Childhood poverty, chronic stress, and adult working memory
Top Cited Papers
Open Access
- 21 April 2009
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Vol. 106 (16) , 6545-6549
- https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0811910106
Abstract
The income–achievement gap is a formidable societal problem, but little is known about either neurocognitive or biological mechanisms that might account for income-related deficits in academic achievement. We show that childhood poverty is inversely related to working memory in young adults. Furthermore, this prospective relationship is mediated by elevated chronic stress during childhood. Chronic stress is measured by allostatic load, a biological marker of cumulative wear and tear on the body that is caused by the mobilization of multiple physiological systems in response to chronic environmental demands.Keywords
This publication has 34 references indexed in Scilit:
- U.S. Disparities in Health: Descriptions, Causes, and MechanismsAnnual Review of Public Health, 2008
- An Interactionist Perspective on the Socioeconomic Context of Human DevelopmentAnnual Review of Psychology, 2007
- Economic, neurobiological, and behavioral perspectives on building America’s future workforceProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2006
- Skill Formation and the Economics of Investing in Disadvantaged ChildrenScience, 2006
- Duration and Developmental Timing of Poverty and Children's Cognitive and Social Development From Birth Through Third GradeChild Development, 2005
- Cumulative biological risk and socio-economic differences in mortality: MacArthur Studies of Successful AgingPublished by Elsevier ,2003
- Allostatic load as a predictor of functional declineJournal of Clinical Epidemiology, 2002
- Socioeconomic differences in children's health: How and why do these relationships change with age?Psychological Bulletin, 2002
- Socioeconomic disadvantage and child development.American Psychologist, 1998
- Reliable Measures of Behaviorally‐Evoked Cardiovascular Reactivity from a PC‐Based Test Battery: Results from Student and Community SamplesPsychophysiology, 1992