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Economic Factors on the Health of Children

Poor educational achievement and poverty have long been linked; however, it is now acknowledged that poverty not only affects a child's IQ but also his behavior and brain function, notes Martha Farah, a neuroscientist employed by the University of Pennsylvania.

  1. Factors

    • Other factors that impact a child's health and intelligence include exposure to lead, lack of iron (micro-nutrients), malnutrition, exposure to illegal drugs while in utero and stress hormones.

    Aptitude

    • Socioeconomic status, or SES, is associated with cognitive aptitude. When a child encounters early life stress or lack of cognitive stimulation, this can create anatomical differences in the brain. The brains of these children actually look like the brains of someone who has suffered a stroke.

    Brain Development

    • The brain function of children from low-income homes is not as good as that of children from wealthy homes, notes Mark Kishiyama, a cognitive psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley. The neural systems of poor children develop in a different way from those children in the middle class. The pre-frontal function of the brains of children from lower-income homes appears to be disrupted or reduced, and this affects their problem-solving abilities as well as their ability to do higher-order thinking. Children from lower socioeconomic homes experience lower language development.

    At Risk

    • When a family is impoverished, children are at risk for experiencing health issues, violent crime and illegal drug use. Even short-term exposure to poverty has a bearing on a child's cognitive development, notes the American Psychological Association website. These children are more apt to experience poor cognitive and educational outcomes. This is believed to be the result of stressful situations that result from poverty and lack of mental stimulation. The outcome is that these children can't process information as well as those children from higher-income families.

    Difficulties

    • Children from poor environments get off to a slower start as well as progress slower regarding the acquisition of skills. Children who come from disadvantaged homes have more trouble shutting out distracting stimuli. Their brains have to work much harder to perform a task, and it is very difficult for them to concentrate on what is being said to them.

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