Growing up isn’t easy. Growing up in poverty is harder. Unstable living conditions, a chronic lack of resources, poor nutrition, inadequate emotional support, and stressed parents are a toxic combination of hurdles on the road to adulthood. Typically, psychologists, educators, and social workers see the signs of childhood poverty manifested in schools and workplaces as poor self control, weak attention and language skills, lower IQ scores, and reduced memory capabilities. These professionals conduct their assessments and interventions based largely on behavioral symptoms.
Two new research studies provide specific evidence that the experience of poverty can actually change the way the brain works and leave people with chronic impairment to emotional and cognitive functioning. The work illustrates some unseen costs of poverty and, hopefully, provides a fresh incentive to deal with them
