The study published by the Institute of Education found that poverty has a lasting impact, so that children who are born into poverty still suffer the consequences at the age of seven, with lower scores in assessments, including reading, vocabulary and picture recognition, than children of the same age who have never been in poverty.
The most detrimental effect was among children who had been born into poverty. On a scale of 0 to 100, a child who has been in persistent poverty will rank ten levels lower than a child of the same age who has no experience of poverty in their early years.
The study is based on data of nearly 8,000 children from the Millennium Cohort Study, who were born in the UK between 2000 and 2001.
Researchers examined whether children were in poverty at the age of nine months, three years, five years, and seven years old.
Children were considered to be in persistent poverty if their families were poor at the time of the current survey and all previous surveys.
The researchers Professor Andy Dickerson and Dr Gurleen Popli from the University of Sheffield claim that it is the first study to evaluate the impact of persistent poverty on young children’s cognitive development in Britain.
Professor Dickerson told Nursery World that persistent poverty had a two-fold impact on young children’s development. ‘First, the direct impact of poverty on children, and second the impact of growing up in poor families on the quality of parenting.’
‘The ability to be a better parent can be restricted by income. Good quality parenting on its own is not enough and will be affected by income.’
Poverty was found to have a greater impact on children’s development than factors such as whether or not parents read to their children, took them to the library, or helped them with reading, writing and maths.
Professor Lucinda Platt, director of the Millennium Cohort Study, said, ‘This rigorous study of the impact of poverty on children’s cognitive development is a significant contribution to our understanding in this area.
‘In demonstrating the importance of early and enduring low-income for children’s subsequent cognitive development, it provides fresh impetus to efforts to tackle child poverty.’
