Across the world, more than 356 million children live in extreme poverty as per UNICEF estimates. The Covid-19 pandemic further pushed 150 million additional children into multidimensional poverty.
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The risks to these children’s lives are grave and scientists are also studying how a life of poverty impacts the brain health of these kids. A 17-year study following 216 pre-schoolers through early adulthood discovered that poverty may be causing cognitive and behavioural difficulties in children.
Published in the journal Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, the study found that poverty and its by-products such as stress, inadequate nutrition, less access to health care impact brain development
Even after adjusting for factors like base psychopathology and any significant life events, the team was able to link poverty with reduced cognitive function, high-risk behaviours, social and educational function nearly 13 years after the children joined the study.
A separate ongoing study in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology also finds that teens who grew up in poverty experience physical signs of stress at higher levels than their peers from more economically secure families.
However, experts say that there are many children with great outcomes despite growing up in poverty. This is generally due to additional support and resources, a theory that is set to be the next subject of research for the Washington University team.
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