Scientists have long known that the poor suffer worse health and shorter lives than the rich. Now, researchers have identified what they say are key mechanisms in 13-year-olds that may help explain why this occurs.
The longer 13-year-olds have lived in poverty, the less efficient their bodies become in handling environmental demands, investigators found in a new study.
This "may be related to the fact that children who grow up in poverty have a steeper life trajectory of premature health problems than other children," regardless of later successes in life, said Gary Evans of the College of Human Ecology at Cornell University in New York. The study, co-authored by Evans and Cornell graduate student Pilyoung Kim, appears in the November issue of the research journal Psychological Science.
"Muted responses of stress regulatory mechanisms, which are part of the cardiovascular system, not only compromise the ability of the adolescents' bodies to respond to such stressors as noise, poor housing and family turmoil but also indicate they are suffering from more stress-induced physiological strain," said Evans. "It's very costly to society that low-income children end up getting sick prematurely and die younger."
Evans and Kim assessed markers of stress regulatory systems by measuring overnight levels of a stress hormone, cortisol, and blood pressure reactivity and recovery after a stressor—being asked unexpectedly to do mental math problems. The assessments were conducted in 217 low- and middle-income white adolescents at age 9 and again at 13 in rural New York.
The researchers assessed cumulative physical and social risk exposure by measuring crowding, noise and housing quality along with maternal and youth reports of family turmoil, separation from family and exposure to violence.
"The study provides yet another piece of evidence that poverty and other chronic risk factors induce physiological changes that appear to be related to long-term health problems," said Evans. He also summarized his findings and made policy recommendations before the planning committee of the Robert W. Johnson Foundation Commission to Build a Healthier America on Oct. 17 at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C.
The longer 13-year-olds have lived in poverty, the less efficient their bodies become in handling environmental demands, investigators found in a new study.
This "may be related to the fact that children who grow up in poverty have a steeper life trajectory of premature health problems than other children," regardless of later successes in life, said Gary Evans of the College of Human Ecology at Cornell University in New York. The study, co-authored by Evans and Cornell graduate student Pilyoung Kim, appears in the November issue of the research journal Psychological Science.
"Muted responses of stress regulatory mechanisms, which are part of the cardiovascular system, not only compromise the ability of the adolescents' bodies to respond to such stressors as noise, poor housing and family turmoil but also indicate they are suffering from more stress-induced physiological strain," said Evans. "It's very costly to society that low-income children end up getting sick prematurely and die younger."
Evans and Kim assessed markers of stress regulatory systems by measuring overnight levels of a stress hormone, cortisol, and blood pressure reactivity and recovery after a stressor—being asked unexpectedly to do mental math problems. The assessments were conducted in 217 low- and middle-income white adolescents at age 9 and again at 13 in rural New York.
The researchers assessed cumulative physical and social risk exposure by measuring crowding, noise and housing quality along with maternal and youth reports of family turmoil, separation from family and exposure to violence.
"The study provides yet another piece of evidence that poverty and other chronic risk factors induce physiological changes that appear to be related to long-term health problems," said Evans. He also summarized his findings and made policy recommendations before the planning committee of the Robert W. Johnson Foundation Commission to Build a Healthier America on Oct. 17 at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C.
Warm Regards,
Sailesh Mishra
Advisor - Society for Serving Seniors
Life Member - ARDSI,Mumbai Chapter
Blog: http://peopleforsocialcause.blogspot.com/
Forget yourself for others, and others will never forget you.
Sailesh Mishra
Advisor - Society for Serving Seniors
Life Member - ARDSI,Mumbai Chapter
Blog: http://peopleforsoc
Forget yourself for others, and others will never forget you.
Please visit the website http://www.indiavision2020.org to read inspiring articles of eminent personalities
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