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General cognitive but not mathematic abilities predict very preterm and healthy term born adults’ wealth
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Jaekel, Julia, Baumann, Nicole, Bartmann, Peter and Wolke, Dieter (2019) General cognitive but not mathematic abilities predict very preterm and healthy term born adults’ wealth. PLoS One, 14 (3). e0212789. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0212789 ISSN 1932-6203.
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WRAP-general-cognitive-mathematic-abilities-preterm-healthy-adults-Wolke-2019.pdf - Published Version - Requires a PDF viewer. Available under License Creative Commons: Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0. Download (717Kb) | Preview |
Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0212789
Abstract
Objective Very preterm (<32 weeks gestation; VP) and/or very low birth weight (<1500g; VLBW) children often have cognitive and mathematic difficulties. It is unknown whether VP/VLBW children’s frequent mathematic problems significantly add to the burden of negative life-course consequences over and above effects of more general cognitive deficits. Our aim was to determine whether negative consequences of VP/VLBW versus healthy term birth on adult wealth are mediated by mathematic abilities in childhood, or rather explained by more general cognitive abilities. Methods 193 VP/VLBW and 217 healthy term comparison participants were studied prospectively from birth to adulthood as part of a geographically defined study in Bavaria (South Germany). Mathematic and general cognitive abilities were assessed at 8 years with standardized tests; wealth information was assessed at 26 years with a structured interview and summarized into a comprehensive index score. All scores were z-standardized. Results At 8 years, VP/VLBW (n = 193, 52.3% male) had lower mathematic and general cognitive abilities than healthy term comparison children (n = 217, 47.0% male). At 26 years, VP/VLBW had accumulated significantly lower overall wealth than term born comparison adults (-0.57 (1.08) versus -0.01 (1.00), mean difference 0.56 [0.36–0.77], p < .001). Structural equation modeling confirmed that VP/VLBW birth (β = -.13, p = .022) and childhood IQ (β = .24, p < .001) both directly predicted adult wealth, but math did not (β = .05, p = .413). Analyses were controlled for small-for-gestational-age (SGA) birth, child sex, and family socioeconomic status. Conclusion This longitudinal study from birth to adulthood shows that VP/VLBW survivors’ general cognitive rather than specific mathematic problems explain their diminished life-course success. These findings are important in order to design effective interventions at school age that reduce the burden of prematurity for those individuals who were born at highest neonatal risk.
Item Type: | Journal Article | |||||||||||||||
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Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman | |||||||||||||||
Divisions: | Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Science > Psychology | |||||||||||||||
SWORD Depositor: | Library Publications Router | |||||||||||||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Prematurely born children -- Economic aspects, Child development | |||||||||||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | PLoS One | |||||||||||||||
Publisher: | Public Library of Science | |||||||||||||||
ISSN: | 1932-6203 | |||||||||||||||
Official Date: | 13 March 2019 | |||||||||||||||
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Volume: | 14 | |||||||||||||||
Number: | 3 | |||||||||||||||
Article Number: | e0212789 | |||||||||||||||
DOI: | 10.1371/journal.pone.0212789 | |||||||||||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | |||||||||||||||
Publication Status: | Published | |||||||||||||||
Reuse Statement (publisher, data, author rights): | ** From PLOS via Jisc Publications Router ** History: received 24-09-2018; collection 2019; accepted 09-02-2019; epub 13-03-2019. ** Licence for this article: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ | |||||||||||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Open Access (Creative Commons) | |||||||||||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 16 April 2019 | |||||||||||||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 17 April 2019 | |||||||||||||||
RIOXX Funder/Project Grant: |
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