Basten Maartje, Jaekel Julia, Johnson Samantha, Gilmore Camilla, Wolke Dieter
Department of Psychology, University of Warwick.
Department of Psychology, University of Warwick Department of Developmental Psychology, Ruhr-University Bochum.
Psychol Sci. 2015 Oct;26(10):1608-19. doi: 10.1177/0956797615596230. Epub 2015 Aug 31.
Each year, 15 million babies worldwide are born preterm. Preterm birth is associated with adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes across the life span. Recent registry-based studies suggest that preterm birth is associated with decreased wealth in adulthood, but the mediating mechanisms are unknown. This study investigated whether the relationship between preterm birth and low adult wealth is mediated by poor academic abilities and educational qualifications. Participants were members of two British population-based birth cohorts born in 1958 and 1970, respectively. Results showed that preterm birth was associated with decreased wealth at 42 years of age. This association was mediated by decreased intelligence, reading, and, in particular, mathematics attainment in middle childhood, as well as decreased educational qualifications in young adulthood. Findings were similar in both cohorts, which suggests that these mechanisms may be time invariant. Special educational support in childhood may prevent preterm children from becoming less wealthy as adults.
全球每年有1500万婴儿早产。早产与一生的不良神经发育结局相关。最近基于登记处的研究表明，早产与成年后财富减少有关，但其中介机制尚不清楚。本研究调查了早产与成年后低财富之间的关系是否由学业能力差和教育程度低所介导。参与者分别是1958年和1970年出生的两个英国基于人群的出生队列的成员。结果表明，早产与42岁时的财富减少有关。这种关联是由童年中期智力、阅读能力尤其是数学成绩的下降以及青年期教育程度的下降所介导的。两个队列的结果相似，这表明这些机制可能是时间不变的。儿童时期的特殊教育支持可能会防止早产儿童成年后变得不那么富有。
