Explain how the effects of socioeconomic status on development varies.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

SES is more closely related with brain structure and cognition in children from poor homes than high SES homes. That is, the detrimental effect of low SES contexts is a greater influence on children's development than the positive effect of high SES contexts. Chronic poverty is especially damaging because the neurological and cognitive deficits accumulate over childhood. One way in which poverty affects development is through the quality of parent-infant interactions and infants' exposure to language. Infants in higher-SES homes are talked to more and the speech they hear is often more stimulating and supportive of language development than is the case in lower-SES homes.
Poverty is also thought to affect children's outcomes indirectly by contributing to household chaos, a combination of household instability and disorder . Children reared in economic uncertainty are more likely to experience disruptions in home settings and relationships through household moves and adults moving in and out of the home. Impoverished environments often include household crowding, lack of structure, and excessive ambient noise in the home or neighborhood. Infants and children reared in environments of household chaos may be overwhelmed by stimulation combined with little developmentally appropriate support with negative effects for cognitive development. The effects of a chaotic home environment begin early. For example, a chaotic environment has been shown to negatively affect visual processing speed for complex stimuli in 5.5 month old infants. Poverty has early effects on children's brain development that increase over time with lifelong implications for cognitive and language development.