According to new research - children who grow up poor may have smaller brains and worse cognitive abilities.
Nature reports that researchers have long suspected that children's intelligence and behaviour can be linked to their socio-economic status.
In a study, published in Nature Neuroscience, researchers led by neuroscientists Kimberly Noble from Columbia University in New York City and Elizabeth Sowell from Children's Hospital Los Angeles, California tried to look at the biological underpinnings of these effects.
The scanned the brains of 1,099 children, adolescents and young adults in several US cities.
After controlling for minor ethnic differences, the researchers found was that the brains of the poorest children had up to 6% less surface area than those from families making more than $150,000 (R1,831,785) a year.
Does this mean that kids born into poor families are doomed to grow up stupid? No.
Another study in Mexico for example showed that supplementing poor families' income improved their cognitive and language skills within 18 months.
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