RESEARCH
Lack of affordable housing has been shown to negatively impact several areas of human development, such as socio-economic growth, health, and overall quality of life.
Poverty has been shown to impact life expectancy throughout different stages of human development negatively.
Research has shown that unemployment can adversely impact human development by constraining individuals’ well-being.
Research has found that substance use disorders can disrupt people’s health across the lifespan, from prenatal development to adulthood.
Mental illness can affect a person’s body, mind, and social environment throughout their whole life, shaping how individuals develop and grow over time.
Adverse early-life circumstances (particularly, those experienced in childhood and teenage years) have been associated with a wide range of chronic diseases and health disparities in adulthood.
Poor parenting—often marked by child neglect, parental physical abuse, and parental emotional maltreatment—can have a long-lasting impact on human development.
Family dysfunction refers to unhealthy patterns of communication, conflict, and behavior within families, which can negatively impact the well-being and development of their members.
Education is widely considered a fundamental driver of positive human development, encompassing a wide range of individual and societal well-being aspects.
Research has shown a strong link between social networks and human development, given that low or no social network is often associated with several detrimental consequences across the lifespan.
Disparities in access to justice are a major barrier to human development, especially for low-income individuals and communities of color in the United States.
A robust body of research conducted in the U.S. has revealed inverse relationships between high school dropout rates and cognitive development.
The association between foster care and cognitive development is heavily influenced by the trauma children often experience before entering the system and the stability of their foster placements.

