Social Change the Purpose of This Qualitative

¶ … Social Change

The purpose of this qualitative study is to better understand the dynamic and intricate process of child development within inner city neighborhoods. This study will seek to shed light upon the various factors which impact child development in such places, and determine out of issues like crime, lack of strong educational institutions, and the abundance of single-parent households -- which causes the greatest amount of harm to child development. This research project endeavors to determine which obstacle causes the greatest impediment to the ability of children to thrive so that the variable or variables which create them most harm are adequately pinpointed.

It is with great hope and intention that this research project creates lasting and precise social change. Research like this is indeed meant to make a difference in the world and ultimately change the life trajectories of children who are born into such disadvantaged neighborhoods. This is especially important as so much research offers vague signals regarding the pillars which can impact the development and life trajectory of inner city kids. For example, earlier research demonstrates how debilitating and hazardous poverty can be: "low income children are more likely than other children to suffer from virtually every type of health insult, and, perhaps as a result, are in worse overall health. Poor children are more likely than other children to suffer mental health problems including learning disabilities and developmental delays, in addition to their physical health problems. These problems in turn may be linked to higher rates of school failure, teen parenthood, and risky behaviors among poor children" (Currie, 2007). These consequences are indeed grim and are nothing to be underestimated.

However, simply asserting that poverty is the reason for all these adverse life results just isn't a compelling enough reason: it's not specific enough and it doesn't offer social scientists enough detail so that they can make meaningful changes in the world. Just as researchers understand that children who grow up in the inner city are at a higher risk for food allergies and asthma theories rather than facts exist about why this is exactly the case (Branum, 2008). What researchers do agree on is that children from the inner city experience limited upward mobility generation after generation stuck in neighborhoods marked by deprivation (Solomon, 2012).