Investigate Populations that May Be at Increased Risk of Experiencing Trauma|Essay guru

European Journal of Educational Sciences, Special Edition, October 2019, ISSN: 1857- 6036

76

Chronic Poverty: The Implications of Bullying,

Trauma, and the Education of the Poverty-Stricken

Population

Kevin Johnson, M.Ed. Liberty University, United States

Doi: 10.19044/ejes.s.v6a6 URL:http://dx.doi.org/10.19044/ejes.s.v6a6

Abstract

Chronic poverty is a worldwide epidemic, and communities must take

a proactive approach to assist the poor by extending a hand to lift them up and

not hold them down. Tribulations are part of life, but are some afflictions self-

imposed, escalated, or reinforced by living in deprived contextual

environments. Poverty-stricken people experience more trauma throughout

their lifetime; they are less educated than their counterpart, causing them to

become targets in school, increasing their chances of being bullied and

demoralized. Bullying is not a rite of passage, and it has lifelong effects that

reveal itself in adulthood by strengthening generational curses, oppressing

families and communities, expanding the educational gap, and reinforcing the

cycle of chronic poverty. The research depicted in this article explores the

correlation between poverty, human development, trauma, pedagogical

implications, and bullying, characterizing the detrimental ramifications in

adulthood. The paper analyzes bully symptomology, the etiology of traumatic

experiences, and how the consequences of chronic poverty affect human

development that expands the educational gap between minorities and white

students. Trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy is an effective

empirically-based treatment modality to combat the symptoms of

posttraumatic stress. School systems must do a better job of educating

traumatized children living in poverty. The research ventures to explain

chronic poverty’s role in human development, traumatology, and education,

taking an inclusive approach to providing solutions to create a cultural shift

that will change the contextual environment and propel people to become self-

sufficient, more educated, and equipped to break the generational curse of

chronic poverty.

Keywords: Chronic poverty, trauma, bullying, CPTSD, education.

European Journal of Educational Sciences, Special Edition, October 2019, ISSN: 1857- 6036

77

Introduction:

President Thomas Jefferson wrote, “We hold these truths to be self-

evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator

with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are life, liberty and the

pursuit of happiness.” In the eyes of their Creator, all men are created equal –

in the image of God, but throughout history, a man divided equality and justice

for all during slavery, Jim Crow, and the Civil Rights Movement. Many people

are miseducated and do not comprehend that the Civil Rights Movement was

not just for the Black race but all people, nationalities, ethnicities, gender, and

the disabled; the fight was for fairness for every color and creed. During this

period, the mentally challenged and disabled had struggles and battles of their

own. Fortunate enough, there were advocate groups and parents who were

willing to stand up and fight for the equal rights of those who could not stand

and fight for themselves. The mentally challenged and disabled have been

marginalized from society and the classrooms for years. Is it possible for

people who are reared in chronic poverty to beat the odds and succeed when

all odds are stacked against them? How is it possible to provide quality

education and security when children living in poverty normally stand out

from the crowd due to hunger, lack of resources, and poor hygiene, not

adequately having clothing, shelter, and other basic needs?

In President John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address, he proclaimed, “And

so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what

you can do for your country.” What happens when the country placed certain

people at a significant disadvantage by being born the wrong color? How can

those who live a life of chronic poverty and generational curses of destitute do

anything for their country when they lack education and financial resources?

Chronic poverty orchestrates a life of injustice, discrimination, prejudice, and

unequal opportunities, regardless of the misconception that people are created

equal. Chronic poverty puts people at higher risk of poor mental and physical

health, risky behaviors, substance use disorders, complex posttraumatic stress,

and live a traumatic and detrimental lifestyle that stifles education, religious

beliefs, maturity, and personal growth, which has the propensity to bind

individuals mentally, spiritually, and emotionally. Lifetime adversities and

trauma correlate with low self-esteem, mental illness, lower socioeconomic

status, and small educational achievement, especially in the Black and Latino

populations who happen to be underrepresented to most studies. Myers,

Wyatt, Ullman, Loeb, Chin, Prause, Zhang, Williams, Slavich, and Liu (2015)

asserted that minorities experience unique stressors that impact their health –

including stressors such as neglect by society, discrimination, and multiple

traumatic experiences. Hardships in life devitalize people, resulting in pain,

suffering, and stress, while others who perceived the same traumatization rally

up the power to not only survive but thrive.

European Journal of Educational Sciences, Special Edition, October 2019, ISSN: 1857- 6036

78

Generational poverty poses a distinct predisposition to the etiology of

the essence of traumatization because poverty can be a “little leaven” that

levels an entire generation. As the root cause of many traumatic events,

poverty has the proclivity to construct a unique dynamic that makes trauma

challenging to isolate and identify as a tragedy because families are described

as dysfunctional. Lowdermilk and Brunache (2013) professed that many

children reared in poverty mirrors the same behaviors as parents and their

community. They reflect those individuals growing up in demanding

environments, reporting negative/absent parent, parents with multiple sexual

partners or engaged in prostitution, substance use disorder, violence in the

home and community, verbal/physical abuse, unsanitary conditions, lack of

finances and resources, and parents demonstrate very low educational

expectations for their children, and all of this happens within the children’s

nuclear family. With the dismantling of the family structure, is it possible to

close the achievement gap and break the generational curse of the chronicity

of poverty?

Chronic Poverty and Human Development

Researchers examine the psychological and emotional development of

children living in poverty based on parental guidance and the methods parents

use to rear their children. Evans and Kim (2012) reported that “in the last two

decades, many scholars have investigated the underlying psychological

processes that explain why childhood poverty has such pervasive ill effects on

human development” (p. 43). Evidence substantiates that poverty causes

chronic stress, which deteriorates human functioning in every faculty of the

body, especially memory, brain development, and emotional regulation.

Children in poverty face unusual stressors that children living in middle-class

do not know about because they live in a contextual environment perceived as

safe and nurturing. Amatea and West (2007) declared that children living in

poverty are considerably more likely than children from the middle-class to

report increased levels of anxiety and depression, exhibiting a higher

frequency of behavioral and academic difficulties, and a lower level of

positive academic interaction and engagement in the school system. Collins,

Connors, Donohue, Gardner, Goldblatt, Hayward, Kiser, Strieder, and

Thompson (2010) reported that children who grow up in urban poverty display

symptoms of complex posttraumatic stress disorder; “complex trauma is a

varied and multifaceted phenomenon, frequently embedded in a matrix of

other psychosocial problems (e.g., neglect, marital discord, and domestic

violence that carry ongoing threat)” (p. 12). As reported by Gabrielli, Gill,

Koester, and Borntrager (2013), it takes a thorough understanding of the

ramifications of trauma and the unfolding developmental processes of

childhood as it is experienced in a particular culture, without neglecting to

European Journal of Educational Sciences, Special Edition, October 2019, ISSN: 1857- 6036

79

understand the nature of historical trauma, as aggregated spiritual, physical,

emotional, and psychological wounding over the lifespan and across

generations.

Studies show that the ability to sense touch occurs around eight weeks

of gestation, and fetal development of the other sensory organs begin around

five weeks of conception and continue to refine through birth and early

childhood (Uhernik, 2017). While in utero, the fetus can hear and respond to

sounds and noises outside of the womb. Many parents play music, read books,

and talk to their fetuses throughout the pregnancy, interacting by touching

certain spots of the mother’s belly by poking or grabbing a hand or foot when

it is visible. At birth, the newborn can only see eight to ten inches, and research

denotes this short distance is “precisely the range required for gazing into the

caregiver’s eyes when held and for beginning the visual and interactive dance

of attachment and bonding” (Uhernik, 2017, p. 54). Establishing a bond and

attachment between the mother and the baby is the first step in psychosocial

development, which is vital for successful progression throughout life. As

reported by Kim, Fonagy, Allen, and Strathearn (2014),

Maternal sensitivity to infant distress and non-distress as predictors of

infant-mother attachment security. Maternal attachment trauma, particularly

when unresolved, presents to the mother’s attunement to and management of

her infant’s distress. Although this has not yet been the subject of direct

empirical scrutiny, attachment researchers have long speculated that infants’

distress signals may activate unresolved traumatic memories in their

respective mothers, thereby initiating a cascade of compromised maternal

responses. (p. 354)

The maternal reactions manifest traumatic memories for the mother

and can affect memory and cognitive abilities for the newborn.

Erik Erikson was a renowned psychologist and anthropologist who

SOLUTION