Discriminating Factors for Low or High IQ of Children in Care

Abstract

Two groups of deprived children with contrasting IQs at a preschool age were compared: a low IQ group with IQs between 60 and 80 (LG, n = 49) and a high IQ group with IQs above 106 (HG, n = 42).The objective of the study was to identify discriminating major factors for cognitive development in a population of neglected children in care. They had been selected in a cohort of children who were adopted after the age of 4. A sub‐sample was been studied longitudinally: 14 LG children and 11 HG children with two IQ assessments. Results have shown that forty per cent of these 91 children had emotional disorders and behavioural problems. No statistically significant differences were observed for environment and placement variables between LG and HG. Five variables differentiated the two groups: birth rank, maternal mental retardation, pregnancy and delivery complications, severe prematurity and/or low birth weight, and the number of hospitalisations. They explained 18.5% of the IQ variance at the preschool age. In the sub‐sample of 25 children, an interaction between these two subgroups and IQ level was found (p< 0.001): IQs have increased in the HG subgroup but have remained stable in the LG subgroup. The first cognitive assessment was correlated with IQ at the preschool age. Maternal antecedents and birth risk factors are associated with IQ but the effects of severe neonatal factors on IQ are significantly decreasing with time. Childcare professionals need precise information during the infancy period on risk factors, health problems and maltreatment to organise intervention programs that might prevent subsequent adverse outcome. Further research should investigate the effects of risk factors on the cognitive and behavioural development of these children during adolescence after a total environmental change.