1-029 - How Family Socioeconomic Status Shapes Children's Long-Term Development: Exploring Neurodevelopmental Pathways

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

A large body of research documents links between family SES and child development and increasing evidence suggests that these effects persist into adolescence and adulthood. But the pathways through which socioeconomic status (SES) shapes development remain unclear. Recent evidence suggests that neuropsychological and neurobiological pathways may be important, with increasing scholarship finding that adult well-being is linked to specific brain structures that underlie learning, memory, emotion regulation, and cognition. However, few studies have directly tested these pathways. The three papers in this panel consider neurobiological and neurodevelopmental mediators of links between childhood SES and well-being into adulthood. The first paper uses data from a prospective, longitudinal study of an ethnically-diverse sample of boys followed from infancy through age 22 years to consider whether amygdala and hippocampal volume mediate links between family income and multiple dimensions of early adult behavioral and psychological functioning. In study 2, data from the Pediatric Imaging, Neurocognition, and Genetics study were used to examine whether differences in amygdala volume mediate relations between SES and internalizing symptoms in children and adolescents. The final project draws data from a longitudinal study of children in the rural U.S. that followed children from age 9 until nearly 24 years old to examine whether working memory mediates associations between childhood income and adult educational attainment. Katherine Magnuson, a leading national expert in child poverty research, will serve as a discussant and highlight crosscutting themes and contributions to the existing knowledge base.

Sub Unit

• Diversity, Equity & Social Justice

Chair

• Elizabeth Votruba-Drzal, University of Pittsburgh

Discussant

• Katherine Magnuson, University of Wisconsin

Individual Presentations

• Family Socioeconomic Status and Development into Adulthood - Presenting Author: Daphne A. Henry, University of Pittsburgh; Elizabeth Votruba-Drzal, University of Pittsburgh; Mary Gilliam, University of Pittsburgh; Daniel S. Shaw, University of Pittsburgh

• Socioeconomic Status, Amygdala Volume, and Internalizing Symptoms in Children and Adolescents - Presenting Author: Emily C. Merz, Columbia University Medical Center; Kimberly Noble, Columbia University

• Childhood Income, Working Memory in Early Adulthood, and Implications for Educational Attainment - Presenting Author: Daniel Hackman, University of Southern California, School of Social Work, Department of Children, Youth and Families; Martha J. Farah, University of Pennsylvania; Gary W. Evans, Cornell University