Poverty May Keep Kids from Full Genetic Potential

Poverty May Keep Kids From Full Genetic Potential

Study finds disparities between rich, poor show up by age 2

From a January 17 Health Day news item by Robert Preidt

MONDAY, Jan. 17 (HealthDay News) — Being poor can prevent young children from reaching their full genetic potential of mental ability, a new study shows.

Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin looked at 750 sets of twins who took a test of cognitive ability at ages 10 months and 2 years. During the tests the children were asked to perform such tasks as pulling a string to ring a bell, placing three cubes in a cup, and matching pictures.

At 10 months, children from all socioeconomic backgrounds performed the same on the test. But by 2 years, children from richer families scored significantly higher than those from poorer families, the investigators found.

The study results, published in the January issue of the journal

Psychological Science***

, don’t suggest that children from wealthier families are genetically superior or smarter. These children simply have more opportunity to reach their potential, explained study author Elliott Tucker-Drob, an assistant professor of psychology, in a university news release.

These findings indicate that “nature” and “nurture” work together to affect a child’s development and that the right environment can help children begin to reach their genetic potential at a much younger age than previously thought, he added.

“You can’t have environmental contributions to a child’s development without genetics. And you can’t have genetic contributions without environment. Socioeconomic disadvantages suppress children’s genetic potentials,” Tucker-Drob said.

SOURCE: University of Texas at Austin, news release, Jan. 10, 2011

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