Poverty-related health inequities found in children as young as five

Research forthcoming in Health Affairs identifies developmental disparities by income and race/ethnicity as early as kindergarten. Researchers trained kindergarten teachers to administer a developmental screening tool in 98 school districts across the nation, collecting data on 183,717 children between 2010 and 2017. Results indicate that lower neighborhood income is distinctly linked with vulnerabilities in children’s health development, and that disparities are further stratified by children’s race/ethnicity. Black children had the highest rates of vulnerabilities, followed by Hispanic and Latinx children, with Asian children having the lowest level of vulnerability. Authors emphasize the importance of achieving health parity in early childhood before disparities calcify into lifelong trajectories of unequal wellbeing. #racialequity