Childhood Poverty and Cognitive Development in Latin America in the 21st Century

Abstract

For at least eight decades, researchers have analyzed the association between childhood poverty and cognitive development in different societies worldwide, but few of such studies have been carried out in Latin America. The aim of the present paper is to systematically review the empirical studies that have analyzed the associations between poverty and cognitive development in children under 18 years of age from Latin American and Caribbean countries between 2000 and 2015. This analysis takes into consideration the country where the work was conducted, the experimental and analytical design, sample size and composition, cognitive and poverty paradigms implemented, levels of analysis, and the inclusion of mediation analyses. Through these, we identify common patterns in the negative impact of poverty that have been repeatedly verified in the literature in other continents; we also call attention to a set of issues regarding sample, design, paradigms, impact, and mediation analyses that should be considered in future studies in the region.

Self-regulated learning, academic achievement and socioeconomic context at the end of primary school

“…Es de destacar el papel de la escuela en CSE bajo, en el que los estudiantes de alto DA alcanzan niveles similares de autorregulación que sus pares en CSE medio. Es decir, los efectos negativos que tiene la pobreza sobre el desarrollo (Segretin et al, 2016) y el DA (Hair et al, 2015) parecen compensarse en la escuela para los alumnos que consiguen un alto DA en CSE bajo.…”

“…Los efectos del CSE se recogen en distintos procesos implicados en el SRL y afectan negativamente a su desarrollo (Evans & Kim, 2013;Segretin, Hermida, Prats, Fracchia, Ruetti & Lipina, 2016), particularmente en: la planificación y memoria de trabajo (Hackman, Gallop, Evans & Farah, 2015). En bajo CSE los niños tienen menores desempeños cuando se requiere control de impulsos, demora de la gratificación y regulación emocional (Evans & Rosenbaum, 2008).…”

Receptive language skills among young children in rural Guatemala: The relationship between the Test de Vocabulario en Imagenes Peabody and a translated and adapted version of the Mullen Scales of Early Learning

“…Several studies have documented differences in developmental skills between young children from high and low socio‐economic backgrounds both within and between countries (Fernald, Weber, Galasso, & Ratsifandrihamanana, ; Heckman, ; Paxson & Schady, ; Rubio‐Codina, Attanasio, Meghir, Varela, & Grantham‐McGregor, ; Wehby & McCarthy, ). This is especially evident in Latin America, one of the most economically unequal regions of the world, where children from lower resource areas consistently perform more poorly on developmental measures than children living in areas with greater resources (Schady et al, ; Segretin et al, ). Research has demonstrated that these early developmental gaps can persist or even widen over time, leading to long‐term adverse effects on educational and career attainment and hindering productivity at a national or regional level for the most affected areas of the world (Fernald et al, ; Paxson & Schady, ; Schady et al, ).…”

Research on numerical cognition in Latin American countries (Investigación sobre cognición numérica en países latinoamericanos)

“…Nowadays, we are struggling with a double burden of nutrition (undernutrition and obesity) (Perez-Escamilla et al, 2018). Both of them have been connected to poverty and cognitive development and learning (Segretin et al, 2016). More studies with a different conceptualization of poverty are needed to uncover the interrelationships (Lipina, 2017).…”