ABSTRACT

The research proposal serves to guide readers throughout a research paper as it outlines the main components of the study  including important points, relevant information, and significant sources.

 

INTRODUCTION:

The most common reason why people have different personalities is because of the environment they are involved in and the type of influences they choose to surround themselves. However, the influence that has significant impact on an individual’s personality are his/her parents whom they get to spend most of the time with throughout their lives from childhood to adulthood. Furthermore, parents are held responsible for their child’s behavior development through discipline. Nevertheless, there is another major reason behind why a child has a certain attitude which most people tend to neglect is the influence of daily life situations and challenges that parents are involved in, such as financial issues. For this reason, low-income parents are prone to developing depressive symptoms which eventually shape parent-child interactions either in a positive or negative way as being on a budget is a great burden for parents to bear with while having to support their children regardless of anything. Thus, this research paper will investigate the way parental and child behavior are extremely influenced by poverty.

BACKGROUND:

Previous studies have shown parents’ perspectives about raising children based on their life conditions and traditions can affect parental attitude towards the child, resulting in significant impact on children’s personality development.

METHODS:

Coleman, M., Ganong, L., Clark, J., & Madsen, R. (1989). Parenting Perceptions in Rural and Urban Families: Is There a Difference? Journal of Marriage and Family, 51(2), 329-335. doi:10.2307/352496

This source makes comparisons between the lives in rural and urban areas and how that affects parental behavior and their children’s perception of their surroundings as well as how it shapes their way of setting life goals. For this reason, this source contains information that is highly relevant to my research topic and potentially serves as key to finding answers.

Barnett, M. (2008). Mother and Grandmother Parenting in Low-Income Three-Generation Rural Households. Journal of Marriage and Family, 70(5), 1241-1257. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40056340

This source profoundly analyzes the increase in multigenerational female-headed households due to out-of-wedlock births, its primary cause, and how it can affect parental behavior. This study takes place in rural areas where the majority of low-income families reside. Furthermore, young mothers and grandmothers are the main subjects of this study because their relationship serve as key to analyze the relations between maternal age, psychology distress, and parenting. For this reason, this source contains relevant information which explains on a psychological level the reason why parenting is different compared with wealthy families due to many factors such as lack of financial support.

Lee, C., Anderson, J., Horowitz, J., & August, G. (2009). Family Income and Parenting: The Role of Parental Depression and Social Support. Family Relations, 58(4), 417-430. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40405700

The study of this source focuses on how wealth and parental depression are proportionally related to each other because the lack of financial support can possibly lead families to fall into complete depression which can eventually have a strong impact on parental behavior. This source provides information that further explains the reason why low-income families are prone to depressive symptoms which is a major influence on a child’s personality and behavior.

Gassman-Pines, A. (2011). Low-Income Mothers’ Nighttime and Weekend Work: Daily Associations With Child Behavior, Mother-Child Interactions, and Mood. Family Relations, 60(1), 15-29. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/41236744

This source investigates the relationship between only low-income mothers and their preschool-aged children. This study demonstrates that poverty leads to more negative mother-child interactions as the mother has less time to interact with their children due to a very complex work schedule which prevents her from seeing her children more often. The reason why the study focuses on preschool-aged children is because brain development, the process of learning new skills, and initial social interactions mostly take place during the preschool years. Thus, a child’s behavior is highly affected during that time. Furthermore, this source contains relevant information that can be used to explain why wealth is a major influence on one’s behavior development.

OUTCOMES:

A new research needs to be conducted in which the main focus leans toward poverty, parenting, and personality development during childhood because low-income and high-income parents hold different beliefs and values on how to discipline a child through their own means, thus, parenting practices may vary, and consequently, children born in poor and wealthy households may grow up with different perspectives.