Interview: Professor Andy Dickerson and Dr Gurleen Popli The University of Sheffield
Friday, June 22, 2012
What did the study involve?
For the first time we analysed the effect of poverty on 8,000 children's scores from cognitive and developmental assessments taken at the ages of three, five and seven. These included naming vocabulary, pattern construction, picture recognition, reading and maths tests according to age.
What were the key findings?
One of the most definitive findings is that persistent poverty has an impact on the cognitive development of children in their early years. We found that for children who have any experience of poverty in their early years, their cognitive test scores will be lower. Even after allowing for differences in background characteristics, including parental inputs and parenting style, a child at age three who has been in poverty since birth will be 10 percentile ranks lower on the British Ability Scale naming vocabulary test than a child who has not experienced poverty. This impact is long lasting - and can still be seen in their lower test scores at age seven even if the child is no longer in poverty. The most detrimental effect on cognitive development results from being in poverty the day a child is born. We show that this has a two-fold impact. First, there is a direct effect of low income on children's development, and second, there is an impact that growing up in poor families has on the quality of parenting.
How does poverty affect parenting?
Poverty can limit your ability to be a 'good' parent in terms of the investment that you are able to make - and your ability to be a better parent can be limited by having low income. There are many things that can be affected - educational visits, resources, books and regular routines, such as bath times and bed times. Parents might have multiple jobs or be working unsocial hours. Or perhaps there is financial stress as a result of job insecurity. All of these collectively can have an impact on parenting. Our study finds that good quality parenting on its own is not enough to offset the detrimental impact of low income.
What policies should the Government adopt?
Vouchers for parenting classes are not enough. An effort has to be made to alleviate income poverty. First, support has to be provided for those children who are more vulnerable to persistent poverty as this has more of an impact than occasional or intermittent periods of poverty.Second, we should be targeting families with children under three, as it is children born into poverty that are most disadvantaged in terms of their cognitive development.
