Children who grew up in poverty, or otherwise came from disadvantaged social or economic backgrounds, scored lower on tests of cognitive skills as adults than those who did not grow up in poverty, but their cognitive skills did not decline any faster. These are the findings of a large cross-sectional study in Europe published online in Neurology on September 26.
To examine the relationship between childhood poverty and cognitive skills as well as the rate of cognitive decline among those who grew up in poverty, a team of researchers analyzed data on more than 20,000 people from 16 European countries who participated in the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), a study of health, social networks, and economic conditions among people whose average age at the start of the study was 71.
Over the next 11 years, the researchers conducted a series of interviews every two years; the first one in 2004 and the last in 2015. During the third interview, researchers collected information about childhood socioeconomic status and life histories by asking participants about the number of rooms, number of people, and the number of books in the homes where they lived at age 10.
Using the number of people to rooms and the number of books, the researchers determined participants with the highest overcrowding ratio and the lowest number of books as those who experienced socioeconomic hardship in childhood.
To measure cognitive skills, the researchers recorded how well participants named specific animals, then asked them to learn new words and recall them after a brief delay.
Of the total participants, 844 experienced socioeconomic hardship in childhood. On average, participants who grew up in poverty performed worse on the cognitive tests than the rest of the participants, even after researchers adjusted for differences in age, sex, and geographic location.
These participants were also less likely to be employed and have a partner in the household and more likely to show symptoms of depression. They were also less physically active and less healthy.
Over an average follow-up of five years, the researchers found cognitive skills did not decline at a faster rate among participants who grew up in poverty compared to those who did not.
The findings do not prove cause and effect, but the investigators believe it adds to existing research that education is a way to mitigate the adverse effects of poverty on cognitive aging.
Overall, they concluded that strategies to protect cognitive health should be initiated earlier, and children, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, should have access to adequate resources to help them develop successfully.