PolicyLab

Researchers, clinicians and child welfare advocates have long known that poverty can negatively influence child development. Kids in lower income families are more likely to experience food insecurity and their parents are less likely to be educated on best parenting practices. PolicyLab researchers wanted to understand how early the effects of poverty can be seen as many studies focus on children older than two years of age. They studied lower- and higher-income children, evaluating their risk of developmental disadvantage in multiple different domains such as their home and neighborhood environments. They found that kids in lower-income households were at higher risk for developmental disadvantage that their higher-income counterparts in more than a dozen of these risk factors. Read the study here.