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Suspect held after woman set on fire in NY subway car dies; Trump threatens to take back Panama Canal over 'ridiculous' fees; A year of growth for juvenile diversion programs in SD; The ups and downs of combating rural grocery deserts in ND; Report: AZ one of eight Western states that could improve conservation policies.

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Congress passes a last-minute budget stopgap. Trump's second-term tariffs could harm farmers, and future budget cuts could reduce much-needed federal programs.

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Rural folks could soon be shut out of loans for natural disasters if Project 2025 has its way, Taos, New Mexico weighs options for its housing shortage, and the top states providing America's Christmas trees revealed.

Research: Growing Up Poor Can Impact Adult Brain Function

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Thursday, October 31, 2013   

PHOENIX – New research finds the stresses of growing up poor can have a lasting impact that foretells a greater risk of both physical and psychological problems as an adult.

Dr. K. Luan Phan, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Illinois College of Medicine, was the senior author of the study. It found children at age nine from lower-income families showed less activity in areas of the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain thought to regulate negative emotion.

The result, he says, can manifest in adulthood as problems with stress, anxiety, depression, impulsive aggression and substance abuse.

"The inability to regulate negative affect also could carry over to having trouble with interpersonal relationships, inability to cope with stress while on the job,” he explains, “but also other stress-related medical conditions like heart disease, high blood pressure."

Phan says children of lower-income parents face many chronic stressors, such as substandard housing, crowding, noise, family turmoil, violence or family separation – all of which can affect brain function in terms of regulating emotions.

Phan points out the research suggests more attention should be given to low-income children, perhaps through screenings at school or at their pediatrician's office, to look for indicators of stress.

"We should be targeting kids growing up in poverty and in families with low incomes,” he says. “This is a particularly vulnerable population and they are not just vulnerable at the time as a child, but also as an adult."

The study was conducted jointly by researchers at four universities, and published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.




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