New Research Found That Growing Up In A Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Household May Alter Children’s Brain Development
Lower socioeconomic status (SES) has long been known to impact both adults and developing children in a myriad of ways.
According to the American Psychological Association (APA), low SES affects everything from psychological health and physical health to educational success and family stability.
Though, a recent study conducted by scientists at the University of Michigan has taken this previous research one step further.
The team found that being raised in a socioeconomically disadvantaged household may actually alter children’s brain development.
Over five thousand and eight hundred children between the ages of nine and ten– who were from diverse backgrounds across the United States– participated in the study and underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain scans.
During the children’s first fMRI scan, they were asked to lay still in order for the research team to gain a baseline.
This period of rest allowed the scientists to observe and record how much neuronal traffic was traveling between different brain regions on functional routes that begin developing before birth and continue through adolescence.
This data was then analyzed in three key ways: across the entire brain, across major neuronal networks, and across brain connections on the individual level.
Next, using machine learning, the research team was able to “teach” a computer to essentially predict each child’s level of socioeconomic resource access using only their brain connection patterns. This stage of the analysis revealed wide variation in brain connectivity patterns.
kodbanker – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual person
“The effects of household socioeconomic resources on functional connectivity were massively distributed throughout youths’ brains,” explained Chandra Sripada, the study’s lead author.
“We did not see the localization of effects in a discrete location or specific brain circuit. Instead, there were relatively tiny effects distributed throughout the brain, though when these individual effects aggregated together, they constitute a strong, reliably detected signal.”
Finally, the team studied the socioeconomic resources present in each child’s household to come up with a composite measure. During this examination, the researchers paid close attention to three socioeconomic factors: household income, parental education, and neighborhood resource levels.
It was at this point in the study that one specific factor– parental education– jumped out at the team.
The researchers went on to analyze a subset of the participants, which included over three thousand and two hundred children, to understand why parental education altered children’s brain connectivity.
They ultimately found that parents who had higher levels of education often practiced and engaged their children in more enrichment activities at home– such as reading, visiting museums, and fostering imaginative thought.
Then, their children were more likely to score higher on cognitive function tests and perform better in school.
“Based on these results, we see parental education as potentially an important part of more complex pathways by which socioeconomic disparities get ‘under the skin’ and shape the developing brain,” said Mary Heitzeg, the study’s senior author.
This study marks the largest-ever inquiry into how socioeconomic factors impact adolescent brain development. And the findings could have widespread effects.
According to the Children’s Defense Fund, nearly one in seven children U.S. children– or ten million– were living in poverty in 2019.
Seventy-one percent of these children were children of color.
So, this research has the potential to impact public policy in terms of educational resource allocation.
Before that can happen, though, the University of Michigan team’s next step is to expand upon their research.
“As data from the long-term ABCD study continues to become available, we look forward to exploring how different factors influence physical and mental health, use of drugs and alcohol, and more,” Heitzeg underscored.
To read the study’s complete findings, which have since been published in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, visit the link here.
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