This within-subjects experimental study investigated the influence of the arts on cortisol for economically disadvantaged children. Participants were 310 children, ages 3-5 years, who attended a Head Start preschool and were randomly assigned to participate in different schedules of arts and homeroom classes on different days of the week. Cortisol…

Relations of duration and developmental timing of poverty to children's development from birth to age 9 were examined by comparing children from families who were never poor, poor only during the child's infancy (03 years of age), poor only after infancy (49 years of age), and chronically poor. Chronically poor families provided lower quality…

Although research has clearly established that low family income has negative impacts on children's cognitive skills and social-emotional competence, less often is a family's experience of material hardship considered. Using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-1999 (N=21,255), this study examined dual components of…

Children's lead and pesticide exposures are used as examples to examine social disparities in exposure reduction efforts as well as environmental policies impacting children in poverty and minority children. The review also presents an estimate of the effect of social disparities in lead exposure on standardized test performance. Because including…

The delivery to impoverished mothers of medical and social services, including day care for their children, had effects that were evident 10 years later. These effects included higher socioeconomic status and educational attainment and smaller families for the mothers, and better school attendance and fewer academic problems for their children.…