I have a piece in the NYT Sunday Review on class, stress, health and the persistent effects of early-life stress and / or poverty on health and cognition. I’m throwing up a few references for people eager to know more. More info on nuances etc here.
GENERAL STUFF
Last year PNAS had an entire issue dedicated to this question of status and health entitled “Biological Embedding of Early Social Adversity: From Fruit Flies to Kindergartners.”
In particular, Bruce McEwen’s “Brain on stress” article explains the basic science.
Also, a nice pamphlet on these issues by Nancy Adler of UCSF
Heres Harvard’s Center on the Developing Child has an array of resources and reports
Also, UCL (and Michael Marmot) have an Institute of Health Equity with interesting reports and other info
Of course, read Paul Tough’s How Children Succeed which delves much more deeply into the complexities (poor people can and do overcome their humble beginnings; rich kids can lack direction and support)
PHENOMENA
Leadership associated with lower stress in people
Nice commentary on the above by Robert Sapolsky
Certain diseases show up according to early-life hardship
Heart disease risk in physicians according to early life socioeconomic status
Subjective status as a good predictor of health
Prospective study finds association between CRP and SES
DIFFERENCES OBSERVED IN CHILDREN AND ADULTS
Peter Gianaros study on scary faces, amygdala responses and status
Martha Farah’s work on different neurocognitive abilities according to status
Differences in prefrontal cortex activity according to SES
This study found differences in adolescent brains (prefrontal cortex) according to stress experienced earlier in life.
MARK OF EARLY-LIFE ADVERSITY SEEN LATER IN PEOPLE
Early life harsh circumstances linked with more inflammation later.
Early-life SES and current perceived stress were associated with distinct DNA methylation patterns
Early-life stress and shorter telomeres, a potential sign of aging, seen here
A prospective study on children exposed to violence shows telomere shortening between ages 5 and 10.
Another prospective study in the UK showing low cumulative SES over a lifetime linked to type 2 diabetes. In part, the authors fault chronically elevated inflammation.
Getting infected with, and sicker from, a cold virus according to early-life SES
A more recent study by the same group showing shorter telomere length associated with greater vulnerability to infection
NONHUMAN PRIMATE WORK
Immune gene expression in macaques according to status. Notice that these changes can be reversed by changing status.
Immune system gene expression changed according to early-life adversity
A review on cocaine use according to status in animals
Low rank, fatty diet, visceral fat, and heart disease in females
Higher ranking male baboons heal faster than lower
OTHER STUFF
Widening differences in longevity according to race and class
Gabriella Conti and James Heckman’s argument for investing in poor children — that it’s a smart investment that will yield a 7-10 percent rate of return yearly
Those numbers based on two older intervention programs aimed at at-risk African-American children.
