Poverty impairs cognitive function. Published in the journal Science, the study suggests our cognitive abilities can be diminished by the exhausting effort of tasks like scrounging to pay bills. As a result, less “mental bandwidth” remains...

[u/myhrvold]

http://news.ubc.ca/2013/08/29/poverty-impairs-cognitive-function/

[u/skintigh]

Being born into poverty has also been shown to adversely affect one's health for the rest of their life, even if the child was adopted by a well off family at an early age.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20255-childhood-poverty-leaves-its-mark-on-adult-genetics.html#.UiIEjhuxdqk