Parental Education, Household Income, and Cortical Surface Area among 9–10 Years Old Children: Minorities’ Diminished Returns

Abstract

Introduction: Although the effects of parental education and household income on children’s brain development are well established, less is known about possible variation in these effects across diverse racial and ethnic groups. According to the Minorities’ Diminished Returns (MDRs) phenomenon, due to structural racism, social stratification, and residential segregation, parental educational attainment and household income show weaker effects for non-White than White children. Purpose: Built on the MDRs framework and conceptualizing race as a social rather than a biological factor, this study explored racial and ethnic variation in the magnitude of the effects of parental education and household income on children’s whole-brain cortical surface area. Methods: For this cross-sectional study, we used baseline socioeconomic and structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI) data of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. Our analytical sample was 10,262 American children between ages 9 and 10. The independent variables were parental education and household income. The primary outcome was the children’s whole-brain cortical surface area. Age, sex, and family marital status were covariates. Race and ethnicity were the moderators. We used mixed-effects regression models for data analysis as participants were nested within families and study sites. Results: High parental education and household income were associated with larger children’s whole-brain cortical surface area. The effects of high parental education and high household income on children’s whole-brain cortical surface area were modified by race. Compared to White children, Black children showed a diminished return of high parental education on the whole-brain cortical surface area when compared to White children. Asian American children showed weaker effects of household income on the whole-brain cortical surface area when compared to White children. We could not find differential associations between parental education and household income with the whole-brain cortical surface area, when compared to White children, for non-Hispanic and Hispanic children. Conclusions: The effects of parental educational attainment and household income on children’s whole-brain cortical surface area are weaker in non-White than White families. Although parental education and income contribute to children’s brain development, these effects are unequal across racial groups.

Parental Educational Attainment, the Superior Temporal Cortical Surface Area, and Reading Ability among American Children: A Test of Marginalization-Related Diminished Returns

“…The weaker observed associations in non-white than white children are consistent with other analyses of MDRs, using ABCD study data for a wide range of neurocognitive domains [102], supported by brain imaging [41]. To the best of our knowledge, the MDRs reported here were not known before: (1) the link between parental educational attainment and right and left superior temporal cortical surface areas and (2) the link between children's left superior temporal cortical surface areas and children's reading ability.…”

“…Built on the MDRs phenomenon overall [ 44 , 45 , 75 , 76 ], MDRs of parental education on cognitive ability [ 60 , 62 , 63 , 77 ], school performance [ 53 , 54 , 55 , 57 ], and brain structures [ 41 ] in particular, we used data from Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study [ 75 , 76 , 77 , 78 , 79 , 80 , 81 , 82 ] to compare the associations between parental educational attainment, the superior temporal cortical surface area, and readability across diverse racial/ethnic groups in a large, diverse national sample of American children. In line with a recent work by Merz [ 34 ], we hypothesized positive associations between parental educational attainment, the superior temporal cortical surface area, and children’s reading ability.…”

“…While parental education, the superior temporal cortex, and reading ability are linked, recent research by Assari and colleagues have reported that the magnitude of the associations between parental education (and other SES indicators), brain structures (e.g., cortical surface area), and behavioral outcomes are unequal across race/ethnic groups [ 41 ]. Marginalization-related diminished returns (MDRs) refer to systematically weaker effects of SES resources, particularly parental education, on a wide range of health and developmental outcomes of children from marginalized families compared to privileged families [ 42 ].…”

“…For example, the effects of parental education on attention, working memory, and inhibitory control are all weaker for black than white children [ 58 , 59 , 60 ]. Analysis of the sMRI and fMRI data from the same sample also indicates that SES effects on hippocampus and amygdala volume [ 61 ] and the cortical surface area [ 41 ] were weaker for black than white children. Similarly, some of the effects of age on brain function [ 62 , 63 ] were weaker in black than white children.…”

Resting-State Functional Connectivity between Putamen and Salience Network and Childhood Body Mass Index

“…According to minorities' diminished returns (MDRs) [17], observed across study designs, cohorts, settings, age groups, socioeconomic status (SES) indicators, and health outcomes [18,19], individual-level risk and protective factors show weaker associations with outcomes of racial and ethnic minority people compared to Non-Hispanic Whites. For example, SES shows weaker associations with brain structure and function of Non-Hispanic Blacks than Non-Hispanic Whites [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]. The same pattern is shown for SES effects on trauma [28], attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) [29], suicide [27], depression [30], aggression [31], tobacco use [31][32][33], impulsivity [34], school bonding [35], school performance [36], math performance [37], attention [38], and inhibitory control [39] in Non-Hispanic Black children compared with Non-Hispanic White children.…”