New Study Links Poverty And Lower IQ Scores: Financial Stress, Even Temporary, Results In Reduced Cognative Ability, 13-Point IQ Drop

A new study has just been released that connects poverty and lower IQ scores.

The study shows that financial stress can lead to a 13-point drop in IQ score.

Financial woes prevent individuals from being able to focus, and the result is a drop in impulse control and problem-solving skills.

The study likened the drop in brain-power to that of an individual missing a night of sleep.

The new study helps understand the cycle of poverty-simply put, financial stress makes it harder for people to focus, measurably decreasing their performance.

Because mental effort is devoted to worrying about financial stress, less energy can be put toward other thoughts.

Researchers conducted the study by surveying mall shoppers in New Jersey and farmers in India.

In the New Jersey portion of the study, subjects were asked to imagine their car broke down and needed repairs. Some of the subjects were told that the car repairs would cost $150; others were told they would rack up a $1,500 bill.

The subjects were then given mental ability tests to perform.

The shoppers with lower incomes performed much worse on the tests if they had been told the repairs would be expensive. When the repairs were inexpensive, both low-income and high-income subjects did equally well.

In India, a similar test asked farmers to consider a similar money shortage. They, too, were found to have lower IQs if the money was a large amount.

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