I came from a poor family. And our early experience matched many of the qualities that the lead author mentioned in the Wash. Post story.
We moved more often than military brats. From my Kindergarten year through my high school graduation, I attended seven different schools in eight different towns and three different states. In that time, I had two different step-fathers (and one biological father who adopted us away). I witnessed (and sometimes experienced) domestic violence. And many times, the power went out on us. Neighbors and church families helped feed us when things were really rough.
Throughout all of it, (except for my 10th grade year), I was always one of the best students in my respective class. No matter if we were living in Quenemo, Kansas, Anacortes, Washington or North Puget Adventist Junior Academy.
My older brother also was the BEST student in his class, no matter which class or school he attended. And, pretty much the same goes for my younger sister.
Now, my sister has a Master's degree, my brother is two months away from earning his M.D.; from being a doctor. His board scores and medical school grades and rotation performances also earned him entrance into one of the medical field's most competitive and enviable
So, maybe the affect of poverty-induced stress doesn't affect everyone equally. Maybe it does, and my siblings and I might have achieved more. I'm not sure. I think the most nagging problem with poverty is that it establishes a very low ceiling for success. The greatest indicator of how much you'll earn as a worker is how much your parents earned.
It took a long time for my brother and sister to break away from this. My brother is now 34, quite a bit older than a lot of his med school classmates. When his classmates were taking AP classes or acing their mid-terms, my brother was working in a gas station. It took him awhile to realize what he was capable of achieving.