Editing Literacy (section)

=== Socioeconomic impact ===
Many policy analysts consider literacy rates to be a crucial measure of the value of a region's [[human capital]]. For example, literate people can be more easily trained than illiterate people and generally have a higher socioeconomic status;<ref>{{Cite web |title=Phonics. It's Profitable |url=http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Phonics/profitable.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071221151117/http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Phonics/profitable.html |archive-date=21 December 2007 |access-date=11 December 2007 |website=The Phonics Page}}</ref> thus, they enjoy better health and employment prospects. The international community has come to consider literacy as a key facilitator and goal of development.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Rao |first1=Vasudeva |last2=S |first2=B. |last3=Gupta |first3=P. Viswanadha |date=31 March 2006 |title=Low Female Literacy: Factors and Strategies |url=http://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ797610 |journal=Australian Journal of Adult Learning |volume=46 |issue=1 |pages=84–95 |issn=1443-1394}}</ref> In regard to the [[Sustainable Development Goals]] adopted by the UN in 2015, the [[UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning]] has declared the "central role of literacy in responding to sustainable development challenges such as health, social equality, economic empowerment and environmental sustainability."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hanemann |first=Ulrike |url=http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED564012 |title=Transforming Our World: Literacy for Sustainable Development |date=30 November 2014 |publisher=UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning |isbn=978-9-282-01200-0 |page=7}}</ref>

A majority of prisoners have been found to be illiterate, and in Edinburgh prison, winner of the 2010 Libraries Change Lives Award, "the library has become the cornerstone of the prison's literacy strategy", reducing recidivism and reoffending and allowing incarcerated people to work toward attaining higher socioeconomic status once released.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Scott |first=Kirsty |date=7 July 2010 |title=Prison library helps to transform lives |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2010/jul/07/edinburgh-prison-library-literacy-books}}</ref>

==== Effects on literacy learning ====
As socioeconomics affects brain development and brain functions are heavily involved in processing both input and output, a learner's environment can affect the cognitive process of learning [[Reading#Learning to read|how to read]] and write.<ref name="Hackman-2015">{{Cite journal |last1=Hackman |first1=D |last2=Gallop |first2=R |last3=Farah |first3=M. J. |year=2015 |title=Socioeconomics status and executive function: Developmental trajectories and mediation |journal=Developmental Science |volume=18 |issue=5 |pages=686–702 |doi=10.1111/desc.12246 |pmid=25659838}}</ref> Before a child enters a school setting, their executive function is influenced by their home environment.<ref name="Haft-2017">{{Cite journal |last1=Haft |first1=S. |last2=Hoeft |first2=F. |year=2017 |title=Poverty's impact on children's executive function: Global considerations |journal=New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development |volume=158 |pages=71}}</ref> Research demonstrates that for children who grow up in poverty, their socioeconomic circumstances severely strain their "neuro-endocrine and brain function".<ref name="Haft-2017" /> This affects a child's ability to regulate environmental stimuli, process and structure information, and plan and effectively execute tasks that involve their working memory<ref name="Hackman-2015" />—all of these are necessary cognitive facilities to successfully learn how to read and write. Living in poverty is stressful for all involved but is cognitively damaging for young children.<ref>{{Citation |last1=Wadsworth |first1=M. E. |title=Stress as a mechanism of poverty's ill effects on children |date=2012-07-01 |url=https://www.apa.org/pi/families/resources/newsletter/2012/07/stress-mechanism |work=CYF News |type=Newsletter |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190717231700/https://www.apa.org/pi/families/resources/newsletter/2012/07/stress-mechanism |url-status=dead |archive-date=2019-07-17 |last2=Rienks |first2=S. L.}}</ref>

A study done by [[NICHD]] indicates that socioeconomics plays a role for children who are young when the family experiences poverty, but shows no indication of adverse effects on reading achievement or behavior for adolescents entering poverty.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Anderson |first1=Sara |last2=Leventhal |first2=Tama |year=2014 |title=Exposure to Neighborhood Affluence and Poverty in Childhood and Adolescence and Academic Achievement and Behavior |journal=[[Applied Developmental Science]] |volume=18 |issue=3 |pages=125 |doi=10.1080/10888691.2014.924355 |s2cid=144971888}} (conditions in early childhood based on 1990 U.S. Census and in middle childhood and adolescence on 2000 U.S. Census)</ref> 
The data extensively shows that children from low socioeconomic backgrounds had poorer literacy performance, especially in reading. A study done by the OECD, which included over 25 countries in Europe, found that in all studied countries, students who lived in low-income households scored lower in reading than students who lived in high-income households.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sulkunen |first=Sari |date=2013 |title=Adolescent Literacy in Europe-An Urgent Call for Action |journal=[[European Journal of Education]] |volume=48 |issue=4 |pages=530 |doi=10.1111/ejed.12052 |via=ERIC}}</ref>

Parenting also affects a child's literacy. Field research was done by collecting data from families that were upper, middle, or lower class, or on welfare. The results found that, in a 100-hour week, children in upper-class households experienced an average of over 200,000 words, those in middle- and lower-class households heard about 125,000 words, and children from households on welfare were exposed to the fewest words—62,000 words. This indicates that a child from an upper-class family would be exposed to 8 million more words than a child from a family on welfare.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hart |first1=B. |last2=Risley |first2=Todd |title=The Family Catastrophe: The 30 Million Word Gap by Age 3 |url=https://www.d11.org/cms/lib/CO02201641/Centricity/Domain/547/SharedDocuments/Reading%20Support%20Documents/Article%20The%20Early%20Catastrophe%20AFT%20Spring%202003.pdf |journal=American Educator |volume=27 |issue=1 |pages=4–9}}</ref> Outside of word exposure, which is essential for word acquisition, the National Center for Educational Statistics found that 41.9% of children from low-income families scored substantially lower on most reading achievements for grades 4, 8, and 12 in 2013.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Knapp |first=Nancy |title=The Psychology of Reading: Theory and Applications |publisher=Guildford |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-462-52350-4 |location=New York |pages=20}}</ref>

According to a study performed by [[ANOVA]], multiple socioeconomic variables influence children, such as parental education level, parental occupation, health history, and even usage of technology within the home. With these factors in mind, their study showed that young children are especially susceptible to environmental factors, meaning socioeconomics affects them cognitively and can have adverse effects as their brains continue to develop.{{citation needed|date=September 2023}} However, another study done by the [[National Longitudinal Survey of Youth]] (NLSY) around 2012 suggesteda slightly different conclusion.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Lipina |first1=Sebastian |last2=Segretin |first2=Soledad |last3=Hermida |first3=Julia |last4=Prats |first4=Lucia |last5=Fracchia |first5=Carolina |last6=Camelo |first6=Jorge |last7=Colombo |first7=Jorge |year=2013 |title=Linking childhood poverty and cognition: environmental mediators of non-verbal executive control in an Argentine sample |journal=[[Developmental Science]] |volume=16 |issue=5 |pages=697–707 |doi=10.1111/desc.12080 |pmid=24033575|hdl=11336/23971 |hdl-access=free}}</ref> While the study agrees that poverty negatively affects childhood literacy, some nuances are added. In both studies, children who experienced poverty scored lower in reading assessments, but the NLSY's study noted that the duration of poverty altered the literacy outcome.<ref name="Lee-2009">{{Cite journal |last=Lee |first=Kyunghee |year=2009 |title=The Bidirectional Effects of Early Poverty on Children's Reading and Home Environment Scores: Associations and Ethnic Differences |journal=Social Work Research |volume=33 |issue=2 |pages=79–94 |doi=10.1093/swr/33.2.79}}</ref> It found that children ages 5–11 who experienced "persistent poverty" were more adversely affected than their [[Peer group|peers]] who never experienced poverty. The study acknowledged that other factors affected these children's reading scores, particularly maternal influence. The mothers of these households were scaled based on a "home environment" score, which measured their emotional and verbal responsiveness, acceptance, and involvement with the child and organization. Households experiencing poverty tended to have lower scores, and lower scores [[correlate]]d with lower reading levels. The study also showed that the effects of poverty on child literacy differed by ethnicity, culture, and gender.<ref name="Lee-2009" />