Subjective Family Socioeconomic Status and Adolescents’ Attention: Blacks’ Diminished Returns

Abstract

Background: Racial minorities, particularly non-Hispanic blacks (NHBs) in the US, experience weaker effects from their families’ socioeconomic status on tangible outcomes, a pattern called the Minorities’ Diminished Returns (MDRs) theory. These MDRs are frequently shown in the effects of the families’ socioeconomic status (SES) on NHB adolescents’ school performance. As a result of these MDRs, NHB adolescents from high SES families show a worse than expected school performance. The existing knowledge is, however, minimal about the role of attention in explaining the diminished returns of the families’ SES with regard to the adolescents’ outcomes. Aim: To investigate the racial differences in the effects of the subjective family SES on adolescents’ attention, we compared non-Hispanic white (NHW) and NHB adolescents to assess the effect of the subjective family SES on adolescents’ attention. Methods: This was a cross-sectional analysis that included 4188 adolescents from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study. The independent variable was the subjective family SES. The primary outcome was the adolescents’ attention to be measured by the stop-signal task (SST). The attention domain of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) was also measured. Results: Overall, a high subjective family SES was associated with a higher task-based and CBCL-based attention. Race showed statistically significant interactions with subjective family SES in terms of adolescents’ attention outcomes. These interactions suggested that a high subjective family SES has smaller tangible effects on increasing the attention of NHB than NHW adolescents. Conclusion: The boosting effect of subjective family SES on attention is diminished for NHB rather than NHW adolescents. To minimize the racial gap in attention-related behaviors, such as school performance, we need to address the diminished returns of resources in the lives of NHB families. Not only should we equalize SES, but also increase the marginal returns of SES for racial minorities, particularly NHB families. Such efforts require public policies that empower NHB families to better leverage their SES resources and turn them into tangible outcomes. In addition, social policies should directly aim to alter the societal barriers that limit NHB families’ ability to effectively utilize their resources. Discrimination, segregation, and racism should be targets of our policy solutions.

Race, Socioeconomic Status, and Cerebellum Cortex Fractional Anisotropy in Pre-Adolescents

“…According to the Marginalization-related Diminished Returns (MDRs) framework [69,105], due to racism, marginalization, stratification, and discrimination, SES indicators (particularly parental education) tend to generate fewer effects on health outcomes, including adolescents' brain development, in racial minority families compared to White families. Similar MDRs are shown for the effects of parental education on Black pre-adolescents' attention [106], impulse control [107], inhibitory control [108], depression [109], suicidality [63], anxiety [110], social and behavioral problems [111,112], and attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) [49]. As a result of these MDRs, we observe poor development and behavior in high family SES only because they are Black and treated differently by society [62].…”

“…MDRs can be defined as weaker effects of SES indicators such as parental education and household income on various health outcomes for racial minorities than for Whites. MDRs are documented for attention [106], impulsivity and inhibitory control [107,156], depression [63,109,[157][158][159], suicidality [63], anxiety [110], social and behavioral problems [156,160], and ADHD [49] in Black adolescents.…”

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

“…In line with the MDRs described above, our analysis of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) data shows that the effects of SES indicators, particularly parental education, on brain function and structure are weaker for black than white children. 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.…”

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

“…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. Similar results are shown in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study [26,27,39,40], Add Health [17], the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS) [29,34,35,[41][42][43][44], Monitoring the Future (MTF) [36], the National Survey of American Life (NSAL) [30], the Flint Adolescents Study (FAS) [45], the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) [31], the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS) study [46], and the Family and Community Health Study (FACHS) [47,48].…”