Abstract
Family socioeconomic status (SES) is an important factor that affects an individual’s neural and cognitive development. The two novel aims of this study were to reveal (a) the effects of family SES on mean diffusivity (MD) using diffusion tensor imaging given the characteristic property of MD to reflect neural plasticity and development and (b) the sex differences in SES effects. In a study cohort of 1,216 normal young adults, we failed to find significant main effects of family SES on MD; however, previously observed main effects of family SES on regional gray matter volume and fractional anisotropy (FA) were partly replicated. We found a significant effect of the interaction between sex and family income on MD in the thalamus as well as significant effects of the interaction between sex and parents’ educational qualification (year’s of education) on MD and FA in the body of the corpus callosum as well as white matter areas between the anterior cingulate cortex and lateral prefrontal cortex. These results suggest the sex-specific associations of family SES with neural and/or cognitive mechanisms particularly in neural tissues in brain areas that play key roles in basic information processing and higher-order cognitive processes in a way females with greater family SES level show imaging outcome measures that have been associated with more neural tissues (such as greater FA and lower MD) and males showed opposite.
Highlights
Socioeconomic status (SES, family income and parents’ educational qualifications) is an important factor that affects an individual’s neural and cognitive development (Hair et al, 2015; Noble et al, 2015)
Based on abovementioned previous studies and theoretical background of family SES, these include diverse psychological measures of (a) basic cognitive functions, (b) traits related to affects, (c) stress, (d) traits related to cognition, and education
As described in the Introduction, based on nature of family SES, and previous studies, we investigated the effects of family SES on diverse psychological measures of (a) basic cognitive functions, (b) traits related to affects, (c) stress, (d) traits related to cognition, and education
Summary
Socioeconomic status (SES, family income and parents’ educational qualifications) is an important factor that affects an individual’s neural and cognitive development (Hair et al, 2015; Noble et al, 2015). Higher family SES is associated with increased self-regulatory behaviors, academic performance, and sense of well-being and less impulsive decision making, learned helplessness, stress, and psychological distress in young individuals (Evans and English, 2002; Evans et al, 2005; Sirin, 2005; Sweitzer et al, 2008). While the effects of family SES on cognitive mechanisms are largely assumed to be mediated by the associations between increased stress and low family SES (Evans and English, 2002; Evans and Schamberg, 2009; Ursache and Noble, 2016a), previous animal studies have shown that females and males show opposite neural changes in response to stressors (Shors et al, 2001). Women tend to have more stressors, socially, and these stressors tend to cause more depressive symptoms (Hankin et al, 2007)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
