Search

Childhood socioeconomic status (SES) has far-reaching linkages with children's cognitive and socioemotional development, academic achievement, health, and brain structure and function. Rather than focusing on understandings about the neuroscience of socioeconomic inequality that have recently been reviewed elsewhere, the present article reviews several new directions in the field, beginning first with a consideration of the deficit versus adaptation framework. Although scientists largely agree that socioeconomic disparities in brain development are experience-dependent phenomena rooted in neuroplasticity, historically, such differences have been framed as deficits, which may benefit from intervention. However, emerging research suggests that some developmental differences among children experiencing adversity may alternatively be considered context-appropriate adaptations to the individual's environment. We next discuss how socioeconomic circumstances are inextricably intertwined with race, and consider how measurement of racism and discrimination must be part of a full understanding of the neuroscience of socioeconomic inequality. We argue that scientists must consciously recruit racially and socioeconomically diverse samples-and include measures of SES, race, and discrimination in analyses-to promote a more complete understanding of the neuroplasticity specifically, and psychological science more broadly. We discuss the extent to which researcher and editor positionality have contributed to these problems historically, and conclude by considering paths forward. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Stress has been linked with children’s socioemotional problems and lower language scores, particularly among children raised in socioeconomically disadvantaged circumstances. Much of the work examining the relations among stress, language, and socioemotional functioning have relied on assessments of a single dimension of maternal stress. However, stress can stem from different sources, and people may appraise stressors differently. Taking a dimensional approach, this manuscript characterizes stress in multiple ways: as an overall composite; across the constructs of psychological appraisal vs. environmental stressors; and the independent contributions of a variety assessments. Data are from 548 mother–infant dyads (M = 13.14 months, SD = 2.11) who served as the control group for a poverty reduction clinical trial. Mothers completed questionnaires regarding the different types of stresses they may have experienced, as well as their children’s language and socioemotional development. Results indicate that, collectively, higher maternal report of stress is associated with lower reports of children’s socioemotional and language development. In addition, maternal psychological appraisals of stress were associated with both socioemotional and language development, whereas reports of environmental stressors were only associated with socioemotional development. Together, these findings suggest that maternal reports of stress are associated with lower maternal report of child development among low-income children.

Early childhood poverty is a risk factor for lower school achievement, reduced earnings, and poorer health, and has been associated with differences in brain structure and function. Whether poverty causes differences in neurodevelopment, or is merely associated with factors that cause such differences, remains unclear. Here, we report estimates of the causal impact of a poverty reduction intervention on brain activity in the first year of life. We draw data from a subsample of the Baby's First Years study, which recruited 1,000 diverse low-income mother-infant dyads. Shortly after giving birth, mothers were randomized to receive either a large or nominal monthly unconditional cash gift. Infant brain activity was assessed at approximately 1 y of age in the child's home, using resting electroencephalography (EEG; n = 435). We hypothesized that infants in the high-cash gift group would have greater EEG power in the mid- to high-frequency bands and reduced power in a low-frequency band compared with infants in the low-cash gift group. Indeed, infants in the high-cash gift group showed more power in high-frequency bands. Effect sizes were similar in magnitude to many scalable education interventions, although the significance of estimates varied with the analytic specification. In sum, using a rigorous randomized design, we provide evidence that giving monthly unconditional cash transfers to mothers experiencing poverty in the first year of their children's lives may change infant brain activity. Such changes reflect neuroplasticity and environmental adaptation and display a pattern that has been associated with the development of subsequent cognitive skills.

IMPORTANCE: Associations between in utero exposure to maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection and neurodevelopment are speculated, but currently unknown. OBJECTIVE: To examine the associations between maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy, being born during the COVID-19 pandemic regardless of maternal SARS-CoV-2 status, and neurodevelopment at age 6 months. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: A cohort of infants exposed to maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy and unexposed controls was enrolled in the COVID-19 Mother Baby Outcomes Initiative at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City. All women who delivered at Columbia University Irving Medical Center with a SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy were approached. Women with unexposed infants were approached based on similar gestational age at birth, date of birth, sex, and mode of delivery. Neurodevelopment was assessed using the Ages & Stages Questionnaire, 3rd Edition (ASQ-3) at age 6 months. A historical cohort of infants born before the pandemic who had completed the 6-month ASQ-3 were included in secondary analyses. EXPOSURES: Maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy and birth during the COVID-19 pandemic. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Outcomes were scores on the 5 ASQ-3 subdomains, with the hypothesis that maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy would be associated with decrements in social and motor development at age 6 months. RESULTS: Of 1706 women approached, 596 enrolled; 385 women were invited to a 6-month assessment, of whom 272 (70.6%) completed the ASQ-3. Data were available for 255 infants enrolled in the COVID-19 Mother Baby Outcomes Initiative (114 in utero exposed, 141 unexposed to SARS-CoV-2; median maternal age at delivery, 32.0 [IQR, 19.0-45.0] years). Data were also available from a historical cohort of 62 infants born before the pandemic. In utero exposure to maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection was not associated with significant differences on any ASQ-3 subdomain, regardless of infection timing or severity. However, compared with the historical cohort, infants born during the pandemic had significantly lower scores on gross motor (mean difference, −5.63; 95% CI, −8.75 to −2.51; F(1,267) = 12.63; P

It is well known that financial disadvantage is associated with alterations in brain development in regions critical to socioemotional well-being such as the hippocampus and the amygdala. Yet little is known about whether family income at different points in development is differentially associated with these structures. Furthermore, little is known about which environmental factors statistically mediate associations between income and subcortical structure. Using a longitudinal birth cohort and linear mixed-effects models, we identified associations between income-to-needs ratio (INR) at 6 timepoints throughout childhood and hippocampal and amygdala volumes at age 7-9 years (n = 41; 236 INR measurements; 41 brain measurements). Mediation analysis identified environmental sequelae of income that statistically accounted for INR-brain associations. Lower INR prior to age 4 was associated with smaller hippocampal volumes, whereas lower INR prior to age 2 was associated with smaller right amygdala volume. These associations were mediated by unmet basic needs (e.g., food, housing). These findings delineate the temporal specificity of associations between income and hippocampal and amygdala structures.

Childhood economic disadvantage is associated with lower cognitive and social-emotional skills, reduced educational attainment, and lower earnings in adulthood. Despite these robust correlations, it is unclear whether family income is the cause of differences observed between children growing up in poverty and their more fortunate peers or whether these differences are merely due to the many other aspects of family life that co-occur with poverty. Baby’s First Years is the first randomized controlled trial in the United States designed to identify the causal impact of poverty reduction on children’s early development. A total of 1000 low-income mothers of newborns were enrolled in the study and began receiving a monthly unconditional cash gift for the first several years of their children’s lives. Mothers were randomly assigned to receive either a large monthly cash gift or a nominal monthly cash gift. All monthly gifts are administered via debit card and can be freely spent with no restrictions. Baby’s First Years aims to answer whether poverty reduction in early childhood (1) improves children’s developmental outcomes and promotes healthier brain functioning, and (2) improves family functioning and better enables parents to support child development. Here we present the rationale and design of the study as well as potential implications for science and policy.

Although parental harshness has been consistently linked with increased depressive symptoms in youth, its associations with children’s brain structure are not well understood. The striatum has been strongly implicated in depression in adolescents and adults. In this study, we investigated the associations among parental harsh discipline, striatal volume, and depressive symptoms in children. Participants were parents and their 5- to 9-year-old children (63% female; 29% African American; 47% Hispanic/Latino). Parents completed questionnaires about their parenting behaviors and children’s depressive symptoms. Children participated in a high-resolution, T1-weighted MRI scan, and volumetric data for the caudate, putamen, and nucleus accumbens were extracted (n = 20 with both parenting and MRI data; n = 48 with both MRI and depressive symptom data). Findings indicated that more frequent parental harsh discipline was significantly associated with smaller dorsal striatal volume (caudate plus putamen). In addition, smaller dorsal striatal volume was significantly associated with increased depressive symptoms in children. These associations remained significant after accounting for child age, sex, whole brain volume, and parental depressive symptoms. These findings suggest that parental harsh discipline may be associated with children’s striatal volume, which may in turn be associated with their level of depressive symptoms.

Socioeconomic disadvantage has been linked to increased stress exposure in children and adults. Exposure to stress in childhood has been associated with deleterious effects on cognitive development and well-being throughout the lifespan. Further, exposure to stress has been associated with differences in brain development in children, both in cortical and subcortical gray matter. However, less is known about the associations among socioeconomic disadvantage, stress, and children’s white matter development. In this study, we investigated whether socioeconomic disparities would be associated with differences in white matter microstructure in the cingulum bundle, as has been previously reported. We additionally investigated whether any such differences could be explained by differences in stress exposure and/or physiological stress levels. White matter tracts were measured via diffusion tensor imaging in 58 children aged 5–9 years. Results indicated that greater exposure to stressful life events was associated with higher child hair cortisol concentrations. Further, physiological stress, as indexed by hair cortisol concentrations, were associated with higher fractional anisotropy in the cingulum bundle. These results have implications for better understanding how perceived and physiological stress may alter neural development during childhood.

The last decade has seen increased availability of mobile electroencephalography (EEG). These mobile systems enable researchers to conduct data collection “in-context,” reducing participant burden and potentially increasing diversity and representation of research samples. Our research team completed in-home data collection from more than 400 12-month-old infants from low-income backgrounds using a mobile EEG system. In this manuscript, we provide methodological and analytic guidance for collecting high-quality, mobile EEG in infants. Specifically, we offer insights and recommendations for equipment selection, data collection, and data analysis, highlighting important considerations for selecting a mobile EEG system. Examples include the size of the recording equipment, electrode type, reference types, and available montages. We also highlight important recommendations surrounding preparing a non-standardized recording environment for EEG collection, obtaining informed consent from parents, instructions for parents during capping and recording, stimuli and task design, training researchers, and monitoring data as it comes in. Additionally, we provide access to the analysis code and demonstrate the robustness of the data from a recent study using this approach, in which 20 artifact-free epochs achieve good internal consistency reliability. Finally, we provide recommendations and publicly available resources for future studies aiming to collect mobile EEG.

Language development has been consistently linked with socioeconomic status (SES), with children from lower SES backgrounds at higher risk for language delays. The objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between familial social service use and language development during the first year of life. Thirty-one low-income mothers and their infants were recruited from the New York metropolitan area. Mothers provided information about demographics and utilization of social services (Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), food stamps, Medicaid, and public housing). Infant language skills were assessed using the Preschool Language Scale. Multiple linear regressions were used to investigate the relationship between social service use and language skills. We found that the number of social services utilized was not an overall significant linear predictor of language skills. However, social service use interacted with poverty level to predict language skills. Specifically, for families living in deep poverty, higher service use significantly predicted higher infant language scores (&beta, = 3.4, p = 0.005). These results suggest that social services may be an appropriate target to help narrow socioeconomic disparities in language development.

Background: Limited data suggest that adolescents with multiple sclerosis (MS) frequently discontinue school. While it is known that cognitive impairment occurs in 30% to 50% of children with MS, the functional impact of childhood MS on academic achievement is virtually unknown. Objective: To that end, this paper builds an evidence-based argument for evaluating educational outcomes in children with MS. Methods: This will be accomplished through (a) a review of pediatric MS and its cognitive consequences; (b) a selective review of the utility of neuropsychological batteries in assessing academic outcomes in pediatric populations in general; and (c) a brief overview of modifiable factors that have a potential benefit on school outcomes in children with MS. Conclusion: Scholastic achievement should be assessed as part of the routine cognitive screening of children and adolescents with MS.

Chronic stress has been increasingly linked with aberrations in children's behavioral, cognitive, and social development, yet the effect of chronic physiological stress on neural development during the first year of life is largely unknown. The present study aims to link a physiological index of chronic stress (maternal hair cortisol concentration) to maturational differences in infant functional brain development during the first year of life. Participants were 94 mother-infant dyads. To index chronic physiological stress, maternal hair samples were assayed for the previous three months’ cortisol output. To examine the development of brain function during the first year of life, six-to-twelve-month-old infants (N = 94) completed a resting electroencephalography (EEG) recording. Infants of mothers with evidence of higher physiological stress showed increased relative low-frequency (theta) power and reduced relative high-frequency (alpha, high-gamma) power, compared to infants of mothers with evidence of low physiological stress. This pattern of findings is consistent with other studies suggesting that early life stress may lead to alterations in patterns of infant brain development. These findings are important given that maturational lags in brain development can be long-lasting and are associated with deficits in cognitive and emotional development. The present research also suggests that reducing maternal physiological stress may be a useful target for future interventions aiming to foster neurodevelopment during the first year of life.

Characteristics of the home language environment, independent of socioeconomic background, may account for disparities in early language abilities. Past studies have reported links between the quantity of language input within the home and differences in brain function during early childhood. The current study examined associations between home language input and EEG brain activity in a socioeconomically diverse sample of 6- to 12-month-old infants (N = 94). Replicating past studies, a positive correlation was found between measures of socioeconomic status and language input. Examining links between language input and brain activity, analyses yielded a negative association, with children who heard more adult words in the home demonstrating reduced EEG beta power (13–19 Hz) in the parietal region. Exploratory analyses revealed a significant interaction between language input and the amount of chaos and disorganization in the home. Specifically, among children living in high-chaos households, children who heard more adult words tended to have reduced EEG activity. Among children living in low-chaos homes, there was no link between adult word count and children’s EEG activity. These findings demonstrate the importance of the early home environment context in shaping neurocognitive trajectories.

Material hardship, or difficulty affording basic resources such as food, housing, utilities, and health care, increases children’s risk for internalizing problems. The uncinate fasciculus (UNC) and two of the gray matter regions it connects–the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and amygdala--may play important roles in the neural mechanisms underlying these associations. We investigated associations among material hardship, UNC microstructure, OFC and amygdala structure, and internalizing symptoms in children. Participants were 5- to 9-year-old children (N = 94, 61% female) from socioeconomically diverse families. Parents completed questionnaires assessing material hardship and children’s internalizing symptoms. High-resolution, T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (n = 51) and diffusion tensor imaging (n = 58) data were acquired. UNC fractional anisotropy (FA), medial OFC surface area, and amygdala gray matter volume were extracted. Greater material hardship was significantly associated with lower UNC FA, smaller amygdala volume, and higher internalizing symptoms in children, after controlling for age, sex, and family income-to-needs ratio. Lower UNC FA significantly mediated the association between material hardship and internalizing symptoms in girls but not boys. These findings are consistent with the notion that material hardship may lead to altered white matter microstructure and gray matter structure in neural networks critical to emotion processing and regulation.

Variation in the klotho gene is linked to differences in health outcomes: klotho allele KL-VS heterozygosity is associated with longevity, better cognition and greater right frontal grey matter volume in late life. Contradicting reports, however, suggest that KL-VS’s effect on health might be age-dependent. Here we examine the relationship between KL-VS genotype, cognition and brain structure in childhood and adolescence. We hypothesized that KL-VS has early influences on cognitive and brain development. We investigated the associations of KL-VS carrier status with cognition and brain morphology in a cohort of 1387 children and adolescents aged 3–21 years, examining main effects and interactions between age, sex and socioeconomic circumstance. KL-VS had no main effect on either cognition or brain structure, though there was a significant KL-VS × age interaction for cognition (specifically executive function, attention, episodic memory, and general cognition), total grey matter and total brain volume. KL-VS heterozygotes had better cognition than non-carriers before age 11, but lower cognition after age 11. Heterozygotes had smaller brains than non-carriers did in early childhood. Sex moderated the association between KL-VS and white matter volume. Among girls, KL-VS heterozygotes had smaller white matter volumes than non-carriers. Among boys, heterozygotes had greater white matter volumes than non-carriers. However, a replication in a cohort of 2306 children aged 6–12 years showed no significant associations. In contrast to findings in late life, these results show that KL-VS does not have a main effect on cognition and brain structure. Furthermore, KL-VS’s influence may depend on age and sex. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s11682-018-9990-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The unique neuroanatomical underpinnings of internalizing symptoms and impulsivity during childhood are not well understood. In this study, we examined associations of brain structure with anxiety, depression, and impulsivity in children and adolescents. Participants were 7- to 21-year-olds (N = 328) from the Pediatric Imaging, Neurocognition, and Genetics (PING) study who completed high-resolution, 3-Tesla, T1-weighted MRI and self-report measures of anxiety, depression, and/or impulsivity. Cortical thickness and surface area were examined across cortical regions-of-interest (ROIs), and exploratory whole-brain analyses were also conducted. Gray matter volume (GMV) was examined in subcortical ROIs. When considered separately, higher depressive symptoms and impulsivity were each significantly associated with reduced cortical thickness in ventromedial PFC/medial OFC, but when considered simultaneously, only depressive symptoms remained significant. Higher impulsivity, but not depressive symptoms, was associated with reduced cortical thickness in the frontal pole, rostral middle frontal gyrus, and pars orbitalis. No differences were found for regional surface area. Higher depressive symptoms, but not impulsivity, were significantly associated with smaller hippocampal GMV and larger pallidal GMV. There were no significant associations between anxiety symptoms and brain structure. Depressive symptoms and impulsivity may be linked with cortical thinning in overlapping and distinct regions during childhood and adolescence., Highlights • Internalizing problems and impulsivity may have shared and distinct neuroanatomical substrates in childhood. • Higher depressive symptoms were uniquely associated with reduced cortical thickness in vmPFC/medial OFC. • Higher impulsivity was uniquely associated with reduced cortical thickness in lateral PFC regions. • Higher depressive symptoms were associated with smaller hippocampal volume and larger pallidal volume. • These shared and distinct neuroanatomical correlates may inform the design of prevention and intervention strategies.

Evidence suggests that increased use of screens early in life may have negative developmental consequences for children. However, little is known concerning parental factors that predict initial screen exposure in infancy. The primary goal of this study was to examine whether parental educational attainment and maternal stress were associated with infant screen exposure by 6 months of age. A diverse sample of mothers (N = 93) was recruited prenatally. In a follow-up visit when the infants were six months of age (N = 82), we examined factors that may be associated with initial infant exposure to screens. First, mothers reported whether they had already exposed their infants to screens. Thereafter, those mothers who reported already having exposed their infants to screens were further queried to determine the extent of infant screen use. Results demonstrated that among infants exposed to screens, mothers reported an average of nearly 3 h of daily screen use. Average parental educational attainment, but not maternal stress, was significantly associated with initial infant exposure. Of those families who endorsed screen exposure by 6 months, 70 % reported a screen in the room where the child sleeps, nearly half reported using screens to help calm the infant, and about a third reported using a screen at least sometimes during meals, when going to sleep, and while waiting. Parental education around infant screen use behaviors may be important to help promote child development and outcomes.

OBJECTIVE: The associations among socioeconomic disadvantage,amygdala volume,and internalizing symptoms in children and adolescentsare unclear and under-studied in the extant literature. In this study, we examined associations between socioeconomic status (SES) and amygdala volume by age across childhood and adolescence to test whether socioeconomic disadvantage would be associated with larger amygdala volume at younger ages, but with smaller amygdala volume at older ages. We then examined whetherSES and amygdala volume were associated with children’s levels of anxiety and depression. METHOD: Participants were3- to 21-year-oldsfrom the Pediatric Imaging, Neurocognition, and Genetics (PING) study (N = 1196),whichincludedstructural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). A subsample (N = 327; 7 – 21 years of age) completed self-report measures of anxiety and depression. RESULTS: Lower family income and parental educationwere significantly associated with smaller amygdala volume in adolescence (13–21 years), but not significantly associated with amygdala volume at younger ages (3–12 years). Lower parental education, but not family income, was significantly associated with higher levels of anxiety and depression, even after accounting for family history of anxiety/depression. Smaller amygdala volume was significantly associated with higher levels of depression, even after accounting for parental education and family history of anxiety/depression. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that associations between SES and amygdala structure may vary by age.In addition,smaller amygdala volumemay be linked with an increased risk for depression in children and adolescents.

Socioeconomic disadvantage is consistently linked with higher risk for internalizing problems, and stress is likely one important mechanism explaining this increased risk. Few studies have examined socioeconomic differences in hair cortisol, a novel biomarker of long-term adrenocortical activity and chronic stress. Moreover, no studies have examined whether differences in hair cortisol might explain socioeconomic disparities in internalizing problems. To address these gaps, we first examined relations of socioeconomic status (SES; family income and parental education) to variation in both parents’ and children’s hair cortisol concentrations (HCC) and then tested whether HCC and perceptions of stress mediated relations of SES to parents’ and children’s internalizing symptoms. Participants were a socioeconomically diverse sample of 35 parents and 26 children (ages 5–7). Parents completed questionnaires, and hair samples were collected from parents and children. Parents reported on children’s internalizing symptoms on average 2 years after the initial visit. Results demonstrated that lower parental education was associated with higher HCC for both parents and children. Effects for child HCC held even after controlling for parent HCC. Lower family income was associated with higher parent HCC, but not child HCC. This relation was nonlinear, such that the relation between HCC and income was strongest among the most disadvantaged parents. Furthermore, associations of SES with parental anxiety were significantly mediated by parental perceptions of stress and marginally mediated by parent HCC. These findings suggest that socioeconomic disadvantage is associated with greater accumulation of cortisol in hair in parents and children, and that both perceived and biological markers of stress capture important facets of the experiences that underlie socioeconomic disparities in adult anxiety.

Children from language minority (LM) environments speak a language at home that differs from that at school, are often from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds, and are at risk for reading impairment. We evaluated the main effects and interaction of language status and phonological memory and awareness on reading disorder in 352 children from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds. A significant phonological memory by language status interaction indicated that phonological memory problems were magnified in predicting reading impairment in children from LM versus English dominant (ED) homes. Among children without reading disorder, language minority status was unrelated to phonological processing.

The mechanisms underlying socioeconomic disparities in children's reading skills are not well understood. This study examined associations among socioeconomic background, home linguistic input, brain structure, and reading skills in 5-to-9-year-old children (N = 94). Naturalistic home audio recordings and high-resolution, T1-weighted MRI scans were acquired. Children who experienced more adult?child conversational turns or adult words had greater left perisylvian cortical surface area. Language input mediated the association between parental education and left perisylvian cortical surface area. Language input was indirectly associated with children's reading skills via left perisylvian surface area. Left perisylvian surface area mediated the association between parental education and children's reading skills. Language experience may thus partially explain socioeconomic disparities in language-supporting brain structure and in turn reading skills.

Past research has demonstrated links between cortical activity, measured via EEG power, and cognitive processes during infancy. In a separate line of research, family socioeconomic status (SES) has been strongly associated with children’s early cognitive development, with socioeconomic disparities emerging during the second year of life for both language and declarative memory skills. The present study examined associations among resting EEG power at birth, SES, and language and memory skills at 15-months in a sample of full-term infants. Results indicate no associations between SES and EEG power at birth. However, EEG power at birth was related to both language and memory outcomes at 15-months. Specifically, frontal power (24–48Hz) was positively correlated with later Visual Paired Comparison (VPC) memory scores. Power (24–35Hz) in the parietal region was positively correlated with later PLS-Auditory Comprehension language scores. These findings suggest that SES disparities in brain activity may not be apparent at birth, but measures of resting neonatal EEG power are correlated with later memory and language skills independently of SES.

Americans have significantly poorer health outcomes and shorter longevity than citizens of other industrialized nations. Poverty is a major driver of these poor health outcomes in the United States. Innovative anti-poverty policies may help reduce economic malaise thereby increasing the health and longevity of the most vulnerable Americans. However, there is no consensus framework for studying the health impacts of anti-poverty social policies. In this paper, we describe a case study in which leading global experts systematically: (1) developed a conceptual model that outlines the potential pathways through which a social policy influences health, (2) fits outcome measures to this conceptual model, and (3) estimates an optimal time frame for collection of the selected outcome measures. This systematic process, called the Delphi method, has the potential to produce estimates more quickly and with less bias than might be achieved through expert panel discussions alone. Our case study is a multi-component randomized-controlled trial (RCT) of a workforce policy called MyGoals for Healthy Aging.

Socioeconomic factors have been consistently linked with the structure of children's hippocampus and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Chronic stress-as indexed by hair cortisol concentration-may represent an important mechanism underlying these associations. Here, we examined associations between hair cortisol and children's hippocampal and ACC structure, including across hippocampal subfields, and whether hair cortisol mediated associations between socioeconomic background (family income-to-needs ratio, parental education) and the structure of these brain regions.Participants were 5- to 9-year-old children (N = 94; 61% female) from socioeconomically diverse families. Parents and children provided hair samples that were assayed for cortisol. High-resolution, T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging scans were acquired, and FreeSurfer 6.0 was used to compute hippocampal volume and rostral and caudal ACC thickness and surface area (n = 37 with both child hair cortisol and magnetic resonance imaging data; n = 41 with both parent hair cortisol and magnetic resonance imaging data).Higher hair cortisol concentration was significantly associated with smaller CA3 and dentate gyrus hippocampal subfield volumes but not with CA1 or subiculum volume. Higher hair cortisol was also associated with greater caudal ACC thickness. Hair cortisol significantly mediated associations between parental education level and CA3 and dentate gyrus volumes; lower parental education level was associated with higher hair cortisol, which in turn was associated with smaller volume in these subfields.These findings point to chronic physiologic stress as a potential mechanism through which lower parental education level leads to reduced hippocampal volume. Hair cortisol concentration may be an informative biomarker leading to more effective prevention and intervention strategies aimed at childhood socioeconomic disadvantage.

Several studies have investigated associations between socioeconomic status (SES) and indicators of children's physiological and cognitive self-regulation. Although objective measures of family SES may be good proxies for families' experiences of disadvantage, less is known about subjective aspects of families' experiences. We hypothesize that subjective social status (SSS) and perceived stress may be important independent predictors of children's stress physiology and executive functioning (EF). Eighty-two children from diverse SES backgrounds were administered EF measures and provided saliva samples for cortisol assay. Caregivers reported on objective SES, SSS, and perceived stress. Results suggest that SES and SSS are both independently and positively related to EF. In models predicting stress physiology, higher perceived stress was associated with lower baseline cortisol. Moreover, SES and age interacted to predict cortisol levels such that among younger children, lower SES was associated with higher cortisol, whereas among older children, lower SES was associated with lower cortisol. Results highlight the importance of considering both objective and subjective indicators of families' SES and stressful experiences in relation to multiple aspects of children's self-regulation.

Studies have reported associations between cortical thickness (CT) and socioeconomic status (SES), as well as between CT and cognitive outcomes. However, findings have been mixed as to whether CT explains links between SES and cognitive performance. In the current study, we hypothesized that this inconsistency may have arisen from the fact that socioeconomic factors (family income and parental education) may moderate the relation between CT and neurocognitive skills. Results indicated that associations between CT and cognitive performance did vary by SES for both language and executive function (EF) abilities. Across all ages, there was a negative correlation between CT and cognitive skills, with thinner cortices associated with higher language and EF scores. Similarly, across all cognitive skills, children from higher-SES homes outperformed their age-matched peers from lower-SES homes. Moderation analyses indicated that the impact of SES was not constant across CT, with SES more strongly predictive of EF skills among children with thicker cortices and more strongly predictive of language skills among children with thinner cortices. This suggests that socioeconomic advantage may in some cases buffer against a neurobiological risk factor for poor performance. These findings suggest that links between brain structure and cognitive processes vary by family socioeconomic circumstance.

In the United States, >40% of children are either poor or near-poor. As a group, children in poverty are more likely to experience worse health and more developmental delay, lower achievement, and more behavioral and emotional problems than their more advantaged peers; however, there is broad variability in outcomes among children exposed to similar conditions. Building on a robust literature from animal models showing that environmental deprivation or enrichment shapes the brain, there has been increasing interest in understanding how the experience of poverty may shape the brain in humans. In this review, we summarize research on the relationship between socioeconomic status and brain development, focusing on studies published in the last 5 years. Drawing on a conceptual framework informed by animal models, we highlight neural plasticity, epigenetics, material deprivation (eg, cognitive stimulation, nutrient deficiencies), stress (eg, negative parenting behaviors), and environmental toxins as factors that may shape the developing brain. We then summarize the existing evidence for the relationship between child poverty and brain structure and function, focusing on brain areas that support memory, emotion regulation, and higher-order cognitive functioning (ie, hippocampus, amygdala, prefrontal cortex) and regions that support language and literacy (ie, cortical areas of the left hemisphere). We then consider some limitations of the current literature and discuss the implications of neuroscience concepts and methods for interventions in the pediatric medical home.

Background A growing body of evidence links socioeconomic status (SES) to children's brain structure. Few studies, however, have specifically investigated relations of SES to white matter structure. Further, although several studies have demonstrated that family SES is related to development of brain areas that support executive functions (EF), less is known about the role that white matter structure plays in the relation of SES to EF. One possibility is that white matter differences may partially explain SES disparities in EF (i.e., a mediating relationship). Alternatively, SES may differentially shape brain-behavior relations such that the relation of white matter structure to EF may differ as a function of SES (i.e., a moderating relationship). Method In a diverse sample of 1082 children and adolescents aged 3–21 years, we examined socioeconomic disparities in white matter macrostructure and microstructure. We further investigated relations between family SES, children's white matter volume and integrity in tracts supporting EF, and performance on EF tasks. Results Socioeconomic status was associated with fractional anisotropy (FA) and volume in multiple white matter tracts. Additionally, family income moderated the relation between white matter structure and cognitive flexibility. Specifically, across multiple tracts of interest, lower FA or lower volume was associated with reduced cognitive flexibility among children from lower income families. In contrast, children from higher income families showed preserved cognitive flexibility in the face of low white matter FA or volume. SES factors did not mediate or moderate links between white matter and either working memory or inhibitory control. Conclusions This work adds to a growing body of literature suggesting that the socioeconomic contexts in which children develop not only shape cognitive functioning and its underlying neurobiology, but may also shape the relations between brain and behavior.

Recent findings indicate robust associations between socioeconomic status (SES) and brain structure in children, raising questions about the ways in which SES may modify structural brain development. In general, cortical thickness and surface area develop in nonlinear patterns across childhood and adolescence, with developmental patterns varying to some degree by cortical region. Here, we examined whether age-related nonlinear changes in cortical thickness and surface area varied by SES, as indexed by family income and parental education. We hypothesized that SES disparities in age-related change may be particularly evident for language- and literacy-supporting cortical regions. Participants were 1148 typically-developing individuals between 3 and 20 years of age. Results indicated that SES factors moderate patterns of age-associated change in cortical thickness but not surface area. Specifically, at lower levels of SES, associations between age and cortical thickness were curvilinear, with relatively steep age-related decreases in cortical thickness earlier in childhood, and subsequent leveling off during adolescence. In contrast, at high levels of SES, associations between age and cortical thickness were linear, with consistent reductions across the age range studied. Notably, this interaction was prominent in the left fusiform gyrus, a region that is critical for reading development. In a similar pattern, SES factors significantly moderated linear age-related change in left superior temporal gyrus, such that higher SES was linked with steeper age-related decreases in cortical thickness in this region. These findings suggest that SES may moderate patterns of age-related cortical thinning, especially in language- and literacy-supporting cortical regions.

A positive school climate has been found to support mental and physical health, academic achievement and social adjustment among youth. However, links between school climate and brain structure have not been investigated to date. In this study, we investigated whether school climate was associated with executive function (EF) and brain structure (cortical thickness and surface area) in children and adolescents. We further examined whether these links varied as a function of socioeconomic background. Participants who ranged from 9 to 18 years of age (N = 108) completed EF tasks and a high-resolution, 3-Tesla, T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan. Overall school climate, academic support, and family socioeconomic background were assessed using questionnaires. Higher academic support was associated with greater EF task performance and increased global cortical thickness. Additionally, academic support moderated the association between family income and EF, such that children from lower income families performed similarly to their more advantaged peers on EF tasks in the context of positive academic support. This work is the first to link school climate to brain structure and contributes to the growing body of evidence suggesting that academic support may be an important protective factor in the context of socioeconomic disadvantage.

Family socioeconomic status (SES) is strongly associated with children’s cognitive development, and past studies have reported socioeconomic disparities in both neurocognitive skills and brain structure across childhood. In other studies, bilingualism has been associated with cognitive advantages and differences in brain structure across the lifespan. The aim of the current study is to concurrently examine the joint and independent associations between family SES and dual-language use with brain structure and cognitive skills during childhood. A subset of data from the Pediatric Imaging, Neurocognition and Genetics (PING) study was analyzed; propensity score matching established an equal sample (N = 562) of monolinguals and dual-language users with similar socio-demographic characteristics (M age = 13.5, Range = 3–20 years). When collapsing across all ages, SES was linked to both brain structure and cognitive skills. When examining differences by age group, brain structure was significantly associated with both income and dual-language use during adolescence, but not earlier in childhood. Additionally, in adolescence, a significant interaction between dual-language use and SES was found, with no difference in cortical surface area (SA) between language groups of higher-SES backgrounds but significantly increased SA for dual-language users from lower-SES families compared to SES-matched monolinguals. These results suggest both independent and interacting associations between SES and dual-language use with brain development. To our knowledge, this is the first study to concurrently examine dual-language use and socioeconomic differences in brain structure during childhood and adolescence.

What are the cognitive and neurobiological building blocks necessary for children to acquire literacy, a skill that is crucial for academic and life achievement? In this review we discuss the behavioral and neurobiological evidence concerning the bases of reading development and impairment. The means by which reading achievement may be influenced by the background and experiences that a child brings to the classroom are discussed. Finally, we review a series of experimental studies that have examined the cog- nitive and neurobiological response prior to and following reading intervention in struggling readers. The importance of appropriate control groups is stressed, as well as the ultimate goal of designing reading interventions that target individual needs. J Dev Behav Pediatr 26:370-378, 2005. Index terms: reading, neurobiological basis of reading, reading intervention. As literate adults, we process written words automatically and nearly instantaneously, in hundreds of milliseconds. 1 In fact, skilled adult readers cannot stop themselves from involuntarily reading words presented to them, even when instructed to focus on other aspects of the stimulus, such as the color of the ink in which it is written. 2 Further, this rapid, automatic process occurs even when the reader is not consciously aware of seeing a written word. 3 However, such skilled expertise requires years of specialized training and practice. What are the building blocks necessary for children to acquire this skill that is so crucial for academic and life achievement? In this review, we discuss the fundamental cognitive precursors of reading acquisition. We review the evidence from behavioral studies of reading development, and present evidence suggesting that two main brain regions support the neurobiological basis of reading. As reading skill is not acquired in a vacuum, the background and experiences that a child brings to the classroom are intimately involved in shaping reading development. The degree to which socioeconomic background can influence other factors involved in reading acquisition is discussed. Finally, we report on several efforts to design intervention strategies that monitor neural development in concert with reading skill.

This article allows readers to look at racial and ethnic disparities in school readiness from a neuroscience perspective. Although researchers have traditionally measured gaps in school readiness using broad achievement tests, they can now assess readiness in terms of more specific brain-based cognitive functions. Three neurocognitive systems--cognitive control, learning and memory, and reading--are essential for success in school. Thanks to recent advances in brain imaging, it is now possible to examine these three systems, each located in specific areas of the brain, by observing them in action as children engage in particular tasks. Socioeconomic status--already linked with how well children do on skills tests generally--is particularly closely linked with how well they perform on tasks involving these crucial neurocognitive systems. Moreover, children's life experiences can influence their neurocognitive development and lead to functional and anatomical changes in their brains. Noting that chronic stress or abuse in childhood can impair development of the brain region involved in learning and memory, the authors show how the extreme stress of being placed in an orphanage leads to abnormal brain development and decreased cognitive functioning. More optimistically, the authors explain that children's brains remain plastic and capable of growth and development. Targeted educational interventions thus have the promise of improving both brain function and behavior. Several such interventions, for example, both raise children's scores in tests of reading and increase activity in the brain regions most closely linked with reading. The brain regions most crucial for school readiness may prove quite responsive to effective therapeutic interventions-even making it possible to tailor particular interventions for individual children. The authors look ahead to the day when effective educational interventions can begin to close racial and socioeconomic gaps in readiness and achievement.

Socioeconomic status (SES) is strongly associated with cognitive ability and achievement during childhood and beyond. Little is known about the developmental relationships between SES and specific brain systems or their associated cognitive functions. In this study we assessed neurocognitive functioning of kindergarteners from different socioeconomic backgrounds, using tasks drawn from the cognitive neuroscience literature in order to determine how childhood SES predicts the normal variance in performance across different neurocognitive systems. Five neurocognitive systems were examined: the occipitotemporal/visual cognition system, the parietal/spatial cognition system, the medial temporal/memory system, the left perisylvian/language system, and the prefrontal/executive system. SES was disproportionately associated with the last two, with low SES children performing worse than middle SES children on most measures of these systems. Relations among language, executive function, SES and specific aspects of early childhood experience were explored, revealing intercorrelations and a seemingly predominant role of individual differences in language ability involved in SES associations with executive function.

Brain imaging studies examining the component processes of reading using words, non-words, and letter strings frequently report task-related activity in the left extrastriate cortex. Processing of these linguistic materials involves varying degrees of semantic, phonological, and orthographic analysis that are sensitive to individual differences in reading skill and history. In contrast, single letter processing becomes automatized early in life and is not modulated by later linguistic experience to the same degree as are words. In this study, skilled readers attended to different aspects (single letters, symbols, and colors) of an identical stimulus set during separate sessions of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Whereas activation in some portions of ventral extrastriate cortex was shared by attention to both alphabetic and non-alphabetic features, a letter-specific area was identified in a portion of left extrastriate cortex (Brodmann's Area 37), lateral to the visual word form area. Our results demonstrate that while minimizing activity related to word-level lexical properties, cortical responses to letter recognition can be isolated from figural and color characteristics of simple stimuli. The practical utility of this finding is discussed in terms of early identification of reading disability.

Socioeconomic status (SES) has been linked to functioning across a variety of neurocognitive domains including language, memory, executive functioning, and social-emotional processing. We review these findings and discuss the ways in which socioeconomic context may shape neural processes such that these skills are supported by different neurobiological pathways in children from lower versus higher SES backgrounds. Moreover, we consider the mechanisms by which SES may be related to specific neurocognitive functions. Specifically, we focus on linguistic exposure and stress as two main pathways through which SES could influence neurocognitive processes and shape relations between the neural and behavioral levels of functioning. Finally, suggestions for conceptualizing and measuring SES in future work are offered.

Background Prekindergarten educational interventions represent a popular approach to improving educational outcomes, especially in children from poor households. Children from lower socioeconomic groups are at increased risk for delays in cognitive development that are important for school success. These delays, which may stem from stress associated with poverty, often develop before kindergarten. Early interventions have been proposed, but there is a need for more information on effectiveness. By assessing socioeconomic differences in brain structure and function, we may better be able to track the neurobiologic basis underlying children's cognitive improvement. Methods We conducted a review of the neuroimaging and electrophysiology literature to evaluate what is known about differences in brain structure and function as assessed by magnetic resonance imaging and electrophysiology and evoked response potentials among children from poor and nonpoor households. Results Differences in lower socioeconomic groups were found in functional magnetic resonance imaging, diffusion tensor imaging, and volumetric magnetic resonance imaging as well as electroencephalography and evoked response potentials compared with higher socioeconomic groups. Conclusions The findings suggest a number of neurobiologic correlates for cognitive delays in children who are poor. Given this, we speculate that magnetic resonance imaging and electrophysiology parameters might be useful as biomarkers, after more research, for establishing the effectiveness of specific prekindergarten educational interventions. At the very least, we suggest that to level the playing field in educational outcomes, it may be helpful to foster communication and collaboration among all professionals involved in the care and education of children.

Socioeconomic status (SES) is strongly associated with cognition and achievement. Socioeconomic disparities in language and memory skills have been reported from elementary school through adolescence. Less is known about the extent to which such disparities emerge in infancy. Here, 179 infants from socioeconomically diverse families were recruited. Using a cohort-sequential design, 90 infants were followed at 9 and 15 months, and 89 were followed at 15 and 21 months. SES disparities in developmental trajectories of language and memory were present such that, at 21 months of age, children of highly educated parents scored approximately .8 standard deviations higher in both language and memory than children of less educated parents. The home language and literacy environment and parental warmth partially accounted for disparities in language, but not memory development.

The results from studies using positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in adults have largely revealed the involvement of left-hemisphere perisylvian areas in the reading process, including extrastriate visual cortex, inferior parietal regions, superior temporal gyrus, and inferior frontal cortex. Although the recruitment of these regions varies with the particular reading-related task, general networks of regions seem to be uniquely associated with different components of the reading process-For example, visual word form processing is associated with occipital and occipitotemporal sites, whereas reading-relevant phonological processing has been associated with superior temporal, occipitotemporal and inferior frontal sites of the left hemisphere. Such findings are evaluated in light of the technical and experimental limitations encountered in functional brain imaging studies, and the implications for pediatric studies are discussed.

Socioeconomic status is an important predictor of cognitive development and academic achievement. Late adolescence provides a unique opportunity to study how the attainment of socioeconomic status (in the form of years of education) relates to cognitive and neural development, during a time when age-related cognitive and neural development is ongoing. During late adolescence it is possible to disambiguate age- and education-related effects on the development of these processes. Here we assessed the degree to which higher educational attainment was related to performance on a cognitive control task, controlling for age. We then used diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to assess the degree to which white matter microstructure might mediate this relationship. When covarying age, significant associations were found between educational attainment and fractional anisotropy (FA) in the superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF) and cingulum bundle (CB). Further, when covarying age, FA in these regions was associated with cognitive control. Finally, mediation analyses revealed that the age-independent association between educational attainment and cognitive control was completely accounted for by FA in these regions. The uncinate fasciculus, a late-myelinated control region not implicated in cognitive control, did not mediate this effect.

OBJECTIVE: The goal of this study was to examine the degree to which children born within the “normal term” range of 37 to 41 weeks’ gestation vary in terms of school achievement. METHODS: This study analyzed data from 128 050 singleton births born between 37 and 41 weeks’ gestation in a large US city. Data were extracted from city birth records to assess a number of obstetric, social, and economic variables, at both the individual and community levels. Birth data were then matched with public school records of standardized city-wide third-grade reading and math tests. Specifically, we assessed (1) whether children born within the normal term range of 37 to 41 weeks’ gestation show differences in reading and/or math ability 8 years later as a function of gestational age, and (2) the degree to which a wide range of individual- and community-level social and biological factors mediate this effect. RESULTS: Analyses revealed that gestational age within the normal term range was significantly and positively related to reading and math scores in third grade, with achievement scores for children born at 37 and 38 weeks significantly lower than those for children born at 39, 40, or 41 weeks. This effect was independent of birth weight, as well as a number of other obstetric, social, and economic factors. CONCLUSIONS: Earlier normal term birth may be a characteristic considered by researchers, clinicians, and parents to help identify children who may be at risk for poorer school performance.

Socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with childhood cognitive achievement. In previous research we found that this association shows neural specificity; specifically we found that groups of low and middle SES children differed disproportionately in perisylvian/language and prefrontal/executive abilities relative to other neurocognitive abilities. Here we address several new questions: To what extent does this disparity between groups reflect a gradient of SES-related individual differences in neurocognitive development, as opposed to a more categorical difference? What other neurocognitive systems differ across individuals as a function of SES? Does linguistic ability mediate SES differences in other systems? And how do specific prefrontal/executive subsystems vary with SES? One hundred and fifty healthy, socioeconomically diverse first-graders were administered tasks tapping language, visuospatial skills, memory, working memory, cognitive control, and reward processing. SES explained over 30% of the variance in language, and a smaller but highly significant portion of the variance in most other systems. Statistically mediating factors and possible interventional approaches are discussed.

Functional neuroimaging may provide insights into the achievement gap in reading skill commonly observed across socioeconomic status (SES). Brain activation during reading tasks is known to be associated with individual differences in children’s phonological language skills. By selecting children of equivalent phonological skill, yet diverse socioeconomic backgrounds, we use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to demonstrate that a child’s experience, as operationalized by SES, can systematically modulate the relationship between phonological language skills and reading-related brain activity in left fusiform and perisylvian regions. Specifically, at lower socioeconomic levels, individual differences in skill result in large differences in brain activation. In contrast, as SES increases, this relationship between phonological language skill and activation is attenuated. Socioeconomic background factors are thus found to modulate brain‐behavior relationships in reading, indicating that cognitive, social, and neurobiological influences on reading development are fundamentally intertwined.