Parental Educational Attainment, the Superior Temporal Cortical Surface Area, and Reading Ability among American Children: A Test of Marginalization-Related Diminished Returns

Shervin Assari; Shanika Boyce; Mohsen Bazargan; Alvin Thomas; Ryon J Cobb; Darrell Hudson; Tommy J Curry; Harvey L Nicholson Jr; Adolfo G Cuevas; Ritesh Mistry; Tabbye M Chavous; Cleopatra H Caldwell; Marc A Zimmerman

doi:10.3390/children8050412

Parental Educational Attainment, the Superior Temporal Cortical Surface Area, and Reading Ability among American Children: A Test of Marginalization-Related Diminished Returns

Children (Basel). 2021 May 18;8(5):412. doi: 10.3390/children8050412.

Authors

Shervin Assari^{1

2

3}, Shanika Boyce^{1

4}, Mohsen Bazargan^{1

3

5}, Alvin Thomas⁶, Ryon J Cobb⁷, Darrell Hudson⁸, Tommy J Curry⁹, Harvey L Nicholson Jr¹⁰, Adolfo G Cuevas^{11

12}, Ritesh Mistry¹³, Tabbye M Chavous^{14

15

16}, Cleopatra H Caldwell^{13

17}, Marc A Zimmerman^{13

18}

Affiliations

¹ Minorities' Diminished Returns (MDRs) Center, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, Los Angeles, CA 90059, USA.
² Department of Urban Public Health, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, Los Angeles, CA 90059, USA.
³ Department of Family Medicine, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, Los Angeles, CA 90059, USA.
⁴ Department of Pediatrics, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, Los Angeles, CA 90059, USA.
⁵ Department of Family Medicine, University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
⁶ Human Development and Family Studies Department, School of Human Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA.
⁷ Department of Sociology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA.
⁸ Brown School, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA.
⁹ Department of Philosophy, School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9JS, UK.
¹⁰ Department of Sociology and Criminology & Law, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-7330, USA.
¹¹ Psychosocial Determinants of Health (PSDH) Lab, Tufts University, Boston, MA 02155, USA.
¹² Department of Community Health, Tufts University, Boston, MA 02155, USA.
¹³ Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2029, USA.
¹⁴ School of Education, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2029, USA.
¹⁵ National Center for Institutional Diversity, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2029, USA.
¹⁶ Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2029, USA.
¹⁷ Center for Research on Ethnicity, Culture, and Health (CRECH), University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2029, USA.
¹⁸ Prevention Research Center, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2029, USA.

Abstract

Background: Recent studies have shown that parental educational attainment is associated with a larger superior temporal cortical surface area associated with higher reading ability in children. Simultaneously, the marginalization-related diminished returns (MDRs) framework suggests that, due to structural racism and social stratification, returns of parental education are smaller for black and other racial/ethnic minority children compared to their white counterparts.

Purpose: This study used a large national sample of 9-10-year-old American children to investigate associations between parental educational attainment, the right and left superior temporal cortical surface area, and reading ability across diverse racial/ethnic groups.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional analysis that included 10,817 9-10-year-old children from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. Parental educational attainment was treated as a five-level categorical variable. Children's right and left superior temporal cortical surface area and reading ability were continuous variables. Race/ethnicity was the moderator. To adjust for the nested nature of the ABCD data, mixed-effects regression models were used to test the associations between parental education, superior temporal cortical surface area, and reading ability overall and by race/ethnicity.

Results: Overall, high parental educational attainment was associated with greater superior temporal cortical surface area and reading ability in children. In the pooled sample, we found statistically significant interactions between race/ethnicity and parental educational attainment on children's right and left superior temporal cortical surface area, suggesting that high parental educational attainment has a smaller boosting effect on children's superior temporal cortical surface area for black than white children. We also found a significant interaction between race and the left superior temporal surface area on reading ability, indicating weaker associations for Alaskan Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AIAN/NHPI) than white children. We also found interactions between race and parental educational attainment on reading ability, indicating more potent effects for black children than white children.

Conclusion: While parental educational attainment may improve children's superior temporal cortical surface area, promoting reading ability, this effect may be unequal across racial/ethnic groups. To minimize the racial/ethnic gap in children's brain development and school achievement, we need to address societal barriers that diminish parental educational attainment's marginal returns for middle-class minority families. Social and public policies need to go beyond equal access and address structural and societal barriers that hinder middle-class families of color and their children. Future research should test how racism, social stratification, segregation, and discrimination, which shape the daily lives of non-white individuals, take a toll on children's brains and academic development.

Keywords: adolescents; brain development; child; cortical surface; magnetic resonance imaging; population groups; reading; school performance; socioeconomic factors.