I found this article interesting - I thought I'd share it because it reminds me of the discussion that took place on this listserv earlier this year re. how traditional health reporting places the most importance on individual behaviours rather than SDOH. To me, it feels like the author of this article may have missed the point in the same way, flouting "promising" interventions that target the effects of unfair social conditions, rather than the conditions themselves. In this case, he argues for programs "to circumvent self-control failure"! Yet the research is interesting - and disturbing.

Why Can't More Poor People Escape Poverty?

In addition to all the structural barriers that prevent even determined poor people from escaping poverty, there may be another, deeper, and considerably more disturbing barrier: Poverty may reduce free will, making it even harder for the poor to escape their circumstances. All of this suggests that we need to rethink our approaches to poverty reduction. Many of our current anti-poverty efforts focus on access to health, educational, agricultural, and financial services. Now, it seems, we need to start treating willpower as a scarce and important resource as well.
http://www.tnr.com/article/environment-energy/89377/poverty-escape-psychology-self-control?page=0,0


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Emily Holton
Knowledge Transfer Specialist
Centre for Research on Inner City Health
Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael's Hospital

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