How Did The Great Depression Affect Families

The Great Depression had a drastic impact on families, women and children. Due to the loss of savings during this economic crisis, families lost their homes or were evicted from their apartments, destabilizing countless lives. This led to multiple families being forced to share small living spaces and the number of homeless to significantly escalate. Disorganizing the flow of family life, the marriage rate sharply declined as well as the divorce rate with a lot of citizens unable to pay for both. In addition, desertion of wives increased, causing greater chaos and hardship to especially women with children in an already troubled time. Africans-Americans families were hit harder than whites by the recession with unemployment rates drastically
In addition, many kids were victims of malnutrition and were not properly clothed, which forced many families to write a plea to the Eleanor Roosevelt for help. Boys also acquired part-time jobs, such as a store clerk’s assistant or a newspaper deliverer to help increase the family’s income, while girls focused their energy on aiding their families at home. This not only made them work at a young age and accept more responsibility, but cut off their childhoods. Although, not all children took on this new role with some kids known as BoxCar Children using the railways to run away and start new lives. Ending tragically at times, children were killed when running away when they slipped as they jumped onto the trains.
Despite all the hardships, there were positive results of the Great Depression. In some instance, the difficulties brought families closer together, bonding them in a struggle for survival. This bonding was embodied in an activity practiced by some families of listening to the radio together. Moreover, families also participated in connecting through board games to distract themselves from the turmoil of the country outside and to focus on the strengthening family