Money Can Buy Off Stress

They say money can’t buy happiness, but is that really the case? While I believe that money itself cannot directly buy happiness, it can buy things that bring happiness. Money (for an average American) is a need in life to pay for our basic everyday necessities and a lot of times even more. Monetary affluence opens up many doors or opportunities leading to happiness.  People argue that although money does buy happiness, it is only limited and temporary. However a recent article from e science news shows how money can help children deal with stress more effectively and therefore reducing the chances of developing of any impairments in their cognitive ability.

The article from e science news talks about two important factors influencing children’s cognitive development.  One is financial stability of the family, the other factor was the focus of a research study we heard from one of the lectures at the neuroscience seminar, which was parental responsivity. The study at University of Rochester consisted of 201 low-income mother-child pairs. They observed the level of cortisol, a hormone related to stress, at ages 2, 3 and 4 while testing for their cognitive ability. It was discovered that these children had abnormal levels of cortisol in their bodies, either too high or too low. While researches do not know exactly how cortisol activity affects the brain’s cognitive ability, many studies like the one presented in the seminar has shown relationships of abnormal cortisol levels and damaging affects on function of brain. They offered their own opinion believing that too high levels of cortisol has toxic effects on the brain and too low levels weakens the brains ability for optimal cognitive function and development.

Finance was not the only instability factor they talked about that affected the production of the stress hormone and hence the cognitive development of the child. They also mentioned having “emotionally distant caregivers” also increases the risk. This reminded me of the study done by Dr. Daniel Hackman on parental responsivity effect on how their children deal with stress and cognitive development. His research found that lower levels of parental responsivity during early childhood was connected to abnormal cortisol reactivity.  Dr. Hackman was able to make the connection between the irregular levels of cortisol and the deprived psychosocial outcome of the children. The children were more susceptible of developing impaired cognitive abilities.

The article from e science news explains how prevention programs are being establish that help these unprivileged kids and strengthens the relationship between their parents. I thought this was a clever idea and effective. If we can start making a difference at a very crucial part of the child’s development, we can surely see positive outcomes.

Hackman, Daniel A., Laura M. Betancourt, Nancy L. Brodsky, Lara Kobrin, Hallam Hurt, and Martha J. Farah. "Selective Impact of Early Parental Responsivity on Adolescent Stress Reactivity." PLoS ONE 8.3 (2013): n. pag. Web.

"Stress in Low-income Families Can Affect Children's learning." Stress in Low-income Families Can Affect Children's Learning. N.p., 19 June 2015. Web. 10 Dec. 2015.