When anyone hears the word "poverty," there is a tendency to dwell on the likes of economics, finances, and the ever-present hand of government politics. A major reason for this is simple. Each is considered to be a major, physical characterization of poverty that can be seen with the naked eye and measured using a plethora of scientific tools. One of the real issues at hand, however, involves characteristics of poverty that are not readily apparent, particularly those that affect young children. In short, such descriptors are the effects of poverty on a developing human brain, a topic that, strangely enough, has not received as much attention as one might initially be led to believe. Even so, there are a handful of studies conducted in the past few years that serve to shed some light on this "hidden" issue with the hope that doing so will garner some much needed mainstream attention in the near future.
What Does an Impoverished Child's Brain Look Like?
At face value, many understand the potential environmental influences of poverty on young children who are forced to live under such conditions at a young age. Lack of success in future educational endeavors, for example, is one major result. The question is, are environmental influences solely to blame for poor academic success, or is there something else going on? Researchers who recently conducted a neurological study on impoverished children at Washington University seem to believe so. In short, they firmly support the notion that being in a severe state of poverty can actually "alter the physical makeup of a child's brain." Specifically, the children studied (ages 6-12) "had smaller volumes of white and cortical gray matter, as well as hippocampal and amygdala volumes." For those unfamiliar with each of these terms, white and grey matter are essentially a series of nerve tissues that serve as mailmen for the brain, constantly sending out electrical communication signals to the central nervous system. The hippocampus has the job of "converting short-term memory to long-term memory" and is also involved in one's ability to successfully decipher where they are and where they plan to go in any given physical space (spatial navigation). The amygdala is also involved with memory, but caters heavily to emotions and, in some cases, may even be at the center of various anxiety-related disorders that can arise in early childhood. According to researchers of the aforementioned study, having low volumes in any one, or all of these areas means that their "functions may be impaired" to a considerable degree.
On another interesting note, children of parents who demonstrated "poor nurturing skills" over the course of the study showed significantly lower volumes of both white and gray matter in regions of the brain that cater to "learning skills and coping with stress." This suggests that a parent's ability to nurture and take care of his/her child, regardless of outside circumstances, is crucial in providing children with skills that could potentially lift them out of poverty at some point in their young adult lives. As a result of not having quality parental care, children were also found to lack the skills necessary to deal with "stressful life events" inside and outside of the home, thus dwindling their chances even more of, one day, escaping poverty's grasp.
To no one's surprise, past research on a child's early exposure and full-fledged experiences with poverty have amounted to a number of issues, ranging anywhere from "poor cognitive outcomes and school performance, to a higher risk for antisocial behaviors and mental disorders." In relation to school performance, in particular, one study found that "children with lower socioeconomic status tended to have less efficient auditory processing abilities" where a large portion of brain activity would be geared towards sounds from the surrounding environment, rather than towards the sound of a single voice. This finding not only supports the "known correlation between low income and the amount of noise exposure in urban populations," but also suggests that this may be a reason for why many children of this status find it difficult to concentrate and pay close attention in classroom settings. This could also explain the frequent accounts of misdiagnosing low economic status children as having attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), where symptoms of fidgeting, inability to listen intently, and/or short attention spans mirror some of the major outcomes of growing accustomed to noise in urban environments.
In the end, further studies are needed to effectively answer the question of whether poverty conditions are the primary cause for keeping portions of a child's mental capabilities at bay. What little data does exist, however, truly manages to speak volumes in terms of what policy makers may need to consider in the future if the mental development of children in poverty is to be protected and properly cared for.
The Potential Impact of Poor Nurturing Skills
On another interesting note, children of parents who demonstrated "poor nurturing skills" over the course of the study showed significantly lower volumes of both white and gray matter in regions of the brain that cater to "learning skills and coping with stress." This suggests that a parent's ability to nurture and take care of his/her child, regardless of outside circumstances, is crucial in providing children with skills that could potentially lift them out of poverty at some point in their young adult lives. As a result of not having quality parental care, children were also found to lack the skills necessary to deal with "stressful life events" inside and outside of the home, thus dwindling their chances even more of, one day, escaping poverty's grasp.
The Impact of Urban Environment Noise
To no one's surprise, past research on a child's early exposure and full-fledged experiences with poverty have amounted to a number of issues, ranging anywhere from "poor cognitive outcomes and school performance, to a higher risk for antisocial behaviors and mental disorders." In relation to school performance, in particular, one study found that "children with lower socioeconomic status tended to have less efficient auditory processing abilities" where a large portion of brain activity would be geared towards sounds from the surrounding environment, rather than towards the sound of a single voice. This finding not only supports the "known correlation between low income and the amount of noise exposure in urban populations," but also suggests that this may be a reason for why many children of this status find it difficult to concentrate and pay close attention in classroom settings. This could also explain the frequent accounts of misdiagnosing low economic status children as having attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), where symptoms of fidgeting, inability to listen intently, and/or short attention spans mirror some of the major outcomes of growing accustomed to noise in urban environments.
What Remains to be Seen
In the end, further studies are needed to effectively answer the question of whether poverty conditions are the primary cause for keeping portions of a child's mental capabilities at bay. What little data does exist, however, truly manages to speak volumes in terms of what policy makers may need to consider in the future if the mental development of children in poverty is to be protected and properly cared for.
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/10/28/early-childhood-poverty-damages-brain-development-study-finds
USA News', Allie Bidwell, discusses the overall impact of poverty on developing brains of young children by discussing the results and implications of a neurological study conducted in 2013 by Washington University in St. Louis.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-growing-up-in-poverty-may-affect-a-childs-developing-brain-180947832/?no-ist
Author, Joseph Stromberg, discusses what the current body of research shows with respect to a child growing up in poverty. Such research includes, but is not limited to nurturing skills and noise within impoverished urban environments.
No comments:
Post a Comment