Cash for kids: can $333 a month boost a baby's brain?
NCT ID NCT03593356
First seen Jun 25, 2026 · Last updated Jun 27, 2026 · Updated 1 time
Summary
This study is testing whether giving low-income families extra cash each month helps children's language, thinking, and brain development. One thousand mothers of newborns below the poverty line receive either $333 or $20 per month for over six years. Researchers then compare the children's vocabulary, attention, memory, and brain activity at ages 4, 6, and 8.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- monthly cash gift payments
- What this could lead to
- If it works, this could show that giving low-income families extra money directly helps children's language, thinking, and brain development.
- What could go wrong
- This is an observational study, not a treatment trial. Results may not apply to all families, and the cash gifts may not produce clear differences in child development.
This is an AI summary of the original study and may miss details. Read our disclaimer.
Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
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Not a phased trial
Phase numbers describe drug development. The registry uses this when they do not apply, as it does for trials of devices, procedures or behaviour changes, and for observational studies.
- Participants
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1,000 people
The number who actually took part.
- Started
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May 2018
- Expected to finish
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Aug 2028
An estimate. End dates often move.
- Lead sponsor
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Other sponsor
The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
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18 years and older
- Sex
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Female participants only
- Healthy volunteers
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Not accepted
This study is not open to healthy volunteers. The entry requirements below say who it is open to.
Show the full entry requirements Hide the full entry requirements
Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
Inclusion Criteria: 1. mother 18 years or older; 2. household income below the federal poverty threshold in the calendar year prior to the interview, counting the newborn; 3. infant admitted to the newborn nursery and not requiring admittance to the intensive care unit; 4. residence in the state of recruitment; 5. mother not "highly likely" to move to a different state or country in the next 12 months; 6. infant to be discharged in the custody of the mother; 7. English or Spanish speaking (necessary for administration of instruments used to measure some of the child outcomes); 8. singleton birth Exclusion Criteria: Mothers will not be eligible unless all of the above eight criteria are met.
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As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
Contacts and locations
Locations
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12 hospitals in the following four metropolitan areas: New York, Omaha, New Orleans, and Twin Cities
New York, New York, 10027, United States
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