Growing Up Poor Changes Children’s Brains

Growing Up Poor Changes Children’s Brains And May Even Shorten Their Lives

BY ALAN PYKE ON OCTOBER 22, 2013 AT 11:04 AM

Growing up in poverty changes a person’s brain in long-lasting ways that harm emotional processing and increase a child’s odds of mental health problems. The neurological impacts of childhood poverty may even include higher mortality rates, according to a new study by scientists at the University of Denver.

The study tested adult subjects’ emotional responses to negative images. The half of the study group who grew up poor were “less able than other participants to minimize their emotional reactions to negative images,” according to Bloomberg. That reduced emotional processing ability carries serious consequences, according to lead author Pilyoung Kim of the University of Denver Family and Child Neuroscience Lab. “Living in poverty at a young age can cause long-lasting changes in brain development,” Kim said, “which contribute to difficulties in regulating of emotions and future devastating health outcomes, including mental illness and high mortality and morbidity in adulthood

ARTICLE HERE: http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/10/22/2816021/poverty-children-brains/