A recent report found in Pediatrics indicates that poverty may negatively impact a child's development but if provided with resources and support, the developmental delays the children experience can be attenuated.
The new study, published online April 12 in the journal Pediatrics, involved more than 7,000 children aged 4 months to 3 years who were brought to urban primary-care clinics or hospital emergency departments for care.
These children were less likely to have normal growth, health and development -- or "wellness" -- if their scores were higher on an index that evaluated hardships.
Dr. Deborah Frank reports, "We know that deprivations in early life can become biologically embedded, forcing children onto negative trajectories that jeopardize their health, their school readiness and their ability to earn a living as adults," (2010). "We also know that the remedies for many of these hardships are within reach if our society chooses to prescribe them."
