The Poverty Ecosystem Framework: An Integrative Review of Candidate Mechanisms Underlying the Effects of Poverty on Neurocognitive Development in the First 1,000 Days of Life

Early-life poverty has been associated with lasting alterations in brain development, cognitive abilities, health and quality of life. The potential pathways linking poverty to neurocognitive development remain unclear partly because they are scattered across disciplines. This integrative review synthesises multidisciplinary findings pertaining to candidate mechanisms of the relationship between poverty and neurocognitive development into a unified conceptual framework. We systematically searched PubMed, Web of Science, and PsycINFO for articles published between the years 2014 and 2026. The included studies (n = 59) were examined for potential pathways linking poverty to neurocognitive outcomes in the first 2 years of life. Candidate mediating mechanisms were divided into three levels, forming the ‘Poverty Ecosystem Framework’: (1) external level (environment), (2) internal system level (biological pathways), and (3) cellular level (molecular processes). Across studies, poverty was frequently associated with adverse neurocognitive outcomes and increased susceptibility to stressors. Evidence pertaining to the underlying mechanisms was more mixed, however. Our synthesis suggests that poverty's impact is twofold, involving both the direct harm of deprivation and a potential recalibration of developmental sensitivity that primes the brain to respond differently to subsequent stressors. Additionally, parental education emerged as a buffer for the effect of low income and different physiological stressors on child neurocognition. Complementary to the synthesis, an interactive dashboard was created that visualises key findings. This ecosystem perspective demonstrates the necessity of applying consistent indices of poverty and studying interacting risk factors, rather than isolated variables, to fully understand and mitigate poverty's impact on the developing brain.