By Annabelle Timsit, Quartz, March 21, 2020
James is 3 years old and presents with chronic asthma, allergies, and eczema. Lola is five and overweight. Emma is 11 and struggles to focus on her homework, often gets into fights at school, and has trouble sleeping.
These (fictional) children may seem like they have little in common—but that’s because you don’t have all the information. You don’t know, for example, that James’ father has bipolar disorder and misuses his prescription medication. Or that Lola was abused by her aunt. Or that Emma experienced homelessness after her mother died when she was a toddler.
Scientists have known for a long time that those who struggle—from poverty, discrimination, and many forms of insecurity—typically have poorer health than those who don’t. “In every country in the world, poor people get sicker more than people who are economically secure,” says Jack Shonkoff, director of the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University.
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