Early‐Childhood Poverty and Adult Attainment, Behavior, and Health
TL;DR: Findings indicate statistically significant and, in some cases, quantitatively large detrimental effects of early poverty on a number of attainment-related outcomes (adult earnings and work hours).
Abstract: This article assesses the consequences of poverty between a child’s prenatal year and 5th birthday for several adult achievement, health, and behavior outcomes, measured as late as age 37. Using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (1,589) and controlling for economic conditions in middle childhood and adolescence, as well as demographic conditions at the time of the birth, findings indicate statistically significant and, in some cases, quantitatively large detrimental effects of early poverty on a number of attainment-related outcomes (adult earnings and work hours). Early-childhood poverty was not associated with such behavioral measures as out-of-wedlock childbearing and arrests. Most of the adult earnings effects appear to operate through early poverty’s association with adult work hours.
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors use administrative records on the incomes of more than 40 million children and their parents to describe three features of intergenerational mobility in the United States: the joint distribution of parent and child income at the national level, the conditional expectation of child income given parent income, and the factors correlated with upward mobility.
Abstract: We use administrative records on the incomes of more than 40 million children and their parents to describe three features of intergenerational mobility in the United States. First, we characterize the joint distribution of parent and child income at the national level. The conditional expectation of child income given parent income is linear in percentile ranks. On average, a 10 percentile increase in parent income is associated with a 3.4 percentile increase in a child’s income. Second, intergenerational mobility varies substantially across areas within the U.S. For example, the probability that a child reaches the top quintile of the national income distribution starting from a family in the bottom quintile is 4.4% in Charlotte but 12.9% in San Jose. Third, we explore the factors correlated with upward mobility. High mobility areas have (1) less residential segregation, (2) less income inequality, (3) better primary schools, (4) greater social capital, and (5) greater family stability. While our descriptive analysis does not identify the causal mechanisms that determine upward mobility, the publicly available statistics on intergenerational mobility developed here can facilitate research on such mechanisms. The opinions expressed in this paper are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reect
1,911 citations
Cites background from "Early‐Childhood Poverty and Adult A..."
...A closely related concern is that parent income at earlier ages might matter more for children’s outcomes, e.g. if resources in early childhood are relevant for child development (e.g., Heckman 2006, Duncan et al. 2010)....
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Journal Article•
1,091 citations
TL;DR: This research shows that bilingualism has a somewhat muted effect in adulthood but a larger role in older age, protecting against cognitive decline, a concept known as 'cognitive reserve'.
972 citations
Cites background from "Early‐Childhood Poverty and Adult A..."
...In children, executive control is central to academic achievement [40], and in turn, academic success is a significant predictor of long term health and well being [41]....
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TL;DR: It is illustrated how a better understanding of the mechanisms of effect by which poverty impacts children's mental, emotional, and behavioral health is valuable in designing effective preventive interventions for those in poverty.
Abstract: This article considers the implications for prevention science of recent advances in research on family poverty and children's mental, emotional, and behavioral health. First, we describe definitions of poverty and the conceptual and empirical challenges to estimating the causal effects of poverty on children's mental, emotional, and behavioral health. Second, we offer a conceptual framework that incorporates selection processes that affect who becomes poor as well as mechanisms through which poverty appears to influence child and youth mental health. Third, we use this conceptual framework to selectively review the growing literatures on the mechanisms through which family poverty influences the mental, emotional, and behavioral health of children. We illustrate how a better understanding of the mechanisms of effect by which poverty impacts children's mental, emotional, and behavioral health is valuable in designing effective preventive interventions for those in poverty. Fourth, we describe strategies to directly reduce poverty and the implications of these strategies for prevention. This article is one of three in a special section (see also Biglan, Flay, Embry, & Sandler, 2012; Munoz, Beardslee, & Leykin, 2012) representing an elaboration on a theme for prevention science developed by the 2009 report of the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine.
832 citations
TL;DR: An integrated, biodevelopmental framework is offered to promote greater understanding of the antecedents and causal pathways that lead to disparities in health, learning, and behavior in order to inform the development of enhanced theories of change to drive innovation in policies and programs.
Abstract: Four decades of early childhood policy and program development indicate that evidence-based interventions can improve life outcomes, and dramatic advances in the biological and behavioral sciences now provide an opportunity to augment those impacts. The challenge of reducing the gap between what we know and what we do to promote the healthy development of young children is to view current best practices as a starting point and to leverage scientific concepts to inspire fresh thinking. This article offers an integrated, biodevelopmental framework to promote greater understanding of the antecedents and causal pathways that lead to disparities in health, learning, and behavior in order to inform the development of enhanced theories of change to drive innovation in policies and programs.
597 citations
References
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Book•
01 Jan 1981
TL;DR: The Enlarged Edition as mentioned in this paper provides an overview of the evolution of the family and the state Bibliography Index. But it does not discuss the relationship between fertility and the division of labor in families.
Abstract: Preface to the Enlarged Edition Introduction 1. Single-Person Households 2. Division of Labor in Households and Families Supplement: Human Capital, Effort, and the Sexual Division of Labor 3. Polygamy and Monogamy in Marriage Markets 4. Assortative Mating in Marriage Markets 5. The Demand for Children Supplement: A Reformulation of the Economic Theory of Fertility 6. Family Background and the Opportunities of Children 7. Inequality and Intergenerational Mobility Supplement: Human Capital and the Rise and Fall of Families 8. Altruism in the Family 9. Families in Nonhuman Species 10. Imperfect Information, Marriage, and Divorce 11. The Evolution of the Family Supplement: The Family and the State Bibliography Index
9,096 citations
Book•
01 May 1974
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyzed the distribution of worker earnings across workers and over the working age as consequences of differential investments in human capital and developed the human capital earnings function, an econometric tool for assessing rates of return and other investment parameters.
Abstract: Analyzes the distribution of worker earnings across workers and over the working age as consequences of differential investments in human capital. The study also develops the human capital earnings function, an econometric tool for assessing rates of return and other investment parameters.
8,587 citations
TL;DR: It is shown that an epigenomic state of a gene can be established through behavioral programming, and it is potentially reversible, suggesting a causal relation among epigenomicState, GR expression and the maternal effect on stress responses in the offspring.
Abstract: Here we report that increased pup licking and grooming (LG) and arched-back nursing (ABN) by rat mothers altered the offspring epigenome at a glucocorticoid receptor (GR) gene promoter in the hippocampus. Offspring of mothers that showed high levels of LG and ABN were found to have differences in DNA methylation, as compared to offspring of 'low-LG-ABN' mothers. These differences emerged over the first week of life, were reversed with cross-fostering, persisted into adulthood and were associated with altered histone acetylation and transcription factor (NGFI-A) binding to the GR promoter. Central infusion of a histone deacetylase inhibitor removed the group differences in histone acetylation, DNA methylation, NGFI-A binding, GR expression and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) responses to stress, suggesting a causal relation among epigenomic state, GR expression and the maternal effect on stress responses in the offspring. Thus we show that an epigenomic state of a gene can be established through behavioral programming, and it is potentially reversible.
5,514 citations
Additional excerpts
...These effects were two to three times as large, however, for children of non-white, unmarried, and less-educated mothers, which corresponds to the suggestion that correlations between income and child outcomes are non-linear, with bigger effects at lower income levels (Duncan et al., 1998; Shea, 2000; Votruba-Drzal, 2003 )....
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01 Nov 2000
TL;DR: From Neurons to Neighborhoods as discussed by the authors presents the evidence about "brain wiring" and how children learn to learn to speak, think, and regulate their behavior, and examines the effect of the climate-family, child care, community-within which the child grows.
Abstract: How we raise young children is one of today's most highly personalized and sharply politicized issues, in part because each of us can claim some level of "expertise." The debate has intensified as discoveries about our development-in the womb and in the first months and years-have reached the popular media. How can we use our burgeoning knowledge to assure the well-being of all young children, for their own sake as well as for the sake of our nation? Drawing from new findings, this book presents important conclusions about nature-versus-nurture, the impact of being born into a working family, the effect of politics on programs for children, the costs and benefits of intervention, and other issues. The committee issues a series of challenges to decision makers regarding the quality of child care, issues of racial and ethnic diversity, the integration of children's cognitive and emotional development, and more. Authoritative yet accessible, From Neurons to Neighborhoods presents the evidence about "brain wiring" and how kids learn to speak, think, and regulate their behavior. It examines the effect of the climate-family, child care, community-within which the child grows.
5,295 citations
"Early‐Childhood Poverty and Adult A..." refers background in this paper
...…of the family (as opposed to school or peer contexts) for preschoolers lead us to expect that family income in early childhood may be much more important for shaping children’s ability and achievement than conditions later in childhood (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 1998; Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000)....
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...Emerging evidence from human and animal studies highlights the critical importance of early childhood for brain development and for setting in place the structures that will shape future cognitive, social, emotional, and health outcomes (Sapolsky, 2004; Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000)....
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...Develop- mental theory suggests that given the nature of developmental tasks, sensitivity to change, and interactions with the environment, early childhood is a developmental period that may be especially sensitive to environmental conditions affected by family income (Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000)....
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...Poverty in early childhood can also affect adult attainment, behavior, and health indirectly through parents’ material and emotional investments in children’s learning and development....
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