The extra financial boost turned out to have a direct impact on the brain development of the children of these women.

American researchers come to this striking conclusion in the magazine Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. They are based on a study that finds its starting point in the maternity wards of four major American cities. In those maternity wards, the researchers approached 1000 women who had a low income and who had just given birth. Half of the women received $333 each month when they participated in the study. The other half received $20 each month. In both cases, the women were allowed to spend the money freely. After a year, the researchers visited the families again and the brain activity of their now 1-year-old children was measured. Corona threw a spanner in the works here; the researchers were ultimately only able to measure the brain activity of 435 out of 1,000 children.

Results

However, the measurements paint a consistent picture: the brain activity of children whose mothers received $333 each month differed from that of children whose mothers received 20 dollars each month. “It’s remarkable,” the researchers write in their study. “Because the patterns of brain activity we saw in the group that had received more money were more likely to be associated with better scores in later life in language, cognitive and social-emotional development.”

Money

“We’ve known for years that growing up in poverty increases the risk of poorer academic performance, lower pay and poorer health,” said researcher Kimberly Noble. “But until now, we couldn’t say for sure whether poverty itself caused this difference in development or whether growing up in poverty is simply related to other factors that cause these differences.” The new research cautiously suggests that poverty itself is the culprit; after all, a little extra money in itself seems sufficient to bring about a change in the brain development of young children.

Experiences

It is still unclear how exactly the extra money leads to a change in the brain. “All healthy brains are shaped by their environment and experiences,” says Noble. And the researchers therefore assume that brain activity has changed because children whose parents had more money to spend, thanks to that money had different experiences. However, it remains unclear what exactly these experiences are. Follow-up research should show how the mothers spent the money and what impact it had on their children. The researchers take into account that this follow-up research shows that a little extra money affects the lives of children in various ways. “Families are all different,” said researcher Katherine Magnuson. And it seems plausible that when parents have some extra money at their disposal, they all make slightly different choices. And in doing so, most will undoubtedly be guided by what their children need most. And that will vary from child to child. “So there may not be one way money positively affects families; money can matter in several small ways.”

Many more questions

It has also not yet been proven that the change in brain activity is permanent, the researchers emphasize. In addition, there is also no evidence that brain activity actually leads to children performing better at school and developing better social-emotionally later in life. That is why it is also important that the children are monitored longer. And the researchers certainly intend to do that; the mothers will continue to receive $333 or $20 each month until their child is 4 years and 4 months old, and the researchers will continue to monitor the families for years to come.

According to the researchers, it is still much too early to make policy on the basis of this study. But what they believe the research does show is that it is important to focus on the well-being and development of (young) children in the fight against poverty, because they can then reap the benefits for a lifetime.