Wealth deprivation matters: Net worth poverty and children's development

In the United States, net worth poverty—for example, a household with wealth levels below one-fourth of the federal poverty line—is more common than income poverty and negatively predicts child well-being. Despite this reality, net worth poverty has received little attention from researchers and has been overlooked as a risk factor for suboptimal children's well-being. In this article, we discuss research on net worth poverty and potential pathways through which it relates to children's and youth's outcomes. We illustrate the limitations of standard approaches to assessing wealth, including how the middle-class orientation of many wealth measures overlooks sources of assets and debts germane to lower-resourced families. In doing so, we illustrate the risks that many children, who have been overlooked in income poverty studies, face because of wealth deprivation.