Socioeconomic disparities in neurocognitive development in the first two years of life

Noble, Kimberly G.; Engelhardt, Laura E.; Brito, Natalie H.; Mack, Luke; Nail, Elizabeth J.; Angal, Jyoti; Barr, Rachel; Fifer, William P.; Elliott, Amy J.

doi:10.1002/dev.21303

Cited by 166 publications

(129 citation statements)

References 97 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

112

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Prior studies suggest that socioeconomic status is associated with neurodevelopment [5] and elevated morning cortisol in very young children [11]. The current findings replicate and extend that work by showing that socio-demographic stress is associated with child cognitive development as early as 15 months.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

“…Several studies have shown that the endogenous release of glucocorticoids affects memory and executive aspects of human cognition [3] however key developmental questions remain. The effects of stress on neurodevelopment are thought to be evident in the first years of life [4,5] and it follows that HPA activity may also be associated with cognitive development during this time. This has not yet been confirmed, as research concerning HPA activity and cognition has been based primarily on studies of older children and adults.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Salivary cortisol and cognitive development in infants from low-income communities

Finegood

Wyman

O’Connor

et al. 2017

Stress

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Early stress exposure is proposed to have significant lasting effects on cognitive development. The glucocorticoid hormone cortisol, a product of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, is a particular focus of research, however, the majority of past research has been based on studies of older children and adults. Evidence linking cortisol levels in infancy with cognitive development is lacking. In a large cohort sample of infants (N = 1,091) oversampled for psychosocial risk, we tested whether basal cortisol levels and cortisol reactivity to emotional stressors administered at 7 and 15 months of age were associated with cognitive development measured at 15 months. Cognitive development was measured using the Mental Development Index of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development. Multiple regression analyses indicated that basal cortisol levels at 15 months, and to a lesser extent at 7 months, were inversely associated with infant cognitive development after adjusting for psychosocial and obstetric risk. The findings provide some of the first evidence that HPA axis activity in infancy is associated with early cognitive development.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Salivary cortisol and cognitive development in infants from low-income communities

Finegood

Wyman

O’Connor

et al. 2017

Stress

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…16 There is strong evidence that poverty influences language (tied to the temporal lobe) and executive functioning (related to the frontal lobe). 17–19 Deficits in the executive functioning of individuals in poverty have been found during the life course in studies conducted during infancy 20 as well as in childhood, adolescence, 21 and adulthood. 22 Motivated by these findings, a growing number of studies have used neuroimaging and found smaller volumes in the frontal and temporal lobes for children and adolescents living in poverty.…”

Section: Brain Plasticity and Environments Of Povertymentioning

confidence: 99%

Association of Child Poverty, Brain Development, and Academic Achievement

et al. 2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

IMPORTANCE Children living in poverty generally perform poorly in school, with markedly lower standardized test scores and lower educational attainment. The longer children live in poverty, the greater their academic deficits. These patterns persist to adulthood, contributing to lifetime-reduced occupational attainment.OBJECTIVE To determine whether atypical patterns of structural brain development mediate the relationship between household poverty and impaired academic performance. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Longitudinal cohort study analyzing 823 magnetic resonance imaging scans of 389 typically developing children and adolescents aged 4 to 22 years from the National Institutes of Health Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study of Normal Brain Development with complete sociodemographic and neuroimaging data. Data collection began in November 2001 and ended in August 2007.Participants were screened for a variety of factors suspected to adversely affect brain development, recruited at 6 data collection sites across the United States, assessed at baseline, and followed up at 24-month intervals for a total of 3 periods. Each study center used community-based sampling to reflect regional and overall US demographics of income, race, and ethnicity based on the US Department of Housing and Urban Development definitions of area income. One-quarter of sample households reported the total family income below 200% of the federal poverty level. Repeated observations were available for 301 participants. EXPOSURE Household poverty measured by family income and adjusted for family size as a percentage of the federal poverty level. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURESChildren's scores on cognitive and academic achievement assessments and brain tissue, including gray matter of the total brain, frontal lobe, temporal lobe, and hippocampus. RESULTSPoverty is tied to structural differences in several areas of the brain associated with school readiness skills, with the largest influence observed among children from the poorest households. Regional gray matter volumes of children below 1.5 times the federal poverty level were 3 to 4 percentage points below the developmental norm (P < .05). A larger gap of 8 to 10 percentage points was observed for children below the federal poverty level (P < .05). These developmental differences had consequences for children's academic achievement. On average, children from low-income households scored 4 to 7 points lower on standardized tests (P < .05). As much as 20% of the gap in test scores could be explained by maturational lags in the frontal and temporal lobes. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCEThe influence of poverty on children's learning and achievement is mediated by structural brain development. To avoid long-term costs of impaired academic functioning, households below 150% of the federal poverty level should be targeted for additional resources aimed at remediating early childhood environments.

show abstract

“…Not surprisingly, recent research suggests that socioeconomic circumstances may have a more nuanced effect on verbal ability than previously thought (Mol & Neuman 2014, Noble et al 2015 and that there is wide variability even within socioeconomic strata (Hoff 2013, Hirsh-Pasek et al 2015a. Contemporary theorists of language socialization have also voiced legitimate concerns about scholarly emphasis on the verbal limitations of children from low-income families without considering areas of strength (Miller & Sperry 2012, Johnson 2015, Sperry et al 2015, as well as the need for widespread adoption of ethnographic approaches that are sensitive to cultural variation (Ochs & Schieffelin 1984).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Identifying Pathways Between Socioeconomic Status and Language Development

Pace

Luo

Hirsh‐Pasek

et al. 2017

Annu. Rev. Linguist.

313

169

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Children from low-income backgrounds consistently perform below their more advantaged peers on standardized measures of language ability, setting long-term trajectories that translate into gaps in academic achievement. Our primary goals in this review are to describe how and why this is so, in order to focus attention on ways to enrich early language experiences across socioeconomic strata. We first review the literature on the relation between socioeconomic status (SES) and language ability across domains in early childhood. We then identify three potential pathways by which SES might influence language development-child characteristics, parent-child interaction, and availability of learning resources-recognizing the complicated interaction between the child's own language learning skill and his/her environmental support. Finally, we review interventions that target these three pathways with an eye toward best practice. Future research should focus on the diversity of contexts in which children acquire language and adopt methods of language measurement that are sensitive to cultural variation.

show abstract

Socioeconomic disparities in neurocognitive development in the first two years of life

Cited by 166 publications

References 97 publications

Salivary cortisol and cognitive development in infants from low-income communities

Salivary cortisol and cognitive development in infants from low-income communities

Association of Child Poverty, Brain Development, and Academic Achievement

Identifying Pathways Between Socioeconomic Status and Language Development

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About