Protective Prevention Effects on the Association of Poverty With Brain Development

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Abstract
More than 1 in 5 children in the United States live in poverty.1 Poverty and other markers of disadvantage are powerful variables that forecast developmental trajectories, including cognitive development,2 psychosocial development,3 and physical health4 throughout life. As interest in the effects of poverty and disadvantage has surged in the pediatric research community, a parallel literature has been developing in which scientists have begun to investigate the possibility that growing up in poverty, where stressors are common and resources are scarce, will have implications for the maturation of the hippocampus and amygdala. These temporal lobe structures contribute to various facets of academic functioning and social development, and they support learning, memory, mood, and stress reactivity.5 Despite the importance of the hippocampus and amygdala to mental and physical health across the lifespan,6 little is actually known about the ways in which childhood exposure to poverty is associated with their development.

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