Effects of the physical and social environment on youth cognitive performance

Abstract

<p>Individual differences in children’s cognitive abilities have significant consequences for life and health outcomes. What factors influence individual differences in cognitive performance during development? Here we test the hypothesis that children’s environments predict their cognitive performance, independent of well-characterized effects of socioeconomic status. To this end, we analyzed data from 9,002 9-10-year-olds from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, an ongoing longitudinal study with community samples across the United States. Using data from youth- and caregiver-report questionnaires and national database registries (e.g., neighborhood crime and walkability), we defined principal components summarizing children’s home, school, neighborhood, and cultural environments. Across two independent ABCD data releases (n = 3,475 and 5,527), sociodemographics and environmental components explained unique variance in children’s general cognitive ability, executive functioning, and learning/memory abilities. In addition, there was a significant interaction between sociodemographics and neighborhood environments in explaining variance in general cognitive abilities, such that increased neighborhood enrichment decreased the relationship between sociodemographics and general cognition. Thus, aspects of the physical and social environment predict unique variance in cognitive performance during development and should be considered in addition to sociodemographic factors to understand brain functioning and behavior.</p>

Profiling intra- and inter-individual differences in brain development across early adolescence

“…Future research interested in social determinants of brain health and neurodevelopment could further tease these sources of individual variability apart, using theoretical models to assess the contributions of structural factors, environmental exposures, etc. to individual differences in brain development (e.g., (Cardenas-Iniguez, 2019, p.; Meredith et al, 2022) and the potential role of intersectionality, and forces that create conditions or oppression and advantage, therein.…”