Poverty

Growing Up Poor Changes Young Brains

Published: Oct 28, 2013

By Chris Kaiser

Exposure to poverty in early childhood was associated with smaller brain structures later in life, but nurturing seemed to offset poverty's negative effect, researchers found.

MRI scans showed that impoverished children had smaller white.......Joan Luby, MD, of the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, and colleagues.

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"The finding that the effects of poverty on hippocampal development are mediated through care-giving and stressful life events further underscores the importance of high-quality early childhood care-giving, a task that can be achieved through parenting education and support, as well as through preschool programs that provide high-quality supplementary care-giving and safe haven to vulnerable young children," the authors concluded./.../