Living in a poor environment as children modifies the brain and can lead to problems regulating emotions in adulthood, an American study has just confirmed. According to the authors, the key lies in the development of the amygdala, an area of the brain known for its role in controlling fear and other negative emotions.
“Our findings suggest that the stress of the burden of growing up in a poor environment may be an underlying mechanism that explains the relationship of poverty as a child and how well their brain functions as an adult, ” explains Dr. K. Luan Phan, professor of psychiatry at the University of Illinois at Chicago and lead author of the study. And is that according to data published in the specialized journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , the stress generated by child poverty can lead to problems in the regulation of emotions in later stages.
To reach this conclusion, the researchers analyzed 49 people studying their level of family income, exposure to stressors, their physiological response to stress, socio-emotional development and the interactions of the subjects with their parents. Half were from low-income families. Using MRI images of the brain at age 24, scientists evaluated brain activity while performing an emotional task. Those who were poorer as children showed less activity in the prefrontal cortex areas of the brain .
As Phan himself explained, the important thing is that the amount of chronic stress from childhood to adolescence (such as substandard housing, overcrowding, noise, family problems, violence or family separation) determines the relationship between poverty infantile and prefrontal zone of the brain during the regulation of the emotions.
