Paper Info
Title
Childhood poverty and the organization of structural brain connectome.
Abstract
Socioeconomic disadvantage is associated with atypical development in specific brain regions, yet the relation between poverty and whole brain network organization (i.e., the connectome, a set of brain regions connected with neuronal pathways) has not been characterized. Developmental studies indicate that the connectome undergoes rapid change during childhood and is consequently likely to be highly sensitive to both salutary and detrimental influences. We investigated associations between the socioeconomic disparities measured by the income-to-needs ratio (INR) in childhood and structural brain network organization with 144 healthy children between 6 and 11 years of age (mean age = 8 years). INR of girls was positively and logarithmically associated with the extent to which brain networks were efficiently organized, suggesting that girls in more impoverished environments had less efficient brain network organization. Lower INR was associated with network inefficiency in multiple cortical regions including prefrontal cortex, cingulate, and insula, and in subcortical regions including the hippocampus and amygdala. These findings suggest that childhood poverty may result in wide-spread disruptions of the brain connectome among girls, particularly at the lowest INR levels, and are differentially expressed in females and males.
Year
DOI
Venue
2019
10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.09.041
NeuroImage
Keywords
Field
DocType
Poverty,Connectome,Income-to-needs ratio,Sex differences,Brain development
Insula,Poverty,Developmental psychology,Brain network,Connectome,Prefrontal cortex,Psychology,Amygdala,Hippocampus,Socioeconomic status
Journal
Volume
ISSN
Citations 
184
1053-8119
0
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.34
8
7
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Dae-Jin Kim1131.96
Elysia Poggi Davis2162.36
Curt A. Sandman3162.36
Laura M. Glynn400.68
Olaf Sporns52633167.36
B. F. O'Donnell6403.59
W. P. Hetrick7403.93