Similarly, poverty can place children at greater risk of lacking basic health care and being victims of crime and violence. Incidents of child abuse tend to rise with families increased economic hardship. Similarly, economically disadvantaged children are more likely to suffer from emotional impairments, such as depression, anxiety, or related behavioral problems. Between 1989 and 1996, child poverty rates rose in every jurisdiction in the region , rising at rates significantly faster than the general poverty rates. The number of children in poverty in the region increased by 39 percent between 1989 and 1996, while general poverty increased by only 26 percent during the same time period.
Child poverty is highly concentrated in the District of Columbia and Prince George s County.
However, these two jurisdictions contained only 35 percent of the region s total population, and only 34 percent of the region s children. The District is the only jurisdiction to experience a decline in its share of the region s poor children, while all suburban jurisdictions bore an incrementally larger share. While Alexandria and Arlington had high child poverty rates, they are relatively small jurisdictions and contain far fewer children than the larger counties. Together, Arlington and Alexandria have less than half the number of poor children in Fairfax County. Fairfax and Montgomery counties each contain more than 15,000 poor children.