Wall Street Journal Poverty's Vicious Cycle Affect Our Genes
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Wall Street Journal 24 September 2014
Alison Gopnik on new epigenetics research that reveals genes' role in a vicious cycle
http://online.wsj.com/articles/genes-play-a-role-in-poverty-1411567833The new studies suggest a vicious multigenerational circle that affects a horrifyingly large number of children, making them more vulnerable to stress when they grow up and become parents themselves.
Twenty percent of American children grow up in poverty, and this number has been rising, not falling. Nearly a million are maltreated. The new studies show that this damages children, and perhaps even their children's children, at the most fundamental biological level.