The Research Project: Cognitive Function of Socioeconomically Deprived Adolescents (Funciones Cognitivas de Adolescentes Socioeconómicamente Desfavorecidos)

This is a research project that I’ve been working on for about a year, in fact it has taken up a lot of my time. The idea is to look at cognitive function, e.g. IQ, reasoning and social-cognition in a sample of youths that would be described as ‘street children’. It is a progression from my research in the UK into cognitive function in homeless adults, e.g. this and this. I’m using the term street children cautiously, as it is a little out of vogue these days to refer to them as such, when in reality they are characterised by a huge spectrum of different social and economic problems. Nevertheless, UNICEF has a definition of street child, and this is what we have used:

“any girl or boy who has not reached adulthood, for whom the street (in the broadest sense of the word, including unoccupied dwellings, wasteland, etc.) has become her or his habitual abode and/or sources of livelihood, and who is inadequately protected, supervised or directed by responsible adults”.

In fact, the problem of poor children living in the streets is very typical of developing countries, including Ecuador. It is estimated that tens of millions of children live in the streets worldwide, about 7 million of whom are in Latin America. A distinction is often made between children of the street and children in the street. The former are literally homeless and the latter have a place to live but make their living in the urban public environment. The situation in Ecuador is mainly of children in the street, and they are not as conspicuously poor as the roofless and homeless children of the street seen in other Latin American countries.  In many countries they are seen as vermin and are frequently victims of violence. Sometimes killed by vigilantes or even rogue police officers. Though things are not so extreme here in Ecuador.

Most street children in Ecuador are working,
e.g. selling newspapers or fruit to motorists

or traipsing around bars at night selling, e.g. chewing gum

Our aim in the research is to test two hypotheses. Firstly, children in Quito who match the UNICEF definition will report high levels of post traumatic stress disorder, and this will be associated with lower cognitive function, i.e. indicating that trauma may have slowed cognitive development. Secondly, and on a more positive note, we have hypothesised that as they have to survive in a hostile environment, they may have developed better than would be expected skills for social cognition, such as reading emotions in peoples’ faces. This second hypothesis is of particular interest as it may challenge stereotypes. Better than normal skills in such populations are possible. Studies performed with Brazilian youths that work in the streets have demonstrated exceptional mathematical ability, because, despite their lack of formal education, they need maths to trade. 

Yesterday the data collection with the children started. We did 4 interviews, well my students did. My Spanish isn’t good enough so I’m relying on my student volunteers; Vicky, Sofia and Daniel. Most of the children we are interviewing are not currently street children; they would be too difficult to access. Instead we have developed a collaboration with a catholic project in South Quito for poor children considered at risk. The name of the charity is ‘Su Cambio por el Cambio’, and they do fantastic work with about 300 children who would have few options in life otherwise. The project provides all day services; breakfast, lunch, sports classes in the mornings and formal and practical education in the afternoons. The ones we are interviewing over the next few weeks are those that fulfilled the UNICEF definition before coming to ‘Proyecto Social Su Cambio por el Cambio’. They are pretty well-behaved and incredibly friendly; the young ones often come over for hugs. 

We are interviewing 40 of the children, and will also be interviewing 20 not at risk children from a local school, as the comparison group. This type of research takes a long time to plan. That is why after a year we have only just begun data collection. First of all we tried to get funding, unsuccessfully, from the International Neuropsychology Fellowship Fund of the British Psychological Society (I’m sure the projects they chose to fund are much better and deserving). Then we had to gain ethics committee approval. This is never easy and doubly difficult when you wish to research a vulnerable group, as we did. In fact our group are doubly vulnerable, as the committee pointed out, both very poor and children. Funding and ethics applications add months of bureaucracy and paperwork. Though I might add, that Comité de Bioetica de Universidad de San Francisco where the most efficient and helpful that I’ve ever dealt with.  This was something of a godsend as I was struggling to provide the necessary documentation, much of it in Spanish.

So now the project is underway. Academic research is not common in this country, but it is possible. Hopefully much of the data collection can be completed before I leave Ecuador. If not, my students are gaining valuable experience, and will be able to continue after I leave.

Many thanks to ‘Proyecto Social Su Cambio por el Cambio’ who have been extraordinarily cooperative with this, despite having more important things to do.