Neighborhood poverty predicts altered neural and behavioral response inhibition
Rachel C. Tomlinson,
S. Alexandra Burt,
Rebecca Waller,
John Jonides,
Alison L. Miller,
Ashley N. Gearhardt,
Scott J. Peltier,
Kelly L. Klump,
Julie C. Lumeng,
Luke W. Hyde
Affiliations
Rachel C. Tomlinson
Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, East Hall, 530 Church Street, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA
S. Alexandra Burt
Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, 316 Physics Road #262, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA
Rebecca Waller
Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, East Hall, 530 Church Street, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA; Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, 1500 E Medical Center Drive, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA; Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, 3720 Walnut St, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
John Jonides
Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, East Hall, 530 Church Street, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA
Alison L. Miller
Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, University of Michigan School of Public Health, 1415 Washington Heights, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA
Ashley N. Gearhardt
Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, East Hall, 530 Church Street, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA
Scott J. Peltier
Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, East Hall, 530 Church Street, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA; Biomedical Engineering, 2200 Bonisteel Blvd, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MO, 48109, USA; Functional MRI Laboratory, University of Michigan, 2360 Bonisteel Blvd, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA
Kelly L. Klump
Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, 316 Physics Road #262, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA
Julie C. Lumeng
Department of Pediatrics, University of Michigan, 300 North Ingalls Street, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA
Luke W. Hyde
Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, East Hall, 530 Church Street, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA; Corresponding author.
Socioeconomic disadvantage during childhood is associated with a myriad of negative adult outcomes. One mechanism through which disadvantage undermines positive outcomes may be by disrupting the development of self-control. The goal of the present study was to examine pathways from three key indicators of socioeconomic disadvantage – low family income, low maternal education, and neighborhood poverty – to neural and behavioral measures of response inhibition. We utilized data from a representative cohort of 215 twins (ages 7–18 years, 70% male) oversampled for exposure to disadvantage, who participated in the Michigan Twins Neurogenetics Study (MTwiNS), a study within the Michigan State University Twin Registry (MSUTR). Our child-friendly Go/No-Go task activated the bilateral inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), and activation during this task predicted behavioral inhibition performance, extending prior work on adults to youth. Critically, we also found that neighborhood poverty, assessed via geocoding, but not family income or maternal education, was associated with IFG activation, a finding that we replicated in an independent sample of disadvantaged youth. Further, we found that neighborhood poverty predicted response inhibition performance via its effect on IFG activation. These results provide the first mechanistic evidence that disadvantaged contexts may undermine self-control via their effect on the brain. The broader neighborhood, beyond familial contexts, may be critically important for this association, suggesting that contexts beyond the home have profound effects on the developing brain and behaviors critical for future health, wealth, and wellbeing.
