Body Size and Intelligence in 6-year-olds: Are Offspring of Teenage Mothers at Risk?

Abstract

Objectives-Children born to teenage mothers are at risk for more physical and cognitive problems than those born to adult mothers. Our objective was to examine differences in size and intelligence between two cohorts of offspring born to adolescent (n = 357) and adult mothers (n = 668) who attended the same prenatal clinic.Methods-Two prospective study cohorts were assessed children from gestation through age 6 years. The adult cohort was studied in the mid-1980's and the teen cohort was evaluated in the mid-1990's. Both samples were of low socio-economic status. The same study design and measures allowed us to adjust for the covariates of size and IQ.Results-Offspring of adolescent mothers had a significantly smaller mean head circumference (5 mm) (HC) and higher body mass index (BMI) than offspring of adult mothers. Offspring of adolescent mothers scored significantly lower than the offspring of adult mothers on the StanfordBinet (SBIS) composite score (4 points), and the quantitative (6.2 points), verbal reasoning (4.8 points), and short-term memory (3.9 points) area scores. Additional predictors of child IQ were maternal IQ, home environment, race, and number of siblings. When child HC was entered into our final regression model for the SBIS, maternal age and HC significantly predicted the composite score, the verbal reasoning, and short-term memory area scores. A 1 cm decrease in HC predicted a 1 point decrease in the SBIS composite score.Conclusions-Compared to offspring of adult women, children of adolescent mothers have lower mean scores on cognitive measures, smaller head circumference, and higher BMI. These differences were significant after adjusting for differences between the two groups. Adolescent mothers and their children would benefit from interventions such as parenting support, education about nutritional needs, and advice on enriching the environments of their children. Keywords children; teenage mothers; cognitive development; growth; IQ; BMI Children of adolescent mothers may be at greater risk than children of older mothers for poorer growth outcomes [1][2][3][4][5]. In a national longitudinal study of maternal age and neonatal risk status [6], young maternal age predicted lower birthweight and shorter gestational age after controlling for maternal health and sociodemographic status. Less is known about child growth outcomes among older children of adolescent mothers In addition to growth, children of adolescent mothers may be at risk of cognitive deficits [7][8][9]. Intellectual, language, and socio-emotional delays have been reported [10] as well as lower academic achievement [11]. These differences are found even after accounting for social and economic disadvantage [8,9]. Dahinten and colleagues [12] found that children of teen mothers had lower math test scores adjusting for maternal depression, nurturing, and rejecting parenting behaviors. Other studies, however, suggest that the association between maternal age and cognitive status is explained by socio-economic status or fa...

Analytical study of adolescent pregnancies at a tertiary care centre

“…4,5 Long term follow up studies have shown that the children born to teenage mothers are at higher risk and are usually plagued by intellectual, language, and socio-emotional delays. 6 The female child of an adolescent has higher risk of becoming pregnant herself as a teenager. 7 Also due early initiation of sexual activity and multiple pregnancies these girls become high risk for cervical cancer.…”

Teenage Pregnancy: Maternal and Fetal Outcomes

“…Long term follow up studies have shown that the children born to teenage mothers are at higher risk and are usually plagued by intellectual, language, and socio-emotional delays. [7] Some studies, however have shown that adverse outcomes of teenage pregnancies are more the result of socioeconomic factors rather than the biological age itself.These factors may cause a delay in health care seeking by the mother [8]. This other risk factor, like non-utilization or non accessibility to antenatal care may be more of a contributing factor rather that the young age of the mother [9,10,11] .…”

Developmental Trajectories of Body Mass Index in Early Childhood and Their Risk Factors

“…To our knowledge, only 1 study has done so while looking at the associated early-life risk factors. Li and colleagues 11 used 6 assessment points (age 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 years) and identified 3 developmental trajectories of overweight status among a representative US sample (N=1739): early onset (age 2 years, 10.9%), late onset (age 6 years, 5.2%), and never overweight (83.9%). This study provided useful information on the ages at which 2 pathologic BMI trajectories emerged.…”