Cash support can change baby brain development

PARIS: Babies whose low-income mothers received significant monthly cash support had more brain activity associated with thinking and learning after one year, a study said on Tuesday.

The paper published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences describes the first results of a landmark ongoing US study looking at how reducing poverty can affect cognitive behaviour.

"We have known for many years that growing up in poverty puts children at risk for lower school achievement, reduced earnings, and poorer health," study senior author Kimberly Noble told AFP.

Until now, however, it was unknown whether this difference came from the lack of financial resources itself or other factors commonly associated with poverty. "This is the first study to show that reducing poverty changes child brain development," Noble said.

In 2018, Noble and her team began recruiting 1,000 low-income mothers and their newborn babies from maternity wards in four major US cities for the "Baby’s First Years" randomised control trial.

They assigned some of the women to receive a nominal monthly stipend of 20 dollars while others received the larger sum of 333 dollars. For the mothers in the study, who reported average annual earnings of just over 20,000 dollars, the larger gift corresponded to a 20-percent boost.