ArticleBrain and behavior2016
Socioeconomic status, white matter, and executive function in children.
Article in Brain and behavior, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 104 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
104 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Socioeconomic Status Disparities in Children's Cognition-Differences in Degree or Kind?Perspectives on psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science · 2026Pooled it
- Neurocognitive outcomes in pediatric brain tumors after treatment with proton versus photon radiation: a systematic review and meta-analysis.World journal of pediatrics : WJP · 2023Pooled it
- Neural correlates of socioeconomic status in early childhood: a systematic review of the literature.Child neuropsychology : a journal on normal and abnormal development in childhood and adolescence · 2021Pooled it
- Impact of an Individualized Cognitive Training Intervention in Preschoolers from Poor Homes.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Trial
- Effects of adverse childhood experiences on behavior in adolescence: Insights from brain imaging and genetic risk.Developmental cognitive neuroscience · 2026Article
- Demographics change the relationships between socioeconomic status, white matter network organization, and cognition in children.Developmental cognitive neuroscience · 2026Article
- Optimal brain development is context-dependent: How socioeconomic status moderates brain-behavior relationships in cognitive and academic development.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2026Review
- White matter reflects the childhood exposome.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Executive functions as mediators of early educational disparities by SES, gender and birth month.NPJ science of learning · 2026Article
- Prenatal Adversity and Neonatal Brain Connectivity Relate to Emerging Executive Function at Age 2 Years.Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry · 2026Article
- Article
- Associations between white matter micro- and macro-structure and attention in 6-7-year-old children with low to moderate prenatal alcohol exposure.Brain imaging and behavior · 2026Article
- Social Determinants of Health, the developing brain, and risk and resilience for psychopathology.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Review
- Mediational Role of Executive Functions on Parental Style and Anxiety and Depression Symptoms in Adolescents From Different Vulnerability Environments: A Cross-Sectional Study.Depression and anxiety · 2026Article
- Sexual Dimorphisms in Neurodevelopment May Affect TBI Recovery in Pediatric Patients.Biomedicines · 2025Review
- Associations among socioeconomic disadvantage, longitudinal changes in within-network connectivity, and academic outcomes in the ABCD study.Developmental cognitive neuroscience · 2025Article
- Cognitive Control Skills Are Related to Ambiguity Awareness in French-Learning 5-to-6-Year-Olds: Implications for Reading Development.Cognitive science · 2025Article
- The evolving neurobiology of early-life stress.Neuron · 2025Review
- Looking at Philosophy for Children and Its Outcomes Through a Neuroscience Lens.Basic and clinical neuroscience · 2025Review
- Whole-brain white matter variation across childhood environments.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
44 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundA growing body of evidence links socioeconomic status (SES) to children's brain structure. Few studies, however, have specifically investigated relations of SES to white matter structure. Further, although several studies have demonstrated that family SES is related to development of brain areas that support executive functions (EF), less is known about the role that white matter structure plays in the relation of SES to EF. One possibility is that white matter differences may partially explain SES disparities in EF (i.e., a mediating relationship). Alternatively, SES may differentially shape brain-behavior relations such that the relation of white matter structure to EF may differ as a function of SES (i.e., a moderating relationship).
methodIn a diverse sample of 1082 children and adolescents aged 3-21 years, we examined socioeconomic disparities in white matter macrostructure and microstructure. We further investigated relations between family SES, children's white matter volume and integrity in tracts supporting EF, and performance on EF tasks.
resultsSocioeconomic status was associated with fractional anisotropy (FA) and volume in multiple white matter tracts. Additionally, family income moderated the relation between white matter structure and cognitive flexibility. Specifically, across multiple tracts of interest, lower FA or lower volume was associated with reduced cognitive flexibility among children from lower income families. In contrast, children from higher income families showed preserved cognitive flexibility in the face of low white matter FA or volume. SES factors did not mediate or moderate links between white matter and either working memory or inhibitory control.
conclusionsThis work adds to a growing body of literature suggesting that the socioeconomic contexts in which children develop not only shape cognitive functioning and its underlying neurobiology, but may also shape the relations between brain and behavior.
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