# Household Income and Child Development in the First Three Years of Life

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-IRVINE · 2021 · $149,858

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
 Recent advances in developmental neuroscience suggest that experiences early in life have profound and
enduring influences on the developing brain. Family economic resources shape the nature of many of these
experiences, yet the extent to which they affect children's development is unknown. Our team of
neuroscientists, economists and developmental psychologists proposes to fill important gaps in scientific
knowledge about the role of economic resources in early development by evaluating the first randomized
controlled trial to determine whether unconditional cash payments have a causal effect on the cognitive, socio-
emotional and brain development of infants and toddlers in low-income U.S. families. Specifically, 1,000
mothers of infants with incomes below the federal poverty line from four diverse U.S. communities will receive
monthly cash payments by debit card for the first 40 months of the child's life. Parents in the experimental
group will receive $333 per month ($4,000 per year), whereas parents in the control group will receive a
nominal monthly payment of $20. In order to understand the impacts of the added income on children's
cognitive and behavioral development, we will assess treatment/control group differences at age 3 (and, for a
subset of measures, age 2) on measures of cognitive, language, memory, self-regulation and socio-emotional
development. Brain circuitry may be sensitive to the effects of early experience even before early behavioral
differences can be detected. In order to understand the impacts of added income on children's brain
functioning at age 3, we will assess, during a lab visit, treatment/control group differences in measures of brain
activity (electroencephalogram [EEG] and event-related potentials [ERP]). To understand how family
economic behavior, parenting, and parent stress and well-being change in response to income enhancement,
we will assess treatment/control differences in family expenditures, food insecurity, housing and neighborhood
quality; family routines and time use; parent stress, mental health and cognition; parenting practices; and child
care arrangements at child age 2 and, for a subset of these measures, child age 1. This study will thus provide
the first definitive understanding of the extent to which income plays a causal role in determining early child
cognitive, socio-emotional and brain development among low-income families.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10370867
- **Project number:** 3R01HD087384-05S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-IRVINE
- **Principal Investigator:** Greg John Duncan
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $149,858
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2017-09-15 → 2023-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10370867

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10370867, Household Income and Child Development in the First Three Years of Life (3R01HD087384-05S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10370867. Licensed CC0.

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