Center for Autism and Related Disorders, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD.
Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD.
J Dev Behav Pediatr. 2023;44(8):e543-e550. doi: 10.1097/DBP.0000000000001210. Epub 2023 Aug 18.
When socioeconomic status is measured at the individual and/or family level, it has long been associated with cognition in children. However, the association between neighborhood deprivation, an index of community-level socioeconomic status, and child cognition is not fully understood. The goal of this study was to investigate (1) the relationship between neighborhood deprivation and child cognitive functioning and (2) whether child age moderates the relationship between cognitive functioning and neighborhood deprivation.
This study included 9878 children, ages 3 through 17 years (M = 10.4 yrs, SD = 3.4 yrs). Data were gathered from children referred for and evaluated at an urban, outpatient neuropsychology assessment clinic between 2006 and 2022, located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Neighborhood socioeconomic status was measured at the census block level using the Area Deprivation Index composite.
There was a 20-point median difference in overall intelligence between the neighborhoods with the lowest and highest levels of deprivation. Overall intelligence and verbal comprehension, compared with working memory, fluid reasoning, and processing speed, demonstrated the strongest negative association with neighborhood deprivation (all p < 0.05). Older children had lower overall intelligence scores compared with younger children in neighborhoods with high levels of deprivation ( p < 0.01), suggesting a cumulative influence of poverty exposure.
This study demonstrates the stark disparities in child cognitive functioning across levels of neighborhood deprivation. Findings support the importance of access to early interventions and services that promote intellectual growth and verbal capacity among children who live in neighborhoods with great deprivation.
当社会经济地位在个体和/或家庭层面进行衡量时，它与儿童认知能力的关系由来已久。然而，社区层面的社会经济地位指标——邻里剥夺程度与儿童认知能力之间的关系尚不完全清楚。本研究的目的是调查：（1）邻里剥夺程度与儿童认知功能之间的关系；（2）儿童年龄是否调节认知功能与邻里剥夺程度之间的关系。
本研究纳入了 9878 名年龄在 3 至 17 岁（M=10.4 岁，SD=3.4 岁）的儿童。数据来自于 2006 年至 2022 年期间在位于美国中大西洋地区的一家城市门诊神经心理学评估诊所就诊和接受评估的儿童。邻里社会经济地位使用区域剥夺指数综合指标在普查块级进行衡量。
在剥夺程度最低和最高的邻里之间，整体智力存在 20 个中位数差异。与工作记忆相比，整体智力和言语理解与邻里剥夺程度呈最强的负相关，而流体推理和处理速度则次之（均 p<0.05）。在高剥夺程度的邻里中，年龄较大的儿童的整体智力得分低于年龄较小的儿童（p<0.01），表明贫困暴露具有累积影响。
本研究表明，儿童认知功能在邻里剥夺程度的不同水平上存在明显差异。研究结果支持了为生活在极度贫困邻里环境中的儿童提供早期干预和服务的重要性，这些干预和服务可以促进他们的智力发展和言语能力。
