Researchers found that seven-year-olds who have lived in poverty since infancy achieve poorer results in a range of cognitive tests than those who have never been poor, even when family circumstances and parenting skills are taken into consideration.
Persistent poverty and children’s cognitive development found that on a scale of 0 to 100, a child who has been living in persistent poverty will rank 10 levels below an otherwise similar child who has no early experience of poverty.
Analysing almost 8,000 members of the Millennium Cohort Study, the researchers looked at whether the children were in poverty at ages nine months, three, five and seven and estimated the effect of poverty on the children’s assessments, which included vocabulary, pattern construction, picture recognition and reading.
Register Now to Continue Reading
Thank you for visiting Children & Young People Now and making use of our archive of more than 60,000 expert features, topics hubs, case studies and policy updates. Why not register today and enjoy the following great benefits:
What's Included
-
Free access to 4 subscriber-only articles per month
-
Email newsletter providing advice and guidance across the sector
Already have an account? Sign in here
