Parental Educational Attainment, the Superior Temporal Cortical Surface Area and Reading Ability among American Children: A Test of Marginalization-Related Diminished Returns

Background: Recent studies have shown that parental educational attainment is associated with a larger superior temporal cortical surface area associated with higher reading ability in children. Simultaneously, the marginalization-related diminished returns (MDRs) framework suggests that, due to structural racism and social stratification, returns of parental education are smaller for black and other racial/ethnic minority children compared to their white counterparts. Purpose: This study used a large national sample of 9–10-year-old American children to investigate associations between parental educational attainment, the right and left superior temporal cortical surface area, and reading ability across diverse racial/ethnic groups. Methods: This was a cross-sectional analysis that included 10,817 9–10-year-old children from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. Parental educational attainment was treated as a five-level categorical variable. Children’s right and left superior temporal cortical surface area and reading ability were continuous variables. Race/ethnicity was the moderator. To adjust for the nested nature of the ABCD data, mixed-effects regression models were used to test the associations between parental education, superior temporal cortical surface area, and reading ability overall and by race/ethnicity. Results: Overall, high parental educational attainment was associated with greater superior temporal cortical surface area and reading ability in children. In the pooled sample, we found statistically significant interactions between race/ethnicity and parental educational attainment on children’s right and left superior temporal cortical surface area, suggesting that high parental educational attainment has a smaller boosting effect on children’s superior temporal cortical surface area for black than white children. We also found a significant interaction between race and the left superior temporal surface area on reading ability, indicating weaker associations for Alaskan Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AIAN/NHPI) than white children. We also found interactions between race and parental educational attainment on reading ability, indicating more potent effects for black children than white children. Conclusion: While parental educational attainment may improve children’s superior temporal cortical surface area, promoting reading ability, this effect may be unequal across racial/ethnic groups. To minimize the racial/ethnic gap in children’s brain development and school achievement, we need to address societal barriers that diminish parental educational attainment’s marginal returns for middle-class minority families. Social and public policies need to go beyond equal access and address structural and societal barriers that hinder middle-class families of color and their children. Future research should test how racism, social stratification, segregation, and discrimination, which shape the daily lives of non-white individuals, take a toll on children’s brains and academic development.

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Parental Education, Household Income, and Cortical Surface Area among 9–10 Years Old Children: Minorities’ Diminished Returns

Brain Sciences ◽

10.3390/brainsci10120956 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (12) ◽

pp. 956

Author(s):

Shervin Assari

Keyword(s):

Brain Development ◽

Surface Area ◽

Household Income ◽

Parental Education ◽

Cortical Surface ◽

Whole Brain ◽

White Children ◽

Cortical Surface Area ◽

American Children ◽

Parental Educational Attainment

Introduction: Although the effects of parental education and household income on children’s brain development are well established, less is known about possible variation in these effects across diverse racial and ethnic groups. According to the Minorities’ Diminished Returns (MDRs) phenomenon, due to structural racism, social stratification, and residential segregation, parental educational attainment and household income show weaker effects for non-White than White children. Purpose: Built on the MDRs framework and conceptualizing race as a social rather than a biological factor, this study explored racial and ethnic variation in the magnitude of the effects of parental education and household income on children’s whole-brain cortical surface area. Methods: For this cross-sectional study, we used baseline socioeconomic and structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI) data of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. Our analytical sample was 10,262 American children between ages 9 and 10. The independent variables were parental education and household income. The primary outcome was the children’s whole-brain cortical surface area. Age, sex, and family marital status were covariates. Race and ethnicity were the moderators. We used mixed-effects regression models for data analysis as participants were nested within families and study sites. Results: High parental education and household income were associated with larger children’s whole-brain cortical surface area. The effects of high parental education and high household income on children’s whole-brain cortical surface area were modified by race. Compared to White children, Black children showed a diminished return of high parental education on the whole-brain cortical surface area when compared to White children. Asian American children showed weaker effects of household income on the whole-brain cortical surface area when compared to White children. We could not find differential associations between parental education and household income with the whole-brain cortical surface area, when compared to White children, for non-Hispanic and Hispanic children. Conclusions: The effects of parental educational attainment and household income on children’s whole-brain cortical surface area are weaker in non-White than White families. Although parental education and income contribute to children’s brain development, these effects are unequal across racial groups.

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Cognitive and brain development is independently influenced by socioeconomic status and polygenic scores for educational attainment

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ◽

10.1073/pnas.2001228117 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 117 (22) ◽

pp. 12411-12418 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Nicholas Judd ◽

Bruno Sauce ◽

John Wiedenhoeft ◽

Jeshua Tromp ◽

Bader Chaarani ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Socioeconomic Status ◽

Educational Attainment ◽

Brain Development ◽

Surface Area ◽

Brain Structure ◽

Parental Education ◽

Cortical Surface ◽

Cortical Surface Area ◽

Regional Association ◽

Polygenic Scores

Genetic factors and socioeconomic status (SES) inequalities play a large role in educational attainment, and both have been associated with variations in brain structure and cognition. However, genetics and SES are correlated, and no prior study has assessed their neural associations independently. Here we used a polygenic score for educational attainment (EduYears-PGS), as well as SES, in a longitudinal study of 551 adolescents to tease apart genetic and environmental associations with brain development and cognition. Subjects received a structural MRI scan at ages 14 and 19. At both time points, they performed three working memory (WM) tasks. SES and EduYears-PGS were correlated (r= 0.27) and had both common and independent associations with brain structure and cognition. Specifically, lower SES was related to less total cortical surface area and lower WM. EduYears-PGS was also related to total cortical surface area, but in addition had a regional association with surface area in the right parietal lobe, a region related to nonverbal cognitive functions, including mathematics, spatial cognition, and WM. SES, but not EduYears-PGS, was related to a change in total cortical surface area from age 14 to 19. This study demonstrates a regional association of EduYears-PGS and the independent prediction of SES with cognitive function and brain development. It suggests that the SES inequalities, in particular parental education, are related to global aspects of cortical development, and exert a persistent influence on brain development during adolescence.

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Cognitive and brain development is independently influenced by socioeconomic status and polygenic scores for educational attainment

10.1101/866624 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Nicholas Judd ◽

Bruno Sauce ◽

John Wiedenhoeft ◽

Jeshua Tromp ◽

Bader Chaarani ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Educational Attainment ◽

Brain Development ◽

Surface Area ◽

Brain Structure ◽

Parental Education ◽

Genetic Factors ◽

Cortical Surface ◽

Cortical Surface Area ◽

Regional Association ◽

Polygenic Scores

AbstractGenetic factors and socioeconomic (SES) inequalities play a large role in educational attainment, and both have been associated with variations in brain structure and cognition. However, genetics and SES are correlated, and no prior study has assessed their neural associations independently. Here we used polygenic score for educational attainment (EduYears-PGS) as well as SES, in a longitudinal study of 551 adolescents, to tease apart genetic and environmental associations with brain development and cognition. Subjects received a structural MRI scan at ages 14 and 19. At both time-points, they performed three working memory (WM) tasks. SES and EduYears-PGS were correlated (r = 0.27) and had both common and independent associations with brain structure and cognition. Specifically, lower SES was related to less total cortical surface area and lower WM. EduYears-PGS was also related to total cortical surface area, but in addition had a regional association with surface area in the right parietal lobe, a region related to non-verbal cognitive functions, including mathematics, spatial cognition, and WM. SES, but not EduYears-PGS, was related to a change in total cortical surface area from age 14 to 19. This is the first study demonstrating a regional association of EduYears-PGS and the independent prediction of SES on cognitive function and brain development. It suggests that the SES inequalities, in particular parental education, are related to global aspects of cortical development, and exert a persistent influence on brain development during adolescence.Significance statementThe influence of socioeconomic (SES) inequalities on brain and cognitive development is a hotly debated topic. However, previous studies have not considered that genetic factors overlap with SES. Here we showed, for the first time, that SES and EduYears-PGS (a score from thousands of genetic markers for educational attainment) have independent associations with both cognition and global cortical surface area in adolescents. EduYears-PGS also had a localized association in the brain: the intraparietal sulcus, a region related to non-verbal intelligence. In contrast, SES had global, but not regional, associations, and these persisted throughout adolescence. This suggests that the influence of SES inequalities is widespread – a result that opposes the current paradigm and can help inform policies in education.

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Cortical area and subcortical volume mediate the effect of parental education and adverse experiences on cognitive performance in youth

10.1101/160424 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Chintan M. Mehta ◽

Jeffrey G. Malins ◽

Kimberly G. Noble ◽

Jeffrey R. Gruen

Keyword(s):

Risk Factors ◽

Surface Area ◽

Cognitive Performance ◽

Parental Education ◽

Cognitive Outcomes ◽

Cognitive Tasks ◽

Cortical Surface ◽

Cortical Surface Area ◽

Adverse Experiences ◽

Subcortical Volume

AbstractEarly adversity and socioeconomic disadvantage are risk factors associated with diminished cognitive outcomes during development. Recent studies also provide evidence that upbringings characterized by stressful experiences and markers of disadvantage during childhood, such as lower parental education or household income, are associated with variation in brain structure. Although disadvantage often confers adversity, these are distinct risk factors whose differential influences on neurodevelopment and neurocognitive outcomes are not well characterized. We examined pathways linking parental education, adverse experiences, brain structure, and cognitive performances through an analysis of 1,413 typically-developing youth, ages 8 through 21, in the Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort. Parental education and adverse experiences had unique associations with cortical surface area and subcortical volume as well as cognitive performance across several domains. Associations between parental education and several cognitive tasks were explained, in part, by variation in cortical surface area. In contrast, associations between adversity and cognitive tasks were explained primarily by variation in subcortical volume. A composite neurodevelopmental factor derived from principal component analysis of cortical thickness, cortical surface area, and subcortical volume mediated independent associations between both parental education and adverse experiences with reading, geometric reasoning, verbal reasoning, attention, and emotional differentiation tasks. Our analysis provides novel evidence that socioeconomic disadvantage and adversity influence neurodevelopmental pathways associated with cognitive outcomes through independent mechanisms.

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Racial and Ethnic Disparities in School Discipline: The Interactive Effects of Gender and Parental Educational Attainment

Crime & Delinquency ◽

10.1177/00111287211029879 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 001112872110298

Author(s):

Peter S. Lehmann ◽

Andia M. Azimi ◽

Kiarra Fortney ◽

Kayla Alaniz

Keyword(s):

Educational Attainment ◽

Minority Students ◽

Ethnic Disparities ◽

Interactive Effects ◽

Office Referrals ◽

Race Ethnicity ◽

Monitoring The Future ◽

Using Data ◽

Parental Educational Attainment ◽

Racial Ethnic

Prior research has provided consistent evidence that minority students are more likely than White youth to experience punitive forms of discipline in schools. Scholars have theorized that these disadvantages are closely connected to gender and socioeconomic status, but little research has explored how these factors independently and jointly might moderate the effects of race/ethnicity. Using data from the 2012 to 2018 8th and 10th grade cohorts of the Monitoring the Future survey ( N = 53,986), these analyses find that minority students are more likely than Whites to experience suspension/expulsion and office referrals, and this pattern is especially prominent among females. Further, racial/ethnic disparities are amplified for youth whose parents have higher levels of educational attainment, though some differences by gender also emerge.

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Parental Education and Youth Inhibitory Control in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study: Blacks’ Diminished Returns

Brain Sciences ◽

10.3390/brainsci10050312 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (5) ◽

pp. 312 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Shervin Assari

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Development ◽

High Risk ◽

Human Resources ◽

Educational Attainment ◽

Risk Behaviors ◽

Inhibitory Control ◽

Parental Education ◽

High Risk Behaviors ◽

Race Ethnicity ◽

Parental Educational Attainment

Background: Non-Hispanic Black (NHB) youth are at a higher risk of high-risk behaviors compared to non-Hispanic White (NHW) youth. Some of this racial gap is shown to be due to weaker effects of parental educational attainment on reducing the prevalence of behavioral risk factors such as impulsivity, substance use, aggression, obesity, and poor school performance for NHBs, a pattern called Minorities’ Diminished Returns. These diminishing returns may be due to lower than expected effects of parental education on inhibitory control. Aim: We compared NHW and NHB youth for the effect of parental educational attainment on youth inhibitory control, a psychological and cognitive construct that closely predicts high-risk behaviors such as the use of drugs, alcohol, and tobacco. Methods: This was a cross-sectional analysis that included 4188 youth from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. The independent variable was parental educational attainment. The main outcome was youth inhibitory control measured by the stop-signal task (SST), which was validated by parent reports on the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Results: In race/ethnicity-stratified models, high parental educational attainment was associated with a higher level of inhibitory control for NHB than NHW youth. In the pooled sample, race/ethnicity showed a statistically significant interaction with parental educational attainment on youth inhibitory control suggesting that high parental educational attainment has a smaller boosting effect on inhibitory control for NHB than NHW youth. Conclusion: Parental educational attainment boosts inhibitory control for NHW but not NHB youth. To minimize the racial gap in youth brain development, we need to address societal barriers that diminish the returns of family economic and human resources, particularly parental educational attainment, for racial and ethnic minority youth. Social and public policies should address structural and societal barriers such as social stratification, segregation, racism, and discrimination that hinder NHB parents’ abilities to effectively mobilize their human resources and secure tangible outcomes for their developing youth.

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Cortical thickness, cortical surface area and subcortical volumes in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder patients with cannabis use

10.26226/morressier.5971be84d462b80290b52671 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Cecilie Bhandari Hartberg

Keyword(s):

Bipolar Disorder ◽

Surface Area ◽

Cortical Thickness ◽

Cannabis Use ◽

Cortical Surface ◽

Cortical Surface Area ◽

Subcortical Volumes

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The Concurrence of Cortical Surface Area Expansion and White Matter Myelination in Human Brain Development

Cerebral Cortex ◽

10.1093/cercor/bhy277 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 29 (2) ◽

pp. 827-837 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Riccardo Cafiero ◽

Jens Brauer ◽

Alfred Anwander ◽

Angela D Friederici

Keyword(s):

White Matter ◽

Human Brain ◽

Brain Development ◽

Surface Area ◽

Cortical Surface ◽

Cortical Surface Area ◽

Human Brain Development ◽

Area Expansion

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General Psychopathology, Cognition, and the Cerebral Cortex in 10-Year-Old Children: Insights From the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study

Frontiers in Human Neuroscience ◽

10.3389/fnhum.2021.781554 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 15 ◽

Author(s):

Yash Patel ◽

Nadine Parker ◽

Giovanni A. Salum ◽

Zdenka Pausova ◽

Tomáš Paus

Keyword(s):

Cerebral Cortex ◽

Cognitive Development ◽

Surface Area ◽

Cortical Surface ◽

Strongly Correlated ◽

General Psychopathology ◽

Cortical Surface Area ◽

Neurite Density ◽

The Relationship ◽

Strength Of Association

General psychopathology and cognition are likely to have a bidirectional influence on each other. Yet, the relationship between brain structure, psychopathology, and cognition remains unclear. This brief report investigates the association between structural properties of the cerebral cortex [surface area, cortical thickness, intracortical myelination indexed by the T1w/T2w ratio, and neurite density assessed by restriction spectrum imaging (RSI)] with general psychopathology and cognition in a sample of children from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. Higher levels of psychopathology and lower levels of cognitive ability were associated with a smaller cortical surface area. Inter-regionally—across the cerebral cortex—the strength of association between an area and psychopathology is strongly correlated with the strength of association between an area and cognition. Taken together, structural deviations particularly observed in the cortical surface area influence both psychopathology and cognition.

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