Parents, neighborhoods, and the developing brain

Abstract

Although a growing literature has linked extreme psychosocial adversity in early development to brain structure and function, recent studies highlight that differences in socioeconomic resources may also affect brain development. In this article, we describe research linking variation in neighborhood context and parenting practices, two contexts shaped by socioeconomic resources, to neural function and structure, particularly in the corticolimbic circuit that supports socioemotional processing. Key considerations include the nested nature of contexts, the developmental timing of exposures, and the role of resilience. While this area of research may help inform policy, scientists and policymakers must be cautious in their interpretation of disadvantage-to-brain research to avoid a deficit-centered approach. Ultimately, this emerging area of research highlights that common and normative variation in experiences in the home and neighborhood is linked to brain structure and function, which may provide proximal mechanisms to understand how and why socioeconomic resources are related to brain development.