But as for the rest of us, we are painfully aware that money, even a relatively small sum compared to what billionaires make, would solve almost all of our problems.

Many of you in the comments requested this topic, so today we're gonna talk about it. So what does poverty really do to us psychologically?

How does someone's psychology change based on their financial situation?

These are the questions we're investigating in today's video, so stick around as we look at the psychological effects of being raised in poverty. Thoughts on the future.

Being raised in a wealthy household affords you more than just a comfortable home, a safe environment to grow up in, and a full kitchen.

It buys you hope and a sense of security.

Poverty can make you feel trapped and hopeless.

With the cost of living higher than ever, the little money we do have doesn't seem to go anywhere other than our basic needs.

The idea of doing anything more than surviving seems impossible.

Being raised in poverty cuts you off from the hope of owning your own business or having a comfortable house. There are definitely ways out of poverty, but there are other psychological challenges to overcome before that can start to happen. Short-sighted economic decision-making.

In their article on the psychology of poverty, Johannes Haushofer and Ernst Ferr cite this hopelessness and negative outlook as a cause for people in poverty to make more risky, short-sighted financial decisions.

This can mean anything from buying luxurious things that don't make financial sense to taking out multiple loans that you won't be able to pay off. Of course, living in poverty is a difficult situation.

So if someone wants something that makes them feel like they have agency, no one should be judged for that.

We all need a little comfort and life can't just be about surviving.

However, some of these financial decisions are born out of negative habits.

Things like drinking and gambling are activities that anyone can take part in, whether you're rich or poor, but they affect one of the groups a lot more than the other.

While rich people can do it for a quick thrill, poorer people have to prioritize these activities over other things, often leading to anxiety and hopelessness growing worse. The study suggests that these short-sighted financial decisions aren't usually done with the hopes of improving their financial situation or working towards a specific goal.

If you grew up in poverty, there are probably a few financial decisions you can think of that you wish your parents had handled better.

Now, as an adult, money might be a sensitive topic.

You may find that you're overly cautious with your money and lack generosity, or that you spend money too easily. Self-perception.

If you were raised in poverty, you were probably painfully aware of that fact.

The people around you were most likely doing things you could never do, like going on vacations, buying all the brand new video games, and eating all the expensive snacks or pricey dinners.

It's worse now as we see luxurious, comfortable lifestyles on social media constantly. Growing up in poverty can burden you with insecurities and fears that can linger for your whole life.

Issues like weak self-esteem, weak self-efficacy, and life dissatisfaction are likely to make themselves present in your life.

If you do manage to escape poverty, this could still affect you.

You might be self-conscious about people seeing you as poor and you may feel like you have to justify your lifestyle or your spending habits. Adaptability and resilience.

The adversity we face in poverty has been found to improve adaptability.

A study published in Current Directions in Psychological Science revealed that we are able to adapt to the adversities that are associated with poverty.

As we're forced to adapt, we could experience chronic stress, which becomes a psychological strain.

Poverty forces you away from comfort and peace and towards anguish and adaptability.

It isn't exactly a fair trade, especially considering, as the study points out, that there are other features of poverty that we can't adapt to.

For example, if there are toxins in the environment, moving isn't an option, or if you do fall ill, there's little you can do if your country doesn't provide affordable healthcare.

If you grew up in poverty, you most likely still feel those adaptations.

If there was a lot of crime in your environment, you might seem overly cautious in your adult life. Education.

For people experiencing poverty, it isn't only a matter of receiving an education, it's also a matter of receiving a high-quality education.

As someone raised in poverty, you could be at a disadvantage in this area.

You could have an extremely high potential for success, but your circumstances have prevented you from realizing that potential.

Poverty also makes people less likely to complete their education.

This could continue to feed into negative attitudes and self-limiting behaviors.

Even though you may be adaptable, capable, and resilient, education is important for many areas of life that we don't often consider.

By no means does poverty make people dumber, but again, lacking education is like starting a 100-meter race 500 meters behind the starting line. Access to mental health care.

Growing up in poverty limits your access to a lot of things.

The most blatant way this can affect you psychologically is that you may not receive the mental health care that you require.

For many people, this means not receiving treatment or diagnosis for things that could have been helped during their childhood.

For example, not receiving an autism or ADHD diagnosis as a child can dramatically change your life.

Instead of growing up understanding that you are the way you are because of a disorder, you may have grown up believing that you were stupid, selfish, or lazy for being unable to do what your parents wanted you to do or what your peers seemed to do without struggling.

This is just another way poverty can feed into the challenges, insecurities, and anxieties we face even as adults. If you're an adult who was raised in poverty, it might feel like you're always trying to catch up.

You're still trying to feel optimistic.

You're trying to get up and get a grasp on your mental health, and you're still trying to achieve the things in life that people your age or younger seem to be getting with ease.

People who weren't raised in poverty don't automatically have everything, but they do have a headstart.

What affected you the most after being raised in poverty?

Let us know in the comments below.

If you enjoyed this video, remember to leave a like and subscribe to Psych2Go for more videos like this.

Hey, no matter what your past looks like, the future is all yours.

We'll see you next time.