Reducing the Impact of Poverty for Children and Families Psychologist Ross Thompson on Poverty
In this video, psychologist Ross Thompson explains the impact
that poverty can have on children and their families. Programs
that both improve economic wellbeing for families and provide
support for parents, he says, can have beneficial outcomes for
children.
Thompson is a Distinguished Professor of Psychology at UC Davis
and a Faculty Affiliate of the Center for Poverty Research. He is
a founding member of the National Scientific Council on the
Developing Child, and is a member of the Board of Directors of
Zero to Three, and the Scientific Advisory Board of the National
Institute for Early Education Research.
Ross A. Thompson’s research focuses on the applications of
developmental research to public policy concerns, including
school readiness and its development, early childhood
investments, and early mental health.
In his lab by the freeway in Davis, Ross Thompson, a
developmental psychologist, pulls a plush monkey puppet onto each
hand and stands behind a cardboard “stage.” A red curtain hangs
across a cutout in the front.
“We would normally have animated voices and all the rest,” he
says. “If you do this in a way that is within the child’s
capabilities, you will find that they have a much richer sense of
themselves psychologically than we give them credit for.”
To grow up in poverty can have a lasting impact on a child. What
is less understood is how it affects the early relationships that
shape a child’s social and emotional growth.
