Journal of Child and Adolescent Behavior
Open Access

Research Article

Direct and Indirect Effects of Brain Volume, Socioeconomic Status and Family Stress on Child IQ

Jade V Marcus Jenkins¹Donald P Woolley²Stephen R Hooper³Michael D De Bellis^2*

¹Department of Public Policy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA

²Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Duke University, USA

³Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA

*Corresponding Author:

Michael D De Bellis
Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Director Healthy Childhood Brain Development
and Developmental Traumatology Research Program
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Duke University Medical Center, Durham NC 27710, USA
Tel: 919-683-1190 extn-351
Fax: 919-682-7805
E-mail: debel002@mc.duke.edu

Received Date: February 27, 2013; Accepted Date: April 26, 2013; Published Date: April 29, 2013

Citation: Marcus Jenkins JV, Woolley DP, Hooper SR, De Bellis MD (2013) Direct and Indirect Effects of Brain Volume, Socioeconomic Status and Family Stress on Child IQ. J Child Adolesc Behav 1:107. doi:10.4172/2375-4494.1000107

Copyright: © 2013 Marcus Jenkins JV, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Background: A large literature documents the detrimental effects of socioeconomic disparities on intelligence and neuropsychological development. Researchers typically measure environmental factors such as socioeconomic status (SES), using income, parent’s occupation and education. However, SES is more complex, and this complexity may influence neuropsychological outcomes. Methods: This study used principal components analysis to reduce 14 SES and 28 family stress indicators into their core dimensions (e.g. community and educational capital, financial resources, marital conflict). Core dimensions were used in path analyses to examine their relationships with parent IQ and cerebral volume (white matter, grey matter and total brain volume), to predict child IQ in a sample of typically developing children. Results: Parent IQ affected child IQ directly and indirectly through community and educational capital, demonstrating how environmental factors interact with familial factors in neuro-development. There were no intervening effects of cerebral white matter, grey matter, or total brain volume. Conclusions: Findings may suggest that improving community resources can foster the intellectual development of children.

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