Stress associated with poverty affects schooling

Stress associated with poverty affects schooling

By Liz Lockhart

Many children from low-income homes are disadvantaged when they enter school, compared to their more advantaged classmates, and one reason for this is the stress that exists in their lives.  This is one finding from a new study which was conducted jointly by scientists from Pennsylvania State University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and New York University.

Executive functions, a group of cognitive processes, are considered to be important for regulating behaviour, adjusting to school, making academic progress in early schooling years and managing new and potentially confusing information.  It is known that executive functions develop quickly in early childhood and that they are compromised by stress.

How the study was conducted:

In this study, researchers questioned whether or not executive functions in early childhood are influenced by stress in the lives of children.

The researchers studied nearly 1,300 young children in mainly low-income homes.  Aspects of the children’s environment between the ages of 7 – 24 months were examined.  These included demographic characteristics, the household environment and the quality of parenting. 

The researchers looked at aspects of safety and noise levels in their consideration of household environment and when considering quality of parenting it was levels of a mother’s sensitivity, detachment and intrusiveness when interacting with their children, that were of particular consideration.

The researchers also examined one stress indicator by measuring levels of cortisol in the children.  Cortisol is a stress hormone.  Then, when the children were aged 3, the children were given three further test which related to executive functions.

The findings:

The researchers found that the children of lower-income homes received less positive parenting and that they had higher levels of cortisol in their first two years compared to children in better-off homes.  Lower levels of executive function ability were associated with higher levels of cortisol.

The study was led by Clancy Blair, professor of applied psychology at New York University.

‘In sum, early stresses in the lives of children living in poverty affect how these children develop executive functions that are important for school readiness,’ Blair explained.

The study appears in the journal Child Development.