Children Born Poor More Likely to Be Dogged by Poverty University, childhood, Children, children, families

雨落风残

Children born poor are far more likely to be dogged by poverty through childhood and into early adulthood than those who aren't, a new study shows.

Using data from a University of Michigan program that has been tracking the same families for over 40 years, economists at the Urban Institute found that 49% of children who are born into households below the poverty line spend at least half of their first 18 years in poverty. Among children not poor at birth, just over a quarter spend any of their childhood years poor, and only 4% are poor for at least half of their childhood

Economists Caroline Ratcliffe and Signe-Mary McKernan also found that 21% of children who are poor at birth go on to spend at least half of the years between 25 and 30 in poverty. Only 4% of children not born into poverty do that.

Race plays an important role in the later outcomes of children born into poverty. Some 69% of black children born poor spend half their childhoods in poverty, compared to 31% of white children. Black men who were born into poverty are nearly half as likely to be employed every year from age 25 to age 30 as black men not born into poverty. White men born poor are actually slightly more likely to be consistently employed during those years than white men not born poor.

But while blacks born poor were about twice as likely to not get a high school diploma as blacks not born into poverty, whites who were poor at birth were six times as likely to not get a diploma as whites not born poor.

一项新的研究显示，生于贫困家庭的孩子相比其他人更容易在童年和成年初期受穷。

密歇根大学(University of Michigan)的一个项目对同一组家庭追踪了40多年，城市研究所(Urban Institute)的经济学家根据其中的数据发现，那些出生于贫困线以下家庭的孩子中，有49%人生头18年至少有一半时间处于贫困状态。在所出生家庭并不贫困的人中，有过一年或几年贫困生活的只超过四分之一，童年至少一半时间生活贫困的只有4%。

经济学家拉特克利夫(Caroline Ratcliffe)和麦克南(Signe-Mary McKernan)还发现，25岁到30岁期间至少一半时间处于贫困状态的，在出身贫寒的人中占了21%，在出身不贫寒的人只有4%。


在贫困家庭孩子的后面一种境遇中，种族因素起到了重要的作用。约69%出身贫困的黑人童年时间一半是在贫困中度过，白人的这个比例是31%。出身贫困的黑人男性在25岁到30岁每一年都有工作的概率，是出身非贫困家庭黑人男性的接近一半。出身贫困的白人男性在这几年一直有工作的可能性，实际上还稍稍大于其他白人男性。

但出身贫困的黑人没有高中文凭的可能性，大约是其余黑人的两倍，而出身贫困的白人不拿文凭的概率，是其余白人的六倍。