da Fonseca Marcio A
Associate professor and Chair and Program Director, Department of Pediatric Dentistry, at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Ill., USA.
Pediatr Dent. 2014 Mar-Apr;36(2):132-7.
In 2011, there were 46.2 million people in the US in poverty (15 percent of the population). The rate for children under 18 years of age was 22 percent, the highest of all age groups. Poverty is strongly linked to adverse socio-emotional outcomes and poor health in children, which influence adult socioeconomic advancement. It affects specific neurocognitive processes disproportionately such as working memory, cognitive control, and especially language and memory. Poor children are frequently exposed to household chaos, maternal depression, neighborhood violence, food insecurity and housing instability. They also experience little social support and have parents who are less responsive, more authoritarian and less involved in school activities than those of higher socioeconomic levels. Their diet is rich in sugar, which may contribute to behavioral disturbances. Children from a disadvantaged background have a poor ability to cope with stress and tend to show aggressive, withdrawn and anxious/depressive behaviors as well as poor academic outcomes. Dental professionals who care for poor children must understand they live under stressful physical and emotional conditions, which will impact their behavior in the dental office.
2011年，美国有4620万人处于贫困状态（占人口的15%）。18岁以下儿童的贫困率为22%，是所有年龄组中最高的。贫困与儿童不良的社会情感结果和健康状况密切相关，这会影响成年人的社会经济进步。它对特定的神经认知过程影响尤为严重，如工作记忆、认知控制，尤其是语言和记忆。贫困儿童经常面临家庭混乱、母亲抑郁、邻里暴力、粮食不安全和住房不稳定等问题。他们得到的社会支持也很少，其父母相比社会经济水平较高家庭的父母反应更迟钝、更专制，且较少参与学校活动。他们的饮食富含糖分，这可能导致行为紊乱。来自弱势背景的儿童应对压力的能力较差，往往表现出攻击性、孤僻和焦虑/抑郁行为，学业成绩也不佳。照顾贫困儿童的牙科专业人员必须明白，他们生活在压力重重的身心环境中，这会影响他们在牙科诊所的行为。
