Jenkins – early findings

What we’re seeing is a mapping of that inequality at the macro level, so families that are disadvantages, they then, the disadvantage of individual children is then greater within the family. So what we see are the resources of the family are differentially allocated when those children are experiencing higher levels of social disadvantage in the environment, societies that have more un-equal experiences where the highs and the lows of what people receive in that society, when those are more different from one another then we see more negative outcomes for children, and we’re seeing the same thin within the family domain. The more unequal the children’s experiences are, within the family in terms of what kids are getting from parents, how much time, or attention or affection. The more inequality, the more problematic for children.  

It makes it much harder to parent children in a more equitable way. The parents are worried about financing, they’re worried about, they’re not, their own psychiatric health might be compromised, so we’re seeing the clustering of multiple risks together where families are socially disadvantaged and parents aren’t doing so well and in relation to their own psychiatric health and how they’re feeling, and it’s harder for them to parent the kids and that then plays out in the family environment around this business of some kids are more challenging. We know that just cause of how kids are born and individual differences, and I think what happens at that point is that the parents who are experiencing all this social disadvantage, it’s harder for them when they have a difficult kid to really get through that and balance that out effectively within the family.  

So instead of all kids getting equal treatment, they have these unequal experiences which don’t play out well in development.  

Okay, let’s see if I understand this…greater distance. So we can think about the inequality that we see in society and we can think about the inequality that we see within family relationships, and we get, when we see greater inequality in those family relationships, when the parents experience in the society is more problematic as well when they are more socio-economically disadvantaged as well. And so for me, that really about how in order to improve children’s lives and improve what they’re experiencing right within their families we need to do a much better job of supporting those families than we do now. I think that would make children’s direct experience and learning within that family better.