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Brain on Poverty How does poverty affect children’s brain development? And what happens when low-income mothers get more money? Baby’s First Years, a nationwide study based partially in Omaha, is trying to find out by Leah Cates This story is part of (DIS)Invested — a LONG-TERM Reader investigation into Omaha’s inequities.
to run into the traffic if she runs outside? Is she gonna get picked up by somebody?’”
hen Tiffany Back’s oldest daughter, Catina, was in kindergarten, the single mom only saw her when she sent her to school in the morning –– the rest of the time, Back said, she was working two jobs, desperate to make ends meet for Catina and her then 1-year-old sister, Miracle.
Back –– who said she was a rebellious child growing up in a single-parent household where her mom worked three jobs and was on government assistance –– said Catina’s behavior has improved since she was diagnosed with and treated for ADHD and anxiety. And even though Back is now working three jobs, her schedule allows her to spend more time with Catina, who today is in fourth grade.
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Around that time, Back said, Catina’s behavior became “a disaster.” “I would get calls at work, [the babysitter telling me], ‘She ran outside and is refusing to come back in,’” said Back, who recalls her daughter yelling, “I want [mom]!” over the phone. Back said she wondered, “Is she going
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But emerging studies suggest kids like Catina who grow up in poverty are more likely to experience delays in brain growth and development that hamper academic achievement and executive functioning, such as focusing on
SEPTEMBER 2022
tasks and controlling impulses. And according to a 2016 Duke University article, the brains of kids growing up in poverty are similar to those of kids who have been physically abused. Preschool-age U.S. children living in poverty are likely to have cognitive scores on average 60% lower than kids in the highest socioeconomic group, even though at birth their brains work similarly. These differences translate into material life outcomes. People who grow up in poverty in the U.S. are five times more likely to drop out of high school; they are less likely to earn college degrees and more likely to be poor when they grow up. (These stats are reported by the National Center for Children in Poverty, U.S. Department of Education and Illinois State University.)
But even though researchers continue to cite them as relevant, these statistics are dated as far back as 2002. And as any statistician will note, correlation does not imply causation –– the relationship between income and outcomes for kids doesn't necessarily mean poverty causes kids’ brains to develop in a certain way. That lack of causal evidence leaves room for people to point at the family structure or culture of families experiencing poverty –– not necessarily family income –– as reasons kids’ brains develop differently, according to University of California, Irvine, education professor Greg Duncan. “The question of whether income was the active ingredient behind this link between poverty and worse child outcomes [is] a very contentious point in the pol-