tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/parental-education-10300/articlesParental education – The Conversation2014-12-03T15:01:40Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/347882014-12-03T15:01:40Z2014-12-03T15:01:40ZParents’ fortunes matter for cognitive development of 11-year-olds<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66097/original/image-20141202-20598-1v805l8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Getting ahead of your cohort. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-231981898/stock-photo-parents-reading-a-story-on-a-book-to-their-daughter-concept-about-family.html?src=FEOLFBHOY9z26TgZm-efqQ-1-46">oneinchpunch</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As they reach the end of primary school, the UK’s children face persistent inequalities in their cognitive development. New <a href="http://www.cls.ioe.ac.uk/mcsage11findings">findings</a> from the <a href="http://www.cls.ioe.ac.uk/mcs">Millennium Cohort Study (MCS)</a>, a survey of children born between 2000 and 2002 across the UK, show that the level of parents’ education and family income both remain clearly associated with children’s verbal skills at the age of 11 – even when taking into account other differences in family background.</p>
<p>The MCS, based at the <a href="http://www.ioe.ac.uk">UCL Institute of Education, London</a>, has followed around 19,000 children since they were nine months old, visiting them and their families again at ages three, five and seven and then most recently at the age of 11. </p>
<p>On each occasion from age three onwards, tests of cognitive skills have been carried out by specially trained interviewers, including an assessment of verbal skills. These tests changed depending on how old the children were, allowing us to track how inequalities in verbal skills have persisted through their childhoods. At the age of 11, they were asked to say how three items went together: for example “they were all fruit” for “apple, orange, banana”. </p>
<p>The first graph below illustrates the differences in average scores on these tests of children with parents with differing levels of qualifications – where NVQ 5 is the highest, and no qualifications the lowest. It shows how the gaps in average scores between children whose parents have a low level of education and those with a high level have remained relatively constant across their childhood.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66083/original/image-20141202-20585-iozj9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66083/original/image-20141202-20585-iozj9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66083/original/image-20141202-20585-iozj9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=254&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66083/original/image-20141202-20585-iozj9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=254&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66083/original/image-20141202-20585-iozj9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=254&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66083/original/image-20141202-20585-iozj9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=320&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66083/original/image-20141202-20585-iozj9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=320&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66083/original/image-20141202-20585-iozj9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=320&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Parental qualifications and verbal skills by age.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cls.ioe.ac.uk%2Fshared%2Fget-file.ashx%3Fitemtype%3Ddocument%26id%3D1953&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNHzYYx-k-gfg8uXVMwiwUEUvYyu3w">Child cognitive development: Initial findings from the Millennium Cohort Study Age 11 survey</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<h2>Memory and decision making</h2>
<p>At the age of 11 the children also undertook two assessments from the <a href="http://www.cambridgecognition.com/academic/cantabsuite/">CANTAB</a> suite of neuropsychological assessments. The first related to spatial working memory, assessing their errors in a memory game and their strategy and speed in completing the tasks. The second tested the quality of their decision making and their risk-taking.</p>
<p>Again, there were clear differences in children’s performance on these tasks, depending on the level of their parent’s education and family income, even when accounting for other aspects of family background. In particular, children from families with higher income were found to be better at decision making and risk adjustment in the decision-making task. They deployed greater strategy, fewer errors and faster response in the spatial working memory task. The pattern was similar for those whose parents had higher levels of qualifications compared to those with no qualifications.</p>
<p>There is substantial concern across all the main political parties with promoting <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/social-mobility-and-child-poverty-commission">social mobility</a>. But our findings indicate that achieving equality of opportunity will be a challenge in the face of substantial <a href="http://sticerd.lse.ac.uk/case/_new/publications/NEP.asp">income inequalities</a> in the UK. They also indicate that schooling is not sufficient to correct for the influence of more advantaged parents on their children’s cognitive development.</p>
<h2>Patterns of poverty</h2>
<p>These implications for the challenges in delivering equality of opportunity are especially salient given the patterns of poverty also identified in the Age 11 findings.</p>
<p>Each MCS survey used a relative measure of poverty that identified those families living on less than 60% of the typical income for families with children of this age. This income measure is strongly associated with material disadvantage – measured by asking whether families can afford to replace or repair core electrical goods, or having their child’s friends round for a snack. Such measures give an insight into what living on a low income means for these families.</p>
<p>The second graph below shows patterns of relative poverty over the lives of the MCS children. There was considerable movement between being in poverty and being out of poverty from one survey to the next. This meant that slightly more than half of the children (53%) had lived in a poor family at some point over the course of the five surveys. Low income is not just a feature of a minority of children’s lives.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66084/original/image-20141202-20560-7o7hdp.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66084/original/image-20141202-20560-7o7hdp.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66084/original/image-20141202-20560-7o7hdp.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66084/original/image-20141202-20560-7o7hdp.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66084/original/image-20141202-20560-7o7hdp.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66084/original/image-20141202-20560-7o7hdp.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66084/original/image-20141202-20560-7o7hdp.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Patterns of poverty over children’s lives from nine months to 11 years.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cls.ioe.ac.uk%2Fshared%2Fget-file.ashx%3Fitemtype%3Ddocument%26id%3D1958&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNGCM2S1OGDJRBG9U2hSEpLEshU58g">Chapter 7: Poverty and deprivation in Millennium Cohort Study: Initial findings from the Age 11 survey</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>At the same time, nearly one in five, or 17%, of the children were poor at the point of four or five of the MCS surveys. Such <a href="http://www.cls.ioe.ac.uk/shared/get-file.ashx?itemtype=document&id=1436">persistent poverty</a> is widely recognised as being worse for children’s outcomes than being poor at one point in time. The findings from the MCS showed that those who were persistently poor were more likely to be living in deprivation. These persistently poor children will also face the impact of low income on their cognitive development across childhood.</p>
<h2>Impact on well-being</h2>
<p>There were also small but significant differences in child well-being among those children who were persistently poor, compared to those who were never poor. Subjective measures of <a href="http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/taxonomy/index.html?nscl=Societal+Wellbeing">well-being</a> are regarded as an important complement to material measures of well-being. Subjective measures invite people to say how they feel about their lives, for example how happy or satisfied they are with their lives overall. Material measures include measures of income or deprivation.</p>
<p>The children in the survey were, broadly speaking, very satisfied with their lives at the age of 11 – and this was generally true across children from all sorts of circumstances. The average score on a seven-point scale was just over six for children overall. It was just over 6.1 for children who had never been poor across the survey and it was just under six for those who were persistently poor. Although the difference was small, it was clear that poverty can have an impact, not only on cognitive attainment, but also on how children feel about their lives. </p>
<hr>
<p>Next read: <a href="https://theconversation.com/one-third-of-11-year-olds-in-the-uk-are-overweight-or-obese-our-new-study-shows-34717">One third of 11-year-olds in the UK are overweight or obese </a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/34788/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lucinda Platt is also Visiting Professor at the Institute of Education. The Millennium Cohort Study was funded by the Economic and Research Council and a consortium of government funders.</span></em></p>As they reach the end of primary school, the UK’s children face persistent inequalities in their cognitive development. New findings from the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), a survey of children born between…Lucinda Platt, Professor of Social Policy and Sociology, London School of Economics and Political ScienceLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/347172014-11-27T06:23:13Z2014-11-27T06:23:13ZOne third of 11-year-olds in the UK are overweight or obese, our new study shows<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/65608/original/image-20141126-4228-ybd4w1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Weight on young shoulders. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&searchterm=overweight%20children&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=11607637">Boy on scales via Igor Stepovik Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="http://www.who.int/nutrition/publications/obesity/WHO_TRS_894/en/">World Health Organisation</a> has defined obesity in children as a major threat to public health and the UK government treats it as <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/reducing-obesity-and-improving-diet">a high priority</a>.</p>
<p>While we know a lot about the problem of childhood obesity from studying the heights and weights of groups of children at different ages, less is known about how obesity develops by studying the same child over a long period of time.</p>
<p>Our <a href="http://www.cls.ioe.ac.uk/shared/get-file.ashx?id=1952&itemtype=document">study</a> of a representative sample of more than 13,000 children throughout the UK looked at whether children between the ages of three and 11 were overweight and obese. These children were all born between 2000 and 2002 and have been measured and weighed at four points so far (age three, five, seven and 11) as part of the ongoing <a href="http://www.cls.ioe.ac.uk/page.aspx?sitesectionid=851&sitesectiontitle=Welcome+to+the+Millenium+Cohort+Study">Millennium Cohort Study</a>.</p>
<h2>Obesity on the increase</h2>
<p>At age 11, 65% of children were not overweight or obese, 15% were overweight and 20% were obese. That means that an alarming 35% of the nation’s 11-year-olds could face a health risk because of their weight. What is also striking is how this has grown between the ages of seven and 11. At age seven, around 25% of children were classified as either overweight or obese, but by the age of 11 this figure had increased by around 10%.</p>
<p>This may be because 11-year-olds are experiencing more freedom in their food choices and may also be moving away from physical play to more sedentary activities. More research is needed to understand why this age seems to be such a critical period.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/65605/original/image-20141126-4258-13100np.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/65605/original/image-20141126-4258-13100np.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/65605/original/image-20141126-4258-13100np.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/65605/original/image-20141126-4258-13100np.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/65605/original/image-20141126-4258-13100np.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/65605/original/image-20141126-4258-13100np.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/65605/original/image-20141126-4258-13100np.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/65605/original/image-20141126-4258-13100np.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">How child obesity has changed over time.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Millenium Cohort Study</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>We found that only half of children were a healthy weight at all of the ages they were measured, while 4% of children have consistently been overweight and 1% of children have consistently been obese. Notably, 44% of children changed their weight status at some point in the study. </p>
<p>Although we found evidence that those children who were overweight were more likely to be moving into the obese category throughout their childhood, there are also a small proportion of children with healthy weights aged seven who became overweight and obese by age 11. This highlights the need for all parents to be aware of their child’s weight as they grow older.</p>
<h2>Following in parents’ footsteps</h2>
<p>So which children are at the most risk of overweight and obesity at age 11? Our research took account of a number of factors previously associated with childhood obesity. Clear associations were found between weight status and parental education. The highest levels of obesity were observed among children whose parents had no educational qualifications, and the lowest levels were found in children of degree-educated parents. Education might enable and empower parents to develop more effective attitudes, lifestyles and health behaviours which may be an important influence on childhood obesity.</p>
<p>We also found a clear association between the weight of children and their mothers. Children whose mothers are not overweight are the least likely to be overweight or obese themselves. The children of obese mothers have the highest levels of being overweight and obese. </p>
<p>Children will learn and copy the behaviours of their mothers, and there is <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1741-3729.2000.00293.x/abstract">evidence</a> that the formation of dietary habits in young children is greatly influenced by the behaviour and attitudes of their parents. Addressing weight issues in families, rather than just children, may be the best way to tackle the childhood obesity problem.</p>
<h2>Health risks</h2>
<p>Obesity is a major concern for children’s health. Overweight children are at <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17372328">increased risk of becoming overweight adults</a> and being overweight or obese is associated with an elevated risk of health problems such as asthma, cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. Childhood overweight is also associated with <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12241736">psycho-social problems and depression</a> and can have a major and enduring influence on an individual’s life.</p>
<p>At age 11 the children answered a series of questions about their happiness and self-esteem. The obese children were the least likely to be “completely happy with the way they look”, compared to those who were either not overweight or overweight. They were also more likely to say they were “not happy at all with with the way they look”. </p>
<p>Asked about how happy they were with their life as a whole, obese girls were less likely to say they were “completely happy”, although there was no significant association for boys. Overweight and obese children also demonstrated higher rates of low self-esteem when responding to questions such as “I am a person of value” and “I feel I have a number of good qualities.”</p>
<p>Understanding these associations is complex because low self-esteem and unhappiness may be factors contributing to a child putting on weight, rather than occurring as a consequence of it. But it’s clear that many children about to enter their teenage years are suffering both the negative health effects of obesity and its psychological impacts. </p>
<hr>
<p>Next read: <a href="https://theconversation.com/fat-is-a-classroom-issue-and-primary-schools-must-tackle-it-30807">Fat is a classroom issue and primary schools must tackle it</a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/34717/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Roxanne Connelly has received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council. </span></em></p>The World Health Organisation has defined obesity in children as a major threat to public health and the UK government treats it as a high priority. While we know a lot about the problem of childhood obesity…Roxanne Connelly, Research Fellow, Administrative Data Research Centre, Scotland, The University of EdinburghLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/314412014-09-09T10:19:48Z2014-09-09T10:19:48ZThe myth about social mobility in Britain: it’s not that bad, says new report<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58547/original/w6g5q4qq-1410245029.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">You'll do better than me son.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-212564710/stock-photo-young-mother-checking-homework-schoolboy-son.html?src=_-u-y6RdgYo-ubpHsmjayQ-1-31">Mother and child, via Lakov Filimonov/Shutterstock </a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It is generally accepted by all political parties and most of the media that social mobility in the UK is low compared to other countries, and worsening over time. These “facts” appeared in the manifestos of all three major parties at the last election. This has led to the creation of a <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/oct/17/social-mobility-tsar-inequality-poverty-milburn">mobility tsar</a> and the expenditure of billions of pounds of public funding. </p>
<p>So how is it possible that the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), in a report out today, reports very high upward inter-generational educational mobility in the UK and a very strong link between education and subsequent earnings?</p>
<p><a href="http://www.oecd.org/edu/eag.htm">Education at a Glance</a> suggests that more of the adult population of the UK, aged 25 to 64, is educated to higher education (university graduate) level than in any other EU country. This rose from 25.68% of adults in 2000 to 40.98% in 2012. And the earnings difference between having an upper secondary qualification and a degree (or equivalent) is high: a person with a degree in the UK will earn 55% more. </p>
<p>Education appears to matter. In every generation, a sizable proportion achieve a qualification higher than that of their parents, as the graph below shows. But as the qualification level of the population grows, the proportion “outperforming” their parents decreases – and would eventually cease if everyone achieved a university-level qualification. </p>
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<span class="caption">Better educated than your parents.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">OECD</span></span>
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<p>The UK also has one of the lowest links in the EU between an individual’s background (as assessed by economic, social and cultural status) and attainment in the OECD’s 2012 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). This measure of equity is better than in Denmark, for example, and almost twice as good as in Hungary and France.</p>
<h2>Resolving the apparent contradiction</h2>
<p>The OECD figures have a mixture of survey sources, and do not always present response rates and the reasons for missing country data. So there will be some inaccuracy in their figures, which they acknowledge. But a much more likely reason for these two vastly different accounts is that the research report on which so many politicians and other commentators have based their views of social mobility <a href="http://eprints.bham.ac.uk/278/">makes some crucial mistakes</a>. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.learningdomain.com/CaseStudy.IntergenerationalMobility.pdf">report</a> that started all of the trouble was published in 2005 by the Sutton Trust. It used the 1958 and 1970 GB birth cohort studies to suggest that inter-generational income mobility for those born in 1970 was worse than for those born in 1958. </p>
<p>And it also claimed that mobility was worse in Britain than in similarly developed countries like Norway. It justifed this claim by comparing the data for Norway in 1958 with that for Britain in 1970. No satisfactory explanation has ever been given for this. If you <a href="http://eprints.bham.ac.uk/278/">use instead</a> the 1958 data for Britain – which makes sense not only because it is closer in time to Norway’s 1958 data, but also because the parental income measures are more similar – social mobilty is about the same as in Norway and all other comparator countries. </p>
<p>The same data looked at sensibly seems to show considerable income mobility between generations. Around 17% of those born to the poorest 25% of families in Britain go on to become among the richest 25% in one generation. As the new OECD study suggests, some of this may be due to the high educational mobility of the UK. </p>
<h2>The opportunity cost</h2>
<p>Considerable effort and funding is therefore being put into a solution to a problem that does not appear to exist – perhaps because good news in not so popular as bad. But there is a real opportunity cost. Real problems for the most educationally disadvantaged in the UK, such as adults without prior qualifications and low levels of literacy, <a href="http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415536905/">are being ignored</a>.</p>
<p>Hopefully this new OECD picture will provide some commentators with the courage to look again at social mobility, and begin to distinguish between those elements of our education that should be treasured and those that need urgent attention.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/31441/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Gorard does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It is generally accepted by all political parties and most of the media that social mobility in the UK is low compared to other countries, and worsening over time. These “facts” appeared in the manifestos…Stephen Gorard, Professor of Education and Public Policy, Durham UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/260702014-05-08T10:59:55Z2014-05-08T10:59:55ZChildren’s cognitive abilities linked to parental education<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48058/original/zb9d7ts2-1399541866.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Not more RAM, working memory is what you need. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-93590464/stock-photo-mother-and-daughter-work-on-homework-together-at-the-kitchen-table.html?src=csl_recent_image-2">Mother and Daughter, Kyle Lee/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Cognitive difficulties are very common in children from impoverished backgrounds, putting them at risk of educational failure. However, it is not clear what influences the development of cognitive abilities, nor when such factors have their biggest impact. What is more important, your parent’s degree or the town you grew up in? </p>
<p>This issue was addressed in a <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cdev.12242/abstract">recent paper</a> by University of Pittsburgh child psychiatrist Daniel Hackman and his colleagues. They found that parental education, but not the characteristics of a neighbourhood, was associated with working memory performance. </p>
<h2>Understanding working memory</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.york.ac.uk/res/wml/Classroom%20guide.pdf">Working memory</a> is one of the most important cognitive abilities for learning. This system allows us to juggle multiple thoughts simultaneously. It is at the heart of intellectual functioning, playing a crucial role in many everyday activities from following directions to understanding what we read.</p>
<p>Working memory has a “limited capacity”. This means that there is an upper limit to the amount of information we can hold in our minds at any given time. Working memory capacity varies greatly between individuals. In kids it is a strong predictor of many cognitive functions such as reading and maths skills. Early on in life, working memory abilities <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1348/000709900158047/pdf">are closely linked with school grades</a>. Children with bigger working memory capacities typically perform better in the classroom.</p>
<p>Deficits in working memory are very common in children from underprivileged backgrounds and place them at increased risk of poor progress at school. Children from deprived families therefore face both social and economic barriers to success and impaired cognitive skills. This means that they are often ill-equipped to overcome hardship and break out of the vicious circle of poverty.</p>
<p>The link between social background and cognitive ability is present in <a href="http://www.psicorip.org/Resumos/PerP/RIP/RIP036a0/RIP03906.pdf">babies as young as four months</a> and <a href="http://adc.bmj.com/content/89/10/922.full.pdf+html">adults over 50</a>. However, it is not clear whether poverty predicts how cognitive skills develop and change as we get older. Nor do we know how different socio-economic factors, such as postcode or family income, affect these changes.</p>
<h2>Working memory development</h2>
<p>Hackman’s team was the first to conduct a longitudinal study to investigate the development of working memory over time. The authors set out to understand when social status impacts on working memory and how working memory changes as children grow up. </p>
<p>They focused on two measures of socio-economic status. These were family environment, indexed by parents’ education, and wider social context. Social context was defined by neighbourhood characteristics, such as the number of people below the poverty line or unemployed.</p>
<p>Authors speculated that differences in working memory would change between childhood and adolescence in three possible ways. They might grow as the effects of poverty build up, further disadvantaging children from deprived families. They might remain constant, reflecting early emerging differences but similar developmental pathways. Or, the differences might diminish as the children mature into adolescence. </p>
<p>In this study a group of more than 300 10 to 13-year-olds was followed over the course of four years. Each year children completed a set of working memory tests. Socio-economic status was measured using demographic questionnaires and census records for the child’s home address. Parent’s level of education in years was also recorded. </p>
<p>The results showed that parents’ level of education, but not neighbourhood characteristics, was associated with working memory skills. Because working memory is closely linked to learning, this means that parental education is likely to be a good predictor of their kids’ academic success. In a way, children with better educated parents, and not those living in affluent areas, are more likely to excel at school.</p>
<p>Importantly, this study showed that differences in working memory related to parental education were apparent in early childhood and remained stable over time. This means that children who had smaller working memory capacities at the beginning of the study (linked to their parents’ schooling) did not catch up with the children of better educated parents. Their working memory capacities grew at the same rate as children of better educated parents as they got older. However, the gap between children from homes where parents had an average of 12 years of education and those from homes where parents had an average of 16 years of education was the same at all ages. </p>
<h2>Training working memory</h2>
<p>The early onset and apparent persistence of poverty-driven deficits in working memory emphasises the need for early intervention. Boosting working memory is important for enhancing learning to promote positive life outcomes and overcome hardship. </p>
<p>One way we can improve working memory is by using <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/dev/49/2/270.pdf">computerised “brain-training” programmes</a>. These typically involve repeated practice on increasingly challenging cognitive tasks. Such programmes have already been used to enhance working memory in children and adults. </p>
<p>Perhaps one way forward is to use cognitive training as a preventative intervention with very young children from impoverished backgrounds. Although this is unlikely to improve cognitive function in the same way as rich childhood experiences do, it may help to compensate for the damaging effects of early adversity on working memory.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/26070/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Agnieszka Jaroslawska receives funding from the Medical Research Council (MRC).</span></em></p>Cognitive difficulties are very common in children from impoverished backgrounds, putting them at risk of educational failure. However, it is not clear what influences the development of cognitive abilities…Agnieszka J Graham, Doctoral Candidate, University of CambridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.