Childhood poverty and adult psychological well-being

Tuesday, 20th of December 2016

Childhood poverty and adult psychological well-being

Gary W. Evans ^a,^b,¹

Edited by Bruce S. McEwen, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, and approved November 14, 2016 (received for review March 30, 2016)

Significance

Childhood poverty in a prospective, longitudinal design is linked to deficits in adult memory; greater psychological distress, including a behavioral marker of helplessness; and elevated levels of chronic physiological stress. These findings extend prior cross-sectional data during childhood and are largely parallel to existing life course work on physical health sequelae of childhood poverty.

Abstract below; full text is at http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2016/12/07/1604756114.full

Childhood disadvantage has repeatedly been linked to adult physical morbidity and mortality. We show in a prospective, longitudinal design that childhood poverty predicts multimethodological indices of adult (24 y of age) psychological well-being while holding constant similar childhood outcomes assessed at age 9. Adults from low-income families manifest more allostatic load, an index of chronic physiological stress, higher levels of externalizing symptoms (e.g., aggression) but not internalizing symptoms (e.g., depression), and more helplessness behaviors. In addition, childhood poverty predicts deficits in adult short-term spatial memory.