Study finds socioeconomic factors clearly visible on MRI scans of children’s brains

The most powerful factors affecting a child's brain development involve socioeconomic opportunities, according to a new study (Source: “Socioeconomic factors are becoming 'biologically embedded' in children's brains,” NPR, June 11).

According to the study published in the journal Science, environmental factors ranging from household income to education to neighborhood quality are associated with brain differences that can clearly be seen in MRI scans. Researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis analyzed more than 2,300 9- and 10-year-olds for the study.

The researchers also found that preteens who'd grown up in neighborhoods with lower incomes and limited social support had brain differences associated with less sleep and more stress.

"Something is going on in these neighborhoods," said Scott Marek, the study's first author and an assistant professor of radiology at WashU School of Medicine. "We need to find out how socioeconomics is becoming biologically embedded."

The research also challenges earlier research that focused on links between brain development and factors like IQ and mental health.

Those factors do appear to have a small influence on brain development, said study author Dr. Nico Dosenbach. "But socioeconomics was, by a wide margin, absolutely the dominant variable," Dosenbach says.