A child’s life is likely to improve if his or her parents have a good source of income. However, a landmark study found a direct correlation between the money available with parents and the child’s brain development in the very first year. According to the study, it is the first direct experimental proof that poverty leads to such changes. The study is still in progress.
‘We have known for many years that growing up in poverty puts children at risk for lower school achievement, reduced earnings, and poorer health,’ explains neuroscientist Kimberly Noble from Columbia University.
To date, however, it hasn’t been possible to say whether poverty causes differences in child development, or whether it is simply associated with other factors. This study involved recruiting 1,000 low-income mothers shortly after their baby was born. The parents came from New York City, New Orleans, Omaha, or Minneapolis/St. Paul.
The mothers received either USD 333 or USD 20 per month for the first four years of their babies’ lives based on random selection. It was found that babies low-income mothers who had received higher cash payments showed higher frequency brain activity than the babies whose mothers had got lower amount of money.
Researchers suggest that more research is needed to identify whether higher frequency brain activity is associated with better cognitive development. However, researchers believe it is possible. Research is being done to determine whether the lower mental stress of parents contributed to heightened brain activity in the baby. The study was published in PNAS.
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