Association of Child Poverty, Brain Development, and Academic Achievement

Abstract

IMPORTANCE Children living in poverty generally perform poorly in school, with markedly lower standardized test scores and lower educational attainment. The longer children live in poverty, the greater their academic deficits. These patterns persist to adulthood, contributing to lifetime-reduced occupational attainment.OBJECTIVE To determine whether atypical patterns of structural brain development mediate the relationship between household poverty and impaired academic performance. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Longitudinal cohort study analyzing 823 magnetic resonance imaging scans of 389 typically developing children and adolescents aged 4 to 22 years from the National Institutes of Health Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study of Normal Brain Development with complete sociodemographic and neuroimaging data. Data collection began in November 2001 and ended in August 2007.Participants were screened for a variety of factors suspected to adversely affect brain development, recruited at 6 data collection sites across the United States, assessed at baseline, and followed up at 24-month intervals for a total of 3 periods. Each study center used community-based sampling to reflect regional and overall US demographics of income, race, and ethnicity based on the US Department of Housing and Urban Development definitions of area income. One-quarter of sample households reported the total family income below 200% of the federal poverty level. Repeated observations were available for 301 participants. EXPOSURE Household poverty measured by family income and adjusted for family size as a percentage of the federal poverty level. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURESChildren's scores on cognitive and academic achievement assessments and brain tissue, including gray matter of the total brain, frontal lobe, temporal lobe, and hippocampus. RESULTSPoverty is tied to structural differences in several areas of the brain associated with school readiness skills, with the largest influence observed among children from the poorest households. Regional gray matter volumes of children below 1.5 times the federal poverty level were 3 to 4 percentage points below the developmental norm (P < .05). A larger gap of 8 to 10 percentage points was observed for children below the federal poverty level (P < .05). These developmental differences had consequences for children's academic achievement. On average, children from low-income households scored 4 to 7 points lower on standardized tests (P < .05). As much as 20% of the gap in test scores could be explained by maturational lags in the frontal and temporal lobes. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCEThe influence of poverty on children's learning and achievement is mediated by structural brain development. To avoid long-term costs of impaired academic functioning, households below 150% of the federal poverty level should be targeted for additional resources aimed at remediating early childhood environments.

The neuroscience of poverty

“…A small study of 58 adolescents by John Gabrieli's group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, published in April, was the first to relate cortical volume to scores on state tests of math and reading (12). A paper published by Pollak and colleagues in July that analyzed MRI scans of 398 children and young adults between ages 4 and 22 reported that after adjustment for other factors, structural brain differences explained 20% of the testing gap between poor kids and middle class or well-off students (13). One value of tying brain measures to outcomes is that it opens the door for them to be used as biomarkers, or surrogate endpoints that could help determine whether an intervention is working, Gabrieli notes.…”

Alteraciones en el funcionamiento cognitivo en una muestra de niños, niñas y adolescentes con trastorno de estrés postraumático derivado del conflicto armado en Colombia

“…La parte más anterior del lóbulo frontal, se divide a su vez en las áreas dorsolateral, orbitofrontal y medial, las cuales están conectadas con diversas estructuras subcorticales, formando circuitos frontosubcorticales (Stuss & Knight, 2013). Dado que desde el punto de vista del neurodesarrollo, el lóbulo frontal es una de las últimas áreas en madurar (completando su formación hacia la segunda década de vida), es de esperar que sea una de las estructuras más afectadas luego de un evento traumático en los niños y adolescentes (Hair, Hanson, Wolfe, & Pollak, 2015).…”

Neurodevelopment, Nutrition, and Inflammation: The Evolving Global Child Health Landscape

“…53 Given the close nexus between poverty and undernutrition, it is not surprising that significant correlations between poverty and brain development have been demonstrated. 54,55 Other research looking at factors associated with neurodevelopment and poverty has focused on the toxic effects of violence, abuse, and exposure to conflict. Data from the recent Lancet series on early child development 56 also suggest that by using conjoint estimates of poverty and stunting, some 200 million children worldwide are at risk for suboptimal development with huge economic costs over their lifetimes and potentially across generations.…”