The 226-page publication is available for free online (image: Ciência da Primeira Infância)

Published on 09/05/2025

By José Tadeu Arantes  |  Agência FAPESP – Social inequalities in Brazil begin very early – even before a person is born. Factors such as social class, income, race, parents’ education level, and place of residence shape the future at an early age. This is an important conclusion of the book Ciência da Primeira Infância (Science of Early Childhood) (Edgard Blücher, 2025), which brings together studies by various specialists under the coordination of economist Naercio Menezes Filho. Menezes is a professor at the Institute of Education and Research (INSPER) and a researcher at the Brazilian Center for Early Child Development (CPAPI). 

“The book focuses on early childhood from various angles, emphasizing that this period, which runs from pregnancy to age six, is of great importance in people’s development and lives. It’s a period of rapid brain development in which children acquire skills at an accelerated rate. So it’s essential that they develop properly, because if they don’t, various aspects of their future may be compromised. I’m referring to aspects such as motor skills, learning capacity, social skills, perseverance, and others,” says Menezes Filho.

The researcher emphasizes the importance of directing scientific research towards this phase of life, which was not studied as much until recently. “Research has generally focused on the period following the child’s entry into nursery or pre-school. But now we have a multidisciplinary understanding of the previous phase, which is gaining prominence all over the world. And that’s what we’ve tried to bring together in the book.”

Menezes highlights the epigenetic plasticity of early childhood. In other words, this term refers to the activation or silencing of genes as a result of environmental and social factors without any modification to the genetic code itself.

“Before, there was a distorted understanding that emphasized genetic or social determinants unilaterally. Either genetics determined everything, or society determined everything. Today, it’s clear that the two factors interact. Good or bad nutrition, restorative or non-restorative sleep, the presence or absence of stress, and many other environmental and social factors will cause certain genes to be expressed or silenced. Living with the world doesn’t change the genetic code, but it does condition the way it manifests. And it’s very important to ensure that children have the best experience of living with the world.”

However, this is not the reality experienced by many children born into impoverished households. Drawing on information from large administrative databases and recent research, the book reveals that the country is grappling with intergenerational child poverty. “Poverty can affect child development in many ways. It’s the ‘cause of causes’ of risk factors,” summarizes Menezes Filho.

The analysis details how parents’ income impacts not only their children’s immediate living conditions but also their future trajectory. Those born into poor families tend to be shorter, perform worse cognitively, receive less schooling, earn lower incomes as adults, and are more likely to become parents early. Among children born into the poorest 20% of the population, statistics show that only 2.5% manage to rise to the top 20%. This rate is three times lower than that of the United States, which is far from egalitarian.

“The chapter of the book that deals with inequality and poverty in early childhood was written by me in partnership with Bruno Komatsu. And the data we deal with is very compelling. Brazil, unfortunately, is one of the champions of inequality and low social mobility. A person’s future class insertion is strongly determined by their class insertion at birth. If you’re born into a poor family, it’s going to be very difficult. You’re going to have to overcome huge barriers. You’re going to have to fight discrimination your whole life in order to rise socially. The data show this in various ways, distinguishing income, race, region, etc. We see, for example, that children from white and yellow families always have better conditions than black and indigenous children. Of course, there are exceptions, but this is the rule,” says Menezes Filho.

According to data released on April 30th of this year by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), the country’s unemployment rate in the first quarter of 2025 was the lowest it has been since the beginning of the historical series: 7%. This information is promising because, as the book shows, unemployment can have a devastating effect on the family environment. Articles by other economists cited in the book show that the loss of a job by one of the parents reduces household income by an average of 45% two years later. A series of serious consequences follows, including an increase in school dropouts, early entry into the informal market, and a rise in juvenile crime.

“The work of an important group of economists from the Graduate Program in Economics at the Federal University of Pernambuco [PIMES-UFPE], for example, shows that, two years after dismissal, the school dropout rate increases by 6% and the age-grade distortion rate increases by 18%,” says Menezes Filho. In addition, forced cohabitation during periods of unemployment tends to significantly increase domestic violence rates.

These studies present a shocking fact: the birth of a child in a poor family can trigger the parents’ entry into the world of crime. “The birth of a child increases the father’s criminal activity by 18% two years after the birth and by around 30% six years later,” the studies say, referring to economically motivated crimes.

This challenging scenario can be further aggravated by discriminatory behavior that interferes with child development when young children are forming their identities. Racism is one such factor. Black children, even if they do not suffer physical violence, are often exposed to environments where negative images and discourse about their identity predominate. This exposure can generate psychological suffering and lead to toxic stress, which is associated with the development of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and obesity in adulthood.

“We need to break the cycle of poverty and inequality transmission by investing today in the children who need it most,” emphasizes Menezes Filho. “What our book shows is the need for an intersectoral and transdisciplinary approach. Each chapter focuses on one aspect. And each aspect requires specific measures. So it’s not a question of a single public policy, but rather a convergence of public policies. For example, poverty reduction and access to consumption have evolved greatly over the last 30 years, thanks to income transfer programs like Bolsa Família. In this way, we were able to make progress in trying to overcome a bottleneck, which was the high infant mortality rate due to malnutrition. But now we have another type of problem associated with food, which is the growth in overweight and obesity due to the consumption of ultra-processed foods, which requires a specific public policy. We need to look at the whole picture. And act on many fronts at the same time,” concludes Menezes Filho.

In addition to grants or scholarships awarded to the authors of the various chapters and aid for forming the CPAPI, an Applied Research Center (ARC) also supported by the Maria Cecília Souto Vidigal Foundation, the book received support from FAPESP through the Publications Award scheme. 

The 226-page publication is available for free at: openaccess.blucher.com.br/article-list/9786555502893/list/#undefined. 

 

Source: https://agencia.fapesp.br/55796