The consequences and correlates of growing up poor as well as the mechanisms through which poverty influences children are explored. This book is organized with a primary focus on research findings and a secondary concern with policy implications. The chapters are: (1) "Poor Families, Poor Outcomes: The Well-Being of Children and Youth" (Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, Greg J. Duncan, and Nancy Maritato); (2) "Poverty Trends" (Donald J. Hernandez); (3) "Parent Absence or Poverty: Which Matters More?" (Sara S. McLanahan); (4) "Trends in the Economic Well-Being and Life Chances of America's Children" (Susan E. Mayer); (5) "Effects of Long-Term Poverty on Physical Health of Children in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth" (Sanders Korenman and Jane E. Miller); (6) "Poverty and Patterns of Child Care" (National Institute of Child Health and Development (NICHD) Child Care Research Network); (7) "Consequences of Living in Poverty for Young Children's Cognitive and Verbal Ability and Early School Achievement" (Judith R. Smith, Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, and Pamela K. Klebanov); (8) "Economic Resources, Parental Practices, and Children's Well-Being" (Thomas L. Hanson, Sara McLanahan, and Elizabeth Thomson); (9) "Psychosocial Morbidity among Poor Children in Ontario" (Ellen L. Lipman and David R. Offord); (10) "Family Economic Hardship and Adolescent Adjustment: Mediating and Moderating Processes" (Rand D. Conger, Katherine Jewsbury Conger, and Glen H. Elder, Jr.); (11) "The Influence of Poverty on Children's Classroom Placement and Behavior Problems" (Linda Pagani, Bernard Boulerice, and Richard E. Tremblay); (12) "The Role of Family Income and Sources of Income in Adolescent Achievement" (H. Elizabeth Peters and Natalie C. Mullis); (13) "Poverty during Adolescence and Subsequent Educational Attainment" (Jay D. Teachman, Kathleen M. Paasch, Randal D. Day, and Karen P. Carver); (14) "Childhood Poverty and Adolescent Schooling and Fertility Outcomes; Reduced-Form and Structural Estimates" (Robert Haveman, Barbara Wolfe, and Kathryn Wilson); (15) "Race, Sex, and the Intergenerational Transmission of Poverty" (Mary Corcoran and Terry Adams); (16) "The Effects of Parents' Income, Wealth, and Attitudes on Children's Completed Schooling and Self-Esteem" (William Axinn, Greg J. Duncan, and Arland Thornton); (17) "Does Poverty in Adolescence Affect the Life Chances of High School Graduates?" (Robert M. Hauser and Megan M. Sweeney); and (18) "Income Effects across the Life Span: Integration and Interpretation" (Greg J. Duncan and Jeanne Brooks-Gunn). (Contains 28 figures, 149 tables, and numerous references.) (SLD)