Child Cognitive Development in Latin American Rural Poverty: What Do Researchers Should Consider for Conducting Fieldwork

HERMIDA M.J.; SHALOM, DIEGO EDGAR

Cognitive Sciences and Education in Non-WEIRD Populations: A Latin American Perspective

Springer-Nature

Lugar: London; Año: 2022; p. 59 - 74

There is an enormous corpus of literature dissecting the effects of poverty on child cognitive development. Nonetheless, almost all of it has made focus on urban poverty. This chapter is aimed at describing child cognitive development in Latin American (LA) rural contexts. Rural poverty in LA is very different from rural contexts in non-Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) societies. Even inside non-WEIRD populations, urban and rural poverty are indeed different in terms of socioeconomic, cultural, and educational factors (as they differentially affect child cognitive development). The first part of this chapter describes the differences between LA urban and rural poverty, focused on those factors affecting child cognitive development. Besides, data from Argentina is presented as an example of the rural poverty risks for child cognition. The second part of the chapter presents recommendations for researchers conducting field studies and interventions analyzing or training child cognition in Latin American rural poverty contexts.