Study Shows Stress Caused by Poverty Impedes Brain Development in Children

At the annual meeting in Boston on February 15th of the American Association for the Advancement of Science it was reported that neuroscientists found a direct correlation between poverty and impaired neural development in children. Researchers found that children in very poor families experience hormone levels produced by stress that impairs their neural development. They further found that the imapct of this is added to any damage that may already have been casued by improper nutrition and environmental toxins.

As important as a study like this is for public policy it received a mere 127 words in the United Press International dispatch. A Lexis-Nexis search found only three print media outlets that picked up the story. The Financial Times (of London) reported the story under the headline Poverty Mars Formation of Infant Brains, devoting a mere 474 words. It was also picked up by the Sydney Morning Hearld in Australia which devoted 430 words, under the headline Study Shows Stress Affects Brain Growth.

The only outlet in the United States that even bothered to address this important story was the NY Times, but in the opinion section. Even the venerable NY Times did not deem this an important news story. Instead of reporting it as news, it was left to Paul Krugman to address this in his Op-ed column Poverty is Poison.

Krugman's column can be accessed at: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/18/opinion/18krugman.html?ref=opinion

Perhaps this was not reported in the United States, although the conference took place in Boston, becasue of the obvious impact such a study would have on social policy as indicated in the Financial Times article referring to the remarks of Jack Shonkoff, one of the reserchers:
"Well-tailored programmes can help, Prof Shonkoff agreed. But in the end, the only way to remove the “toxic” impact of poverty on young brains is to abolish poverty itself, he said"