Effects of a randomized controlled trial of unconditional cash transfers on epigenetic measures of ageing and cognition in children and mothers
- Laurel Raffington
- Yayouk E. Willems
- Jessica F. Sperber
- Sepideh Zarandooz
- Molly A. Costanzo
- Daniel A. Notterman
- Colter Mitchell
- Elliot M. Tucker-Drob
- Greg J. Duncan
- Nathan A. Fox
- Lisa A. Gennetian
- Katherine A. Magnuson
- Sonya V. Troller-Renfree
- Hirokazu Yoshikawa
- Elisabeth B. Binder
- K. Paige Harden
- Kimberly G. Noble
2026-09-08
Here we present epigenetic findings from a randomized controlled trial studying the impact of unconditional cash gifts of US$333 per month (children n = 313; mothers n = 329) or US$20 per month (children n = 423; mothers n = 448) to US mothers with low income during their child’s first four years of life. Salivary DunedinPACE-pace of aging, a DNA-methylation predictor of healthy lifespan, and Epigenetic- g , a DNA-methylation biomarker of cognition, were preregistered as secondary outcomes (clinical trial identifier NCT03593356 ). As hypothesized, high-cash compared with low-cash gifts caused a −0.17 s.d. (95% confidence interval −0.32 to −0.01, P = 0.037) difference in children’s DunedinPACE. We found no evidence supporting our hypothesis that higher cash gifts increased children’s Epigenetic- g , although it did correlate with children’s brain activity. There was no evidence that the cash gift had an impact on these epigenetic indices in mothers. These findings show a detectable impact of monthly unconditional cash received through early childhood on epigenetic indices of 4-year-old children in families with low income. Whether this epigenetic effect persists and how it may relate to behavioural and health outcomes remains unknown.