Poverty Changes DNA of people

                Living in poverty can cause to people’s DNA that makes them more likely to become depressed, anxious and possibly take drugs. Teenagers from deprived backgrounds tended to undergo changes to a gene that increases the activity of a part of the brain involved in the ‘fight or flight’ response and panic attacks. This increased activity in the amygdale has been linked to a greater risk of depression. They also found that a low socio-economic status was associated with low levels of serotonin, referred to as the happiness hormone. These ‘epigenetic’ changes can be passed on to the next generation.

                Low socio-economic status may confer risk through a variety of mechanisms, including higher levels of perceived and objective stress and cumulative environmental risk such as poor housing quality, noise pollution, and exposure to violence. According to some studies, people from poor backgrounds were found to accumulate greater qualities of a chemical tag on or near the gene that made their amygdale more responsive to photographs of fearful faces shown to them, while their brain was being monitored by an MRI scanner. These daily hassles of scraping by are evident in changes that build up and affect children’s development.