The Recent Government Shutdown Hurt Children and Adolescents: Well-Trained Mentors Can Help
By Jean Rhodes
The recent government shutdown led to widespread economic uncertainty which permeated the lives of children and adolescents. And according to a new research, this stress may have lasting effects on young people’s academic prospects, emotional resilience, and sense of selves. In the study, “Perceived economic hardship and adjustment outcomes of children and adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis,” published in the Journal of Research on Adolescence, researchers synthesized evidence across dozens of studies to examine how the subjective experience of financial strain impacts the academic and psychological adjustment of young people aged six to eighteen. The researchers distinguished perceived hardship from objective economic status, tapping into how children and parents actually feel about their financial situations, not just what those situations might look like on paper. They reviewed 954 articles, narrowing to 53 rigorous cross-sectional studies with 344 effect sizes, encompassing research conducted primarily in the U.S., China, and several other countries. Their methods accounted for complex dependencies across studies using correlated and hierarchical effects models, a technique well-suited for synthesizing heterogeneous data.
The results showed that perceived economic hardship correlates with decreased positive adjustment outcomes such as self-esteem, academic achievement, and active coping, with an average correlation that though relatively weak, was consequential (around -0.13). Conversely, it relates positively to negative adjustment indicators, including anxiety, depression, and behavioral problems, at a somewhat stronger 0.18 magnitude. Interestingly, parent education emerged as a significant moderator; the adverse impacts were more pronounced in families with lower levels of parental education, suggesting that educational resources may buffer the psychological toll of economic strain. This suggests that the psychological experience of economic hardship matters deeply in shaping outcomes beyond material facts. It also suggests that, with the right mindset, mentors can buffer its negative effects by offering a different framing of the circumstances.
Although mentors with deficit based perspectives might exacerbate these associations, a critical mentoring perspective may shape how both how mentors and their mentees frame economic scarcity. In a new study entitled “Preparing Undergraduate Students for Mentorship With Youth of Marginalized Identities: A Model for Food Systems Education,” published in Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, researchers at the University of Minnesota used an explanatory case study design to examine the impacts of a critical mentoring intervention in North Minneapolis. The research embedded undergraduate mentors into the “Growing North Minneapolis” urban agriculture and youth development initiative, with a focus on building critical mentoring and equity competencies. The program’s participants, six undergraduate mentors and thirty-six local youth aged 14 to 15, joined groups led by both university students and community elders. To prepare, the university mentors underwent a seven-week course in “Critical Mentoring,” developed by Torie Weiston-Serdan, covering local and national inequities, power, privilege, and culturally relevant training. The research team used an explanatory single-case design, drawing from weekly reflection journals, interviews, and direct observation. They found that undergraduate mentors moved from deficit-based and savior mindsets toward asset-based thinking, respect for youth agency, and a better understanding of systemic barriers. Mentors described being “shocked” by local context and their own privilege, then learning to listen, validate, and build genuine collaborations. As one participant put it: “The youth are not deficient. They are here to learn, and they come with many rich experiences that I should incorporate.” Importantly, community elders were integral to the process, providing cultural continuity and modeling ways to support youth growth “without trying to take over.”
Both sets of findings suggest that youth facing economic strain experience more than just material hardship, they also contend with shame, anxiety, and lower self-belief, all of which erode their readiness to learn and thrive. The evidence supports targeted interventions at both the individual and community levels. Shutdowns, furloughs, and benefit delays compound along the already-rising inequality, striking hardest at those who are younger, poorer, and more likely to be food insecure.
Against this backdrop, mentors, prepared with intentional, equity-driven training, offer a buffer. By recognizing young people’s expertise in their own lives and showing up as allies rather than rescuers, mentors can create safe havens of affirmation and stability. When youth are supported in naming the inequality at the core of their struggles, developing critical awareness, and seeing their culture and experience as assets rather than shortcomings, the negative effects of hardship begin to attenuate. By directly linking the right to eat, learn, and belong, the new generation of mentors truly have the power to narrow opportunity gaps and foster resilience, even when the outside world remains uncertain.
