Preterm birth linked with lower math abilities and less wealth

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-09/afps-pbl090115.php

Public Release: 1-Sep-2015
Preterm birth linked with lower math abilities and less wealth
Association for Psychological Science

People who are born premature tend to accumulate less wealth as adults, and a new study suggests that this may be due to lower mathematics abilities. The findings, published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, show that preterm birth is associated with lower academic abilities in childhood, and lower educational attainment and less wealth in adulthood.

"Our findings suggest that the economic costs of preterm birth are not limited to healthcare and educational support in childhood, but extend well into adulthood," says psychological scientist Dieter Wolke of the University of Warwick in the UK. "Together, these results suggest that the effects of prematurity via academic performance on wealth are long term, lasting into the fifth decade of life."

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"What is perhaps most surprising is that most of the children we studied were not very preterm--born, on average, only 5 weeks early -- and still we find these long lasting effects," says psychological scientist Maartje Basten, a co-author.

While the overall size of the effects observed in the study are small, the fact that these effects emerge at all after four decades is remarkable, the researchers argue. They note that the rate of preterm births has increased in recent years, and data from children born in just the last decade indicate that preterm birth continues to be a risk factor for decreased cognitive functioning and lower academic achievement.

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