The ecology of poverty and children’s brain development: A systematic review and quantitative meta-analysis of brain imaging studies

Abstract

A growing number of studies have demonstrated associations between poverty and brain structure and function. However, the strength of this association and the effects of poverty level (e.g., family or neighborhood poverty), age and sex on the association are strikingly inconsistent across studies. We aimed to synthesize findings on gray matter volume and task-based brain activation associated with poverty in youth samples and disentangle the effects of poverty level, age, and sex. In general, poverty was associated with alterations in volume and activation in the frontal, temporal, and subcortical regions. Among 14,188 participants and 14,057 participants, poverty was associated with smaller gray matter volumes in the amygdala and hippocampus, respectively. Moderator testing revealed that family poverty had a stronger association than neighborhood poverty and that poverty was related to slower development of amygdala volume. Among 2696 participants, convergent functional alterations associated with poverty were observed in the left middle temporal gyrus (MTG) and left middle frontal gyrus across all task domains, with the percentage of girls positively associated with increased activation in the precuneus. Subgroup analyses revealed that greater poverty was associated with deactivation in the left MTG for top-down control and hyperactivity in the right superior temporal gyrus, left superior frontal gyrus, left insula, cerebellum/left fusiform gyrus, and left amygdala/hippocampus for bottom-up processing. These findings provide insights into the neuroscience of poverty, suggesting implications for targeted interventions to support the cognitive and mental health of children living in poverty.