Effects of poverty on childhood development seen in children as young as
5

Date:
October 9, 2020
Source:
University of California - Los Angeles Health Sciences
Summary:
Researchers have found that health inequities can be measured in
children as young as 5 years old. The research contributes to a
growing body of literature finding that children of color who
are also poor face greater health inequities than their white
counterparts.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
In a nationwide study, UCLA researchers have found that health inequities
can be measured in children as young as 5 years old. The research,
published in Health Affairs, contributes to a growing body of literature finding that children of color who are also poor face greater health
inequities than their white counterparts.


========================================================================== Researchers trained kindergarten teachers in 98 school districts
across the United States to administer the Early Development Instrument
(EDI), a measure of children's physical, social, emotional and language development.

The assessment was administered to more than 185,000 kindergarteners
from 2010 to 2017. After analyzing and correlating the results according
to where the children lived, the investigators found that 30 percent of children in the lowest-income neighborhoods were vulnerable in one or
more domains of health development, compared to 17 percent of children
in higher-income settings.

The researchers also found that income-related differences in
developmental vulnerability varied substantially among children from
different ethnic and racial groups. Black children, for example,
were at highest risk, followed by Latina/o children. Asian children
were at lowest risk. The differences in developmental vulnerability
between Black children and white children were most pronounced at the
higher socioeconomic levels and tended to narrow for Black and white
children from lower-income neighborhoods. Such early disparities can
have a profound influence on children's long-term development, leading
to higher rates of chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart disease,
drug use, mental health disorders and dementia as adults.

"Our findings underscore the pronounced racialized disparities for young children," says lead study author Neal Halfon, MD, director of the Center
for Healthier Children, Families and Communities at UCLA. "Many other
studies have highlighted patterns of income and racial inequality in
health and educational outcomes. What this study shows is that these
patterns of inequality are clearly evident and measurable before kids
start school." Halfon also is a professor of pediatrics, public health
and public policy in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, the
Fielding School of Public Health and the Luskin School of Public Affairs.

The report also underscores the value of understanding child-developmental inequities at the most micro levels. "Because the EDI is reported at
and linked to Census-tract-level indices of neighborhood risk, this
measurement tool helps cities and local grassroots efforts develop
targeted supports and services to address racialized disparities,"
adds co-author Lisa Stanley, project director for Transforming Early
Childhood Community Systems at the UCLA Center for Healthier Children, Families, and Communities.

The EDI tool was developed by Dr. Dan Offord and Dr. Magdalena Janus at
the Offord Centre for Child Studies at McMaster University in Ontario,
Canada, and has been internationally validated, and used widely in Canada, Australia and other nations. The EDI was first piloted in 2009 by UCLA in
Santa Ana, in partnership with First Five Orange County. Over the past
10 years, UCLA had enabled city and school district leaders in over 85 communities, spanning 18 states, to assess the health, development and well-being of more than 350,000 kindergartners across the U.S.

UCLA researchers make this data accessible to local communities to
help them develop their own initiatives to address the root causes
of inequalities.

"These findings not only highlight the equity challenges we face but also reveal the truly inequitable design of all the systems responsible for
ensuring that children thrive," says co-author Efren Aguilar, geographic information systems lead at the Center for Healthier Children, Families,
and Communities at UCLA. "Only by addressing the historical exploitation
and exclusion of marginalized communities, can we begin to repair the
pains and exploitative practices of the past and redesign our community
systems so that all children thrive."

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_California_-_Los_Angeles_Health_Sciences.

Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Neal Halfon, Efren Aguilar, Lisa Stanley, Emily Hotez, Eryn Block,
Magdalena Janus. Measuring Equity From The Start: Disparities In
The Health Development Of US Kindergartners. Health Affairs, 2020;
39 (10): 1702 DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.2020.00920 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201009093542.htm

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