Hostname: page-component-76d6cb85b7-xh428 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-07-21T02:43:13.770Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Developing a neurobehavioral animal model of poverty: Drawing cross-species connections between environments of scarcity-adversity, parenting quality, and infant outcome

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2018

Rosemarie E. Perry*
Affiliation:
New York University
Eric D. Finegood
Affiliation:
New York University
Stephen H. Braren
Affiliation:
New York University
Meriah L. Dejoseph
Affiliation:
New York University
David F. Putrino
Affiliation:
Burke Medical Research Institute Weill Cornell Medicine
Donald A. Wilson
Affiliation:
Emotional Brain Institute New York University School of Medicine
Regina M. Sullivan
Affiliation:
Emotional Brain Institute New York University School of Medicine
C. Cybele Raver
Affiliation:
New York University
Clancy Blair
Affiliation:
New York University
Family Life Project Key Investigators
Affiliation:
New York University Burke Medical Research Institute Weill Cornell Medicine Emotional Brain Institute New York University School of Medicine
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Rosemarie E. Perry, Department of Applied Psychology, 627 Broadway, Room 810, New York, NY 10012; E-mail: rosemarie.perry@nyu.edu.

Abstract

Children reared in impoverished environments are at risk for enduring psychological and physical health problems. Mechanisms by which poverty affects development, however, remain unclear. To explore one potential mechanism of poverty's impact on social–emotional and cognitive development, an experimental examination of a rodent model of scarcity-adversity was conducted and compared to results from a longitudinal study of human infants and families followed from birth (N = 1,292) who faced high levels of poverty-related scarcity-adversity. Cross-species results supported the hypothesis that altered caregiving is one pathway by which poverty adversely impacts development. Rodent mothers assigned to the scarcity-adversity condition exhibited decreased sensitive parenting and increased negative parenting relative to mothers assigned to the control condition. Furthermore, scarcity-adversity reared pups exhibited decreased developmental competence as indicated by disrupted nipple attachment, distress vocalization when in physical contact with an anesthetized mother, and reduced preference for maternal odor with corresponding changes in brain activation. Human results indicated that scarcity-adversity was inversely correlated with sensitive parenting and positively correlated with negative parenting, and that parenting fully mediated the association of poverty-related risk with infant indicators of developmental competence. Findings are discussed from the perspective of the usefulness of bidirectional–translational research to inform interventions for at-risk families.

Information

Type
Regular Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable