Socioeconomic status most linked to child brain development

A large-scale study has found that a family's socioeconomic status and neighborhood resources have a stronger connection to a child's brain development than any other factor, including IQ, parenting style, or health history. The research, published on June 11 in the journal Science, analyzed data from nearly 12,000 children and suggests that socioeconomic disadvantage may affect the brain primarily through increased stress and disrupted sleep.

Researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis examined brain scans from children aged 9 to 10 who are part of the National Institutes of Health-funded Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study. They compared 649 variables across 12 categories, including cognitive tests, mental and physical health records, and neighborhood quality metrics like the Child Opportunity Index. The analysis revealed that socioeconomic factors—such as family income, homeownership, poverty rates, and access to transportation—accounted for the vast majority of the strongest associations with both brain structure and function.

Senior author Nico Dosenbach described the findings as showing socioeconomic conditions leave "the deepest...