Race, Ethnicity, Family Socioeconomic Status, and Children's Hippocampus Volume.

Shervin Assari

doi:10.22158/rhs.v5n4p25

Abstract

The hippocampus has a significant role in memory, learning, and cognition. Although hippocampal size is highly susceptible to family socioeconomic status (SES) and associated stress, very little is known on racial and ethnic group differences in the effects of SES indicators on hippocampus volume among American children. This study explored the multiplicative effects of race, ethnicity, and family SES on hippocampus volume among American children. Using data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD), we analyzed the functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) data of 9390 9-10 years old children. The main outcome was hippocampus volume. The predictor was parental education. Subjective family SES was the independent variable. Age, sex, and marital status were the covariates. Racial and ethnic group membership were the moderators. To analyze the data, we used regression models. High subjective family SES was associated with larger hippocampus volume. This effect was significantly larger for Whites than Black families. The effect of subjective family SES on children's hippocampus volume is weaker in Black than White families.

Highlights

The hippocampus has a significant role in memory, learning, and cognition
While higher subjective family socioeconomic status (SES) was associated with larger hippocampus volume, this effect was larger for White than Black families
The study showed that the brain connectivity between the hippocampus and other brain regions might mediate the effect of childhood SES on children’s depression

Summary

Introduction

High socioeconomic status (SES) (Oshri et al, 2019) protects children against antisocial behaviors (Palma-Coca et al, 2011), school problems (Sirin, 2005), learning disorders (Fluss et al, 2009), attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (Assari & Caldwell, 2019a; Collins & Cleary, 2016; Jablonska et al, 2020; Machlin, McLaughlin, & Sheridan, 2019), aggression (Heshmat et al, 2016), early sexual initiation (Feldstein Ewing et al, 2018), and use of tobacco (Barreto, de Figueiredo, & Giatti, 2013; Kaleta, Usidame, Dziankowska-Zaborszczyk, & Makowiec-Dabrowska, 2015), alcohol (Moore & Littlecott, 2015; Silveira et al, 2014), and drugs (Gerra et al, 2020). High family SES may have different effects on children’s brain development across racial and ethnic groups (Kimberly G Noble et al, 2015) This is supported by a growing body of research on Minorities’ Diminished Returns (MDRs) (Assari, 2017; Assari, 2018), a phenomenon of weaker effects of SES on various health outcomes, including brain development of Black and Latino than non-Latino White children in terms of attention (Assari, Boyce, & Bazargan, 2020a), impulse control (Assari, Caldwell, & Mincy, 2018), inhibitory control (Assari, 2020), depression (Assari & Caldwell, 2018), suicidality (Assari, Boyce, Bazargan, et al, 2020), anxiety (Assari, Caldwell, & Zimmerman, 2018), social and behavioral problems (Assari, Boyce, Caldwell, & Bazargan, 2020; Boyce, Bazargan, Caldwell, Zimmerman, & Assari, 2020), and attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) (Assari & Caldwell, 2019a). We tested additive and multiplicative effects of race, ethnicity, and subjective family SES on hippocampus volume

Methods

Results

Subjective Family SES

Discussion