Interview: Professor Andy Dickerson and Dr Gurleen Popli The University of Sheffield

What did the study involve?

For the first time we analysed the effect of poverty on 8,000 children's scores from cognitive and developmental assessments taken at the ages of three, five and seven. These included naming vocabulary, pattern construction, picture recognition, reading and maths tests according to age.

What were the key findings?

One of the most definitive findings is that persistent poverty has an impact on the cognitive development of children in their early years. We found that for children who have any experience of poverty in their early years, their cognitive test scores will be lower. Even after allowing for differences in background characteristics, including parental inputs and parenting style, a child at age three who has been in poverty since birth will be 10 percentile ranks lower on the British Ability Scale naming vocabulary test than a child who has not experienced poverty. This impact is long lasting - and can still be seen in their lower test scores at age seven even if the child is no longer in poverty. The most detrimental effect on cognitive development results from being in poverty the day a child is born. We show that this has a two-fold impact. First, there is a direct effect of low income on children's development, and second, there is an impact that growing up in poor families has on the quality of parenting.