number of people in many different places around the net, and I've met less than 5% interested in supporting what National and Key are doing (apart from multinational corporations!) - where did the rest of these votes come from? Nobody near where I live, nobody that knows how to use the internet? Does Key count gravestones?

18 Jan 2012 07:35p.m.

Moral outrage wrote:

It has been found that the biggest obstacle for a mother trying to get off DPB is her childrens health needs not being met. Women on the DPB are far more likely to be raising disabled children or children with long term illness, than others. It sets up a nasty spiral downwards

18 Jan 2012 07:11p.m.

wondering wrote:

I am wondering how much state interference and discrimination affects the health and education a lower socio child receives and how this affects their adult life. are lower socio kids discouraged or paid less attention at school , do they receive the same quality health services or do they get written off as less worthy than the more outwardly affluent. As in being subjected to an " he/ she wont amount to anything anyway , why waste our time and money" attitude. Kids do what people expect of them for good or bad. Kids can give up on themselves if they believe no one cares Society needs to look at its attitudes

18 Jan 2012 07:04p.m.

floral paisley wrote:

@ Gosh: but if you had 2 kids and had a stroke and one of them got cancer and lost a leg and you had to give up your job would that be your fault? Because that is how the cycle starts. Or if your child was born blind and deaf .... that would mean 2 generations of you on benefits

18 Jan 2012 04:09p.m.

Gosh wrote:

The overwhelming majority of this problem is cultural. If was to own 6 dogs without considering long term care for them such as food or vet care, I would be considered an animal abuser.

18 Jan 2012 10:55a.m.

Clarke wrote:

@John John Key is elitest.... his persona if you would like to call it that is a mechanism taught to him at university and through business training programmes. He has learnt how to project an image.... but that image is not who he really is. He gave himself a large tax cut, he has remade New Zeland society in the archaic class system model. His priorities for funding programmes goe in order of his class teir system The rich first, business second, the middle class then families followed by minimum wage workers and then we have youth workers on slave wages. Then right at the bottom you have dog excrement, followed by beneficiaries. John Key is staunchly anti progress... he is openly against it, he clings to the archaic old class tier system because it makes him feel more than he is. What I dont understand is how New Zealanders dont get that we have one of the most biggoted elitest National governments in our history. Old Dinosaurs lost in time who want to revisit the days of slavery and serfdom. John Key and his party are more devolved individuals... I cant say that this govenment has one evolved individual in it at all. John Keys answer is to lie to kiwis..... trickle down economics is the answer he says... lol but trickle down economics has been proven to be nothing more than a lie dreamt up by the rich to get more government welfare.... and being the classest elitest that John Key is.... they will get as much welfare as they want. Primarily because while he is propping them up with state funds... he is also propping himself up too. When John Key makes laws that benefit the wealthy... he isnt really just doing it for them... he is doing it for himself as well.... how much wealthier is John Key as a result of being Prime Minister and giving out these tax cuts?

18 Jan 2012 09:40a.m.

Pondering wrote:

This article does not mention the vicious cycle that the predicament of raising children with disabilities that prevent parents and the disabled offspring from paid work. It keeps them in the low socio bracket. These kids will have physical, mental health and nuero issues which can lead to greater chance of addiction, not completing education etc, which leads to unemployment and reliance on benefits. It will have a fall out affect on their siblings. It does not mention the discriminatory attitudes and professional inadequacies of agencies and employees that disregard the needs of many of these vulnerable kids and families. That robs kids of opportunities others are given. Low socio people rely on legal aid and other less viable legal assistance. They and or their parents cannot afford proper legal representation. They get convicted more. Criminal records hamper employment and education. Other media agencies have another version of this public relations propaganda article that suggest poor children are less intelligent and tout the govt Green Paper as a means to remove low socio, single parent raised and disabled children from all parents as a "precautionary measure". Where are they going to put al these kids and what will they do with them?? In the Work House or Down the Mines like the old days??

18 Jan 2012 09:37a.m.

John wrote:

So John Key's promise-breaking increase to GST, which negatively affects the "poor people" mentioned here while positively affecting Key himself ($1000/wk tax cut) was essentially cementing his own personal bloodline through the future at the cost of all the less-fortunate families? Is it strange to feel like a Jew being marched to the gas chambers? I vote we rise up and show these rich bastards what power there is in numbers. Things are too uneven now. We need nothing short of a redistribution of wealth. (And not another $1000/wk from the poor to the rich)