Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/helping-children-understand-and-deal-with-poverty-lessons-from-greece/5021151/
The serious economic crisis in Greece has been in the news for some time. It has led to many stressors on Greek children, families, and the wider society, including rising levels of poverty, hunger, homelessness, and more. Many children, whose situation has not become dire, have still had reduced circumstances that create disruption and stress in the home and beyond. Even children whose families have been relatively unaffected may still hear about the situation �" for instance, from the conversations of grown-ups, friends in school, and items in the news. All of these stressors can undermine children’s healthy physical, emotional, and intellectual development (UNICEF, 2012b).Greek children are not alone in experiencing rising levels of poverty. In the economic downturn of the last few years, rising numbers of children around the world �" beyond the already large numbers that existed before the recent economic crisis �" are living in conditions of deprivation and need. While rarely discussed in the news, children in the United States are actually faring even worse than children in Greece. That is, Measuring World Poverty reports that of the 35 economically-advanced countries, the U.S. ranks 34th with a 23.1% poverty rate, whereas Greece ranks 30th with a 16% ...