Subscribe
The latest psychology and neuroscience discoveries.
My Account
  • Mental Health
  • Social Psychology
  • Cognitive Science
  • Psychopharmacology
No Result
View All Result
PsyPost
PsyPost
No Result
View All Result
Home Exclusive Mental Health

Study provides new insights into the relationship between childhood poverty and inflammation

by Eric W. Dolan
March 2, 2019
in Mental Health
(Photo credit: wan mohd)

(Photo credit: wan mohd)


Enhance your understanding of the human mind and mental health trends. Click here to follow PsyPost on LinkedIn.
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

A new study published in Brain, Behavior, and Immunity sheds light on the complicated relationship between childhood poverty and inflammation. Poverty was “consistently and reliably” associated with inflammation in childhood, but the picture became more muddled when examining the influence of childhood socioeconomic status on inflammation in adulthood.

“As a (soon to be) clinical psychologist interested in integrated care in medical settings, I am skeptical about the dichotomy healthcare has historically created between mental and medical disorders and the disjointed way in which treatment is provided,” said study author Izabela Milaniak, a clinical psychology PhD candidate at the University of Pennsylvania.

“This is how I became interested in the research linking chronic inflammation as a common determinant of both medical diseases such as diabetes and chronic heart disease and what are traditionally thought of a psychological illness such as depression and anxiety disorders.”

“Prolonged activation of the immune system due to ‘fight or flight’ reactions to chronic exposure to stressful environments in childhood such as maltreatment and poverty is linked to over-activation of the immune system leading to wear and tear on the brain and the body resulting in a combination of both mental and medical illness later in adulthood,” Milaniak said.

The researchers conducted a meta-analysis of 35 previous studies on childhood socioeconomic status and inflammatory markers. A meta-analysis is statistical method of combining the results of multiple scientific studies, which helps researchers to better establish the strength of an effect.

Milaniak and her colleagues found evidence that lower childhood socioeconomic status was associated with higher levels of chronic inflammation.

However, the link between socioeconomic status and inflammation became non-significant when analyzing only longitudinal studies that controlled for adulthood socioeconomic status. The results suggest there is an indirect pathway between childhood socioeconomic status and adult inflammatory outcomes. That pathway could be risky behaviors such as smoking.

“The effects of childhood poverty are as complicated to study as they are important. This meta-analysis shows the disparate ways in which researchers can begin to make connections between childhood events and adult health outcomes. Given that SES is not a time-limited exposure, assessing its effects across the lifespan on health outcomes is particularly challenging,” Milaniak explained to PsyPost.

“For example, our meta-analysis found that across the literature, the relationship between childhood socioeconomic status and adult inflammation levels becomes non-significant when taking account of other factors including BMI and smoking along with adulthood SES. This suggests that BMI and smoking can be more accurately conceptualized as part of the pathway between childhood poverty and inflammation rather than confounders.”

The findings also highlight the need for more rigorous longitudinal designs.

“As with most observational research, relationships between variables can never be established as causal. It would be impossible and unethical to randomly assign children to stressful life experiences to definitively say that poverty leads to chronic inflammation. However, there can be clever research designs that can get closer to establishing causality,” Milaniak said.

“Researchers can follow children forward in time, measuring inflammatory markers at multiple points across the lifespan, especially when individuals experience upward economic mobility from childhood to adulthood. I think the continuity or discontinuity in health trajectories will be interesting to see from childhood, into adolescence, and adulthood.”

“Researchers could collect also inflammatory markers from children and adults enrolled in randomized control trials that are designed to reduce family poverty in quasi-experimental designs. Programs like universal basic income are being rolled out in high poverty areas such as Stockton, CA,” Milaniak explained.

“A large body of research has time and again shown the deleterious effect of poverty on children’s emotional, cognitive, neural, and now biological health functioning. Poverty disrupts normative development in such profound ways that we cannot expect children to pull themselves up by their bootstraps without some help.”

“Even resilience comes at a cost as studies show that even children who become affluent in adulthood do not escape the negative health effects of childhood poverty (see citation below). 43% of children in the United States live in low-income families. As those children grow up, the healthcare burden for physical and mental health driven by effects of poverty are profound,” Milaniak added.

The study, “Childhood Socioeconomic Status and Inflammation: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis“, was authored by Izabela Milaniak and Sara R. Jaffee.

ShareTweetSendScanShareSharePin1Send

Thanks for reading! Click here to support PsyPost by becoming a paid subscriber. In an age where information is abundant but quality knowledge is scarce, PsyPost ensures that you stay updated on the most recent and relevant discoveries made in psychology and neuroscience.

STAY CONNECTED

TRENDING

New neuroscience research upends traditional theories of early language learning in babies

A breakthrough in Alzheimer’s treatment? Promising results from new brain stimulation study

Preschoolers categorize people according to body shape rather than race

Scientists revisit Solomon Asch’s classic conformity experiments — and are stunned by the results

Men are drawn to borderline personality traits in physically attractive women, study finds

Owners of sex dolls are less prone to sexual aggression, but also have lower sexual self-esteem

RECENT

New study reveals promising effects of psilocybin in treating severe depression in bipolar II disorder patients

A video game might be effective in reducing fear of needles in children

Scientists revisit Solomon Asch’s classic conformity experiments — and are stunned by the results

A breakthrough in Alzheimer’s treatment? Promising results from new brain stimulation study

New study sheds light on the psychological complexities of adult webcam viewers

Preschoolers categorize people according to body shape rather than race

Groundbreaking study pinpoints Trump’s role in surge of negativity in U.S. political discourse

Instability in sleep patterns linked to cognitive decline in older adults

  • Cognitive Science
  • COVID-19
  • Mental Health
  • Social Psychology
  • Drug Research
  • Conspiracy Theories
  • Meditation
  • Psychology of Religion
  • Aviation Psychology and Human Factors
  • Relationships and Sexual Health
  • Evolutionary Psychology
  • Neuroimaging
  • Psychedelic Drugs
  • Dark Triad
  • Political Psychology
  • Contact us
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy policy
  • Terms and Conditions
Subscribe
  • My Account
  • Cognitive Science Research
  • Mental Health Research
  • Social Psychology Research
  • Drug Research
  • Relationship Research
  • About PsyPost
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist

Manage your privacy
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Statistics

Marketing

Features
Always active

Always active
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
Manage options
{title} {title} {title}
Manage your privacy

To provide the best experiences, we and our partners use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us and our partners to process personal data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site and show (non-) personalized ads. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.

Click below to consent to the above or make granular choices. Your choices will be applied to this site only. You can change your settings at any time, including withdrawing your consent, by using the toggles on the Cookie Policy, or by clicking on the manage consent button at the bottom of the screen.

Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Statistics

Marketing

Features
Always active

Always active
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
Manage options
{title} {title} {title}