Maternal Age and Educational and Psychosocial Outcomes in Early Adulthood

Abstract

The relationships between maternal age (at birth) and educational and psychosocial outcomes at age 18 were examined in a birth cohort of 1025 New Zealand children. This analysis indicated the presence of consistent tendencies for increasing maternal age to be associated with declining risks of educational underachievement, juvenile crime, substance misuse, and mental health problems. Children with teenage mothers had risks of later adverse outcomes that were 1n5 to 8n9 times higher than the risks for offspring of mothers aged over 30. Subsequent analyses revealed that the associations between maternal age and later educational and psychosocial outcomes were largely, but not wholly, explained by associations between maternal age and the child-rearing practices and home environments experienced by children. In general, increasing maternal age tended to be associated with more nurturant, supportive, and stable home environments. In turn, these linkages between maternal and childhood environment explained most of the association between maternal age and later outcomes. The theoretical and applied implications of these results are considered.

Cognitive ability, parental socioeconomic position and internalising and externalising problems in adolescence: Findings from two European cohort studies

“…Our finding that mother’s education is associated with offspring externalising problems is in agreement with findings from previous studies [45, 47]. The lack of association with internalising problems was contrary to previous studies that had demonstrated associations of parental education (not necessarily the mother’s) with internalizing problems in adolescents [45, 48, 49].…”

Teen‐aged mothers in contemporary Britain

“…The 5-year-old children of young mothers were disadvantaged by four childhood problems which longitudinal research has shown to be strong predictors of poor outcomes when children reach adulthood: poor infant health (Wadsworth, 1999), abusive harm (Widom, 1989), low IQ (Lubinski, 2000, and problem behaviours (Farrington, 1995). The findings of this and other studies suggest that difficulties indexed by early motherhood have a long reach, and will continue to reverberate into the next generation (Fergusson & Woodward, 1999;Furstenberg, Levine, & Brooks-Gunn, 1990;.…”

Associations of parental age with health and social factors in adult offspring. Methodological pitfalls and possibilities

“…This “thrifty” phenotype alone might explain the increased risk of adult adiposity and hypertension in the offspring of older mothers although it should be noted that if these are effects of the intrauterine environment, those effects do not appear to be mediated by the offspring’s birth weight or birth length (Supplementary Table S16). Additionally, however, people tend to gain in wealth and experience as they age, meaning that older parents potentially provide a more resource-rich environment for their offspring5360. Such an environment could counteract the lower birth weight and length of children born to older parents to produce heavier and more hypertensive adults.…”