The Impact of Socioeconomic Factors and Familial Structure on Pediatric Health: An Analysis of Child Physical and Mental Health Outcomes

The minds and bodies of children are some of the most impressionable, open to influence from the environment and the actions and ideas of those around them. The ways which children think about themselves and those they may come into contact with can be strongly influenced by the way they are raised, in a rich or poor family, in a small or large one. Both the socioeconomic status and structure of a child's family throughout their upbringing impacts the physical and mental health outcomes of the child. Children of lower socioeconomic statuses, particularly those from low-income backgrounds, minority racial and ethnic backgrounds, and those assigned female at birth, as well as those children whose families have little structure or adult influence tend to have less positive health outcomes, with higher incidences of both treated and untreated or unrecognized mental and physical health ailments. Through no fault of their own, children of lower socioeconomic statuses and less structured families are predisposed to poor health conditions which must be ameliorated through societal change aimed at bridging the gaps in healthcare.