Poverty at the .05 Level: The Limitations of Mainstream Research

later in life. The chapters are arranged in roughly chronological order by aging. Earlier chapters analyze the effect of poverty upon outcomes during the early childhood years, followed by late childhood, adolescence, and finally adulthood. Tying the chapters together is the fact that the authors were asked to perform a series of replication analyses. Consequently, part of the authors' estimations of specific outcomes included an identical set of measures for family income, maternal schooling, and family structure. This allows the reader to compare and contrast the effects of similar variables upon various childhood and adult outcomes. The concluding chapter represents the final section of the book. Here the editors pull together the various results to decipher the major findings that appear consistently strong across the studies. Several patterns were apparent. First, family income had large effects on various measures of children's ability and achievement (IQ scores, reading and math scores, completed schooling, level of earnings in early adulthood), but not upon their social behavior, mental health, or physical health. Second, family economic conditions in early and middle childhood were much more important in shaping ability and achievement than economic conditions during adolescence. Third, the effect of rising income was much stronger on raising the ability and attainment of children who were below or near the poverty line than for middle-class or affluent children. In other words, there was a threshold effect above which income made little difference in measured outcomes. Fourth, family income was generally a stronger predictor of ability and achievement than measures of parental schooling or family structure. Finally, household income appeared important for the cognitive development of preschoolers because it enhanced a family's ability to materially provide a richer learning environment for children. The findings from this edited volume are important and relevant. They represent a meticulously executed series of longitudinal analyses, carefully coordinated and organized by the editors. Yet, after reading through the 660 pages of Consequences of Growing tSp Poor, I was left with Over the past 25 years, one of the most disturbing aspects of American society has been its exceedingly high rate of poverty among children. The United States leads the Western industrialized world in its prevalence of child poverty. Children represent the age group most likely to be poor in America. In addition, they comprise a significant bulk of the total number of poor people in the United States (approximately 40 percent). The risk of poverty for American children is therefore substantial and well documented. What is less well documented is the impact that childhood poverty has upon later life outcomes. With the increasing length of several longitudinal panel studies, researchers have begun to address such effects. A recent addition to this growing body of work is Consequences of Growing Up Poor, edited by Greg Duncan and Jeanne Brooks-Gunn. The editors have assembled an interdisciplinary collection of social scientists to engage in research on the subject. The book is divided into three sections. The first four chapters provide a broad overview of childhood poverty. They serve as a backdrop leading the reader into the heart of the book, Chapters 5 through 17. These latter chapters contain extensive empirical analyses examining the impact of low income during childhood upon a range of outcomes in the early and middle childhood years, adolescence, and adulthood. The authors use several longitudinal panel studies, including the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) and the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). The authors address four basic questions throughout these chapters: Does income matter? When does income matter? For what outcomes does income matter? And finally, why does income matter? They examine an array of outcomes, including children's physical and mental health, cognitive and verbal ability, behavioral problems, educational attainment, teenage pregnancy, selfZesteem, and socioeconomic status