I was reading this article the other day, which sites a study that found a correlation between premature babies and later behavior problems, including ADHD, and lower IQ scores. This was useful information, as I was just asked a few days ago about why prenatal and birth information is included in a psychological evaluations… now I have an even better answer. But the reason I’m sharing this article is because it made me wonder about the reason being premature and having a low birth weight would contribute to later behavior problems and lower IQ. I thought of one big reason and would love to see some research that answers my question…
Are these kids having problems later in life because the same enviornmental factors that caused them to be premature still exist as they develop? First, let me say that OF COURSE not every premature birth is due to the things I am about to talk about BUT there are a lot of factors such as 1) poor prenatal health care 2) the use of cigarettes, drugs, and alcohol 3) other unhealthy lifestyle choices of the mother, such as poor diet, etc etc that contribute to premature births and really low birth weights. I’m not going through the hassle of finding any research to support these claims, but I think it is general knowledge and certainly something I see frequently with the clients I work with. Often these factors are due to just plain old poor parenting from the beginning. Mothers who are selfish, put themselves first, never develop that maternal bond & instinct, and who, frankly, should never have had a child at all. Other times it is due to lack of education & knowledge as well as economic factors. These things do not typically disappear when the baby is born, but probably often get worse. So you have the mother who did not know the proper nutrition, health care, etc that she needed during pregnancy… she gives birth prematurely to a low birth weight baby… she still is uneducated and financially struggling, so that child is then raised in an environment of poor parenting, little structure, poor nutrition, little mental stimulation including no books in the house and never or rarely being read to…. then this child gets to school and has behavior problems & struggles academically. Does this make sense to anyone but me?
I would like to see a study that is really in depth and gathers information about the environment both before and after birth, mother’s education & prenatal care, etc to see if they find a link between those factors and the birth weight & behavior problem issue.