Poverty Influences Early Brain Development

Published in PLOS ONE, a recent study from the University of Wisconsin–Madison has shown that poverty impacts children’s early brain development. By age 4, children in families living with incomes under 200 percent of the federal poverty line have less gray matter than kids growing up in families with higher incomes. Researchers used brain scans every few months from shortly after birth until age 4 to assess development; the scans revealed developmental lags in the parietal and frontal regions in children from poor families. “This is an important link between poverty and biology. We’re watching how poverty gets under the skin,” says Barbara Wolfe, professor of economics, population health sciences and public affairs and one of the authors of the study. Click here to read the full article.