Childhood Family Socioeconomic Status is Linked to Adult Brain Electrophysiology

A large body of research has linked childhood family socioeconomic status (SES) to neurodevelopment in childhood and adolescence. However, it remains unclear to what extent childhood family SES relates to brain functioning in adulthood. To address this gap, the present study investigated the associations between retrospective accounts of objective and subjective childhood family SES and two well-established electrophysiological indices of brain functioning in adulthood—the MMN and P3b event-related potentials (ERP) components. Higher objective childhood family SES, as proxied by parent educational attainment in childhood, was associated with larger (more positive) P3b amplitudes in adulthood. In contrast, there was no association between childhood parent educational attainment and the magnitude of MMN. Adult reports of subjective family SES during childhood were not related to the magnitude of MMN or P3b. These findings suggest that the links between childhood SES and brain functioning may extend into adulthood, especially for brain functions supporting cognitive control. These results also imply that, when using retrospective accounts of childhood family SES with adults, objective indicators may outperform subjective reports of childhood family SES in predicting adult brain functioning. Our findings lay the groundwork for future investigations on how and why childhood family SES relates to brain functioning in adulthood.