Children born in poor families have atypical structural brain development and lower standardized test scores, researchers have revealed through a new study.
According to researchers, through there have been extensive studies about socioeconomic disparities in school readiness and academic performance, little is known about the mechanisms underlying the influence of poverty on children’s learning and achievement.
In a new study, researchers analyzed magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of 389 typically developing children and adolescents ages 4 to 22 with complete sociodemographic and neuroimaging data. The authors of the study published in JAMA Pediatrics then measured children’s scores on cognitive and academic achievement tests and brain tissue, including gray matter of the total brain, frontal lobe, temporal lobe and hippocampus.
Researchers found that regional gray matter volumes in the brains of children below 150 percent of the federal poverty level to be 3 to 4 percentage points below the developmental norm, while the gap was larger at 8 to 10 percentage points for children below the federal poverty level.
On average, children from low-income households scored four to seven points lower on standardized tests, according to the results. The authors estimate as much as 20 percent of the gap in test scores could be explained by developmental lags in the frontal and temporal lobes.
Seth D. Pollak, Ph.D., of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and colleagues concluded in their study that development in frontal and temporal lobes of the brain appears sensitive to the child’s environment and nurturance suggesting that interventions aimed at improving children’s environments may also alter the link between childhood poverty and deficits in cognition and academic achievement.
