First Corona, now inflation: The psychologist Dr. In an interview with FOCUS Online, Irina Volf warns of the dramatic consequences of the recent crises for around 2.9 million children from poor families. She speaks of a “life-threatening development” and explains why this is extremely dangerous for our society.
Turbo inflation in Germany is becoming a massive problem, especially for children and young people from poor families, and could lead to major social upheavals.
“From a psychological point of view, the drastic increase in the cost of living for children from poorer families is a development that threatens their existence,” said psychologist Irina Volf in an interview with FOCUS Online. “This development is fatal, because the children lose more and more quickly the connection to society”.
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Irina Volf, who heads the “Poverty” department at the Institute for Social Work and Social Pedagogy (ISS) in Frankfurt am Main, emphasizes that rising food and energy prices hit poor families particularly hard. “They have to spend a large part of their tight budget on basic services. There is no money left over for other things that normally make up children’s lives, such as visits to the cinema, the outdoor pool or the zoo.” The children, who are already socially disadvantaged, are “largely excluded from social and cultural life” due to the extreme price increases.
This is also dramatic because millions of children in Germany are still suffering severely from the consequences of the corona pandemic with permanent lockdowns, closed schools and a lack of leisure activities. “The corona pandemic was a catastrophe, especially for children from poor families, now they are sliding straight into the next one due to turbo inflation,” says psychologist Volf. The problem is that poverty is very often passed on from one generation to the next. “It’s a vicious circle from which poor children and young people can hardly break out without the support of politics, society and in daycare centers, schools and neighborhoods”.
Around 2.9 million children and young people in Germany are currently at risk of poverty. According to Volf, around 13 percent of all children and young people live in Hartz IV households. “Even now, the Hartz IV rates are not enough for a good childhood – and the situation could worsen dramatically in the near future. Because of the inflation, the already poor families are being driven into existential misery.”
The Corona crisis had already shown that children and young people from poor backgrounds in particular suffered greatly from the consequences of the state pandemic policy. A comprehensive analysis of the ISS shows how massive the pressure was. The scientists examined 65 studies and statements on the effects of corona that were published between March 2020 and December 2021. They then summarized the consequences of the pandemic measures for children and young people living in poverty.
Psychologist Irina Volf: “Poverty during the Corona crisis was often expressed in cramped living conditions, poor computer equipment for homeschooling, but also a lack of reserves to buy food supplies. Poor young people experienced loneliness more often and were more likely to lose social connections. Lack of exercise, poor nutrition and psychological stress were observed much more frequently than in financially well-off children. The gap between poor and non-poor children has widened even further during the pandemic.”
Specifically, the researchers found that the eating habits of all children and adolescents deteriorated during the pandemic. “According to the study by the German Institute for Food Technology, negative effects can be seen in families in particular who had less money due to Corona due to unemployment or short-time work. They ate significantly less fruit and vegetables, fish and meat and more finished products than comparable households without a loss of income, ”said the social scientist Claudia Laubstein from the ISS to FOCUS Online. “In addition, free lunches in daycare centers and schools were eliminated during the lockdowns, without the families having less money for the additional costs”.
The susceptibility to mental illness among children and adolescents has also increased significantly during the pandemic. Significantly more teenagers suffered from depression, eating disorders and anxiety disorders. The number of corresponding referrals to child and adolescent psychiatry increased noticeably. The number of suicide attempts also increased significantly.
“The abnormalities increased among children and young people from socially disadvantaged families,” says Claudia Laubstein.
Poverty experts Irina Volf and Claudia Laubstein fear that this trend will continue and even worsen due to rampant inflation. “The current increase in food prices of more than 8 percent compared to 2021 is offset by an increase in the Hartz IV rate of just 0.76 percent – three euros – at the beginning of the year,” says Volf. The disparity is not only obvious, but also alarming: “People who are poor in Germany will very quickly become even poorer.” Even the most recent measures taken by the federal government have done little to change this structural problem, such as the 9-euro ticket, the immediate surcharge of 20 euros for each child of poor parents or the one-off payment for families of 100 euros per child.
Volf: “Inflation will lead to the already very low standard of living of poor families and their children deteriorating again significantly.” The psychological pressure will continue to increase as a result, the number of cases of illness will rise.
Social medicine specialist Gerhard Trabert recently expressed similar fears in an interview with FOCUS Online. The professor is convinced that mental illnesses such as “anxiety disorders, panic attacks, burnout symptoms and depression will increase significantly in both adults and children” due to the wave of inflation. The existential worries of many people led to “permanent stress” and had a negative impact on their mental life. Trabert on the phase of acute price increases: “It’s an absolutely extreme psychological pressure situation.” And he added: “Being poor in a rich country is a traumatic experience!”
