The relative poverty rate of children in Japan stands at 16%, indicating that one child out of six is growing up in poverty. However, the concept of relative poverty is not well known even among researchers, policy makers and the general public, and the consequences of growing up poor in an affluent society are not understood. This paper discusses how the notion of poverty is strongly affected by the Japanese public's anti-materialistic sentiment, which inhibits consideration of relative poverty as an issue. It also discusses how relative poverty leads to the social exclusion of children, and how it affects children through parental stress, isolation and time constraints.

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Although everyone should in theory be regarded as equal in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, in fact this is not the case. Most families have numerous children, and most do not attend school due to poverty. Based on field research conducted in 2006, the life world of families living on the water is described, and the problem of poverty in the context of equality is discussed. General problems affecting these families and children include lack of birth certificates or registration and insufficient access to medical services. On the other hand, a type of "richness" is found especially in terms of the children's active expression. The question of what psychological supports are available for these people should be the focus of future research.

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This paper examined the current circumstances of eating from an ecological perspective, and discussed poverty and over-abundance of eating. At the macro level, it discussed poverty and obesity by describing global levels of poverty and hunger, and the over-abundance of food and obesity resulting from the dominance of food production and supply by multi-national organizations. A micro level discussion was concerned with a psychological perspective of poor Japanese eating habits and poor interactions among Japanese family members. Finally, this paper defined affluence of eating from macro and micro levels. The macro level described the democratization of food producers and consumers, the ability of consumers to select food while understanding the mechanisms of the food production system, and the creation of a new food culture. The micro level described not only children being able to eat with family or friends as an intimate member of the group, but also their experience of the delight of cooking to produce their own food.

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The purpose of this paper was to consider poverty with regard to violence and suicide. Considering anomie theory or inner impulse theory, poverty raises the probability of generating violence. However, it is possible to affect the direction of violence, according to some reports about child abuse, domestic violence, and crime. On the other hand, concerning suicide, its relation to economic fluctuation is explained theoretically. However, empirical research about the relation between suicidal behavior and shortage of social resources based on a socioeconomic situation is not consistent. Consequently, the following two features of poverty become clear: (1) it induces an inner state of mind which should be resolved to enable recovery, and (2) it deprives people of the opportunity to use the protective factors such as suitable exchanges in a family, use of support services, a stable living environment, and educational opportunities. Conversely, generating violence or suicide can be readily grasped by observing poverty. By advancing research from the viewpoint of the poverty as a niche, it is possible to understand factors which manage these social pathological phenomena.

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This paper discusses the effects of poverty according to our current knowledge about human development. The discussion is based in part on a study of "Poverty and Children" which was conducted by an interdisciplinary research group at the Faculty of Education of Hokkaido University, and on other findings from historical thesis and non-fiction sources. Specifically, the investigations were concerned with how poverty affects child development in their living environment, at each stage of development from the fetal period through middle childhood. Most past developmental psychology studies in Japan have excluded children and parents in "absolute poverty." However, considering Japan's growing numbers of poor households, researchers may have already come across children and parents in "relative poverty" in their experiments or observations, without being aware of this poverty. This paper suggests that researchers should become more conscious of poverty and social exclusion, and proposes redefinitions of the concepts of "relative poverty" and "absolute poverty" from a developmental point of view adapted from the social sciences.

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In this study, children in four nations were compared concerning the thinking and activities of children with regard to money. A questionnaire survey was conducted on students in the 5th grade of elementary schools, 2nd grade of junior high schools, and 2nd grade of high schools in Japan, Korea, China, and Vietnam. The questions focused on the following points: how children get money, children's actual behavior and awareness of social norms (judgments of right and wrong), peer relationships, and parent-child relationships, in relation to children's use of money. The results were as follows. Children's experience using money was more profound and their attitudes about using money were more positive in this order: Japan, South Korea, China, and Vietnam. Japanese children were most aware and Vietnamese children least aware that pocket money was their own money. Japanese children, compared to Korean children, had more negative attitudes toward treating friends to foods and lending money within friends. Based on these results, a discussion followed concerning with affluence and poverty.

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Children are born immature as human beings and need support in order to establish self-care. They learn skills, knowledge and attitudes through the imitation of and identification with their caregivers. Children thrive as members of their family and community if they are given high quality care and education. Poverty influences children's health and development negatively, but "being poor" is different from "being impoverished." Therefore, early identification of and intervention for children at risk are important to prevent children from "becoming impoverished." The author discusses a dynamic relationship between children and the environment of their community, based on long-term longitudinal studies in three different regions in Japan, from a developmental-ecological standpoint. The paper focusses on the following: (1) theories about the building of an effective environment of community; (2) definition of an environment of community; (3) developmental studies in three different regions in Japan; and (4) characteristics of health and behavioral problems of children in the different regions. In conclusion, a new concept of "Community-based Child Development (CCD)" is proposed from the developmental-ecological perspective.

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Since the late 1990s, the problems of modern poverty, socio-economic differentials and deteriorating conditions of children's life, welfare and schooling have become one of the major social and policy issues. This paper deals with this issue, focussing on the academic achievement gap and child abuse. First, it proposes a conceptual framework of the relations between the physical, psychic and socio-cultural aspects of children's development and environmental factors that affect their development, and points out some developmental difficulties caused by poverty. Second, based on various statistical data, it outlines the recent realities of poverty and economic differentials, examines the factors and the mechanisms that cause the achievement gap. Third, based on several research results, it outlines a recent rising trend in child abuse, and examines its risk factors, pointing out that major risk factors of child abuse are povety, single-parent families, isolation and the fatigue of child-caring. Fourth, it shows a growing tendency for reproduction of poverty and socio-economic differerentials, and comments generally on the tasks and responsibilities of our society and policy-making.

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This paper summarizes the overall status and issues regarding support for the poor in adulthood and old age. It also offers proposals for solutions, and reviews the literature to propose issues to study relevant to the future support the poor. Using the CiNii database, and by combining by "and" logic the keywords of "youth," "old age," "disability," "working," "self-reliant," and "support," with the keywords of "poverty," "social relief," "low income," "homeless," "sleeping outdoors," "in the street," and "destitute," searches were made of the literature published between from 2002 to 2011. Papers were extracted with each combination of keywords, and the contents of the 88 extracted papers concerning support for the poor in adulthood and old age were classified and reviewed using the categories of "the actual status and support of the poor from the viewpoint of life stages," "actions toward support of self-reliance," and "support for social inclusion."

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Allocare occurs when a child is raised by individuals other than a parent. This article focuses on the experiences of children living in child protection institutions and graduates of the child protection system, from the viewpoint of poverty in Japan. Residential care of children is equivalent to the institutional allocare systems provided by our society. The system has notable dysfunctions. However, some people with current or past experience receiving institutional care are working to improve their poor situation. There are strong norms in Japanese society dictating that the biological parent should also be the social parent, and these expectations could impede the promotion of allocare systems. This situation may improve in the future as people gradually become aware of the diversity of family styles, which becomes more and more apparent in light of the collapse of the contemporary nuclear family.

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