Infant mental development and neurological status, family socioeconomic status, and intelligence at age four.

Abstract

IRETON, HAROLD; THWING, EDWARD; and GRAVEM, HowARD. Infant Mental Development and Neurological Status, Family Socioeconomic Status, and Intelligence at Age Four. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1970, 41, 937-945. The relationship of infant mental development (Bayley Mental Scale, 8 months) to 4-year Binet IQ was explored in the context of the study sample's neurological and socioeconomic characteristics for a sample of 536 fullterm children. The Minnesota sample was approximately normal or average in terms of infant mental scores, infant neurological status, socioeconomic status (SES), and 4-year IQ. The SES showed the highest relationship to 4-year IQ (R for males of .43, females .38) but infant mental score also showed meaningful correlation with 4-year IQ (R for males of .28, females .23). The SES showed no correlation with infant mental scores. Categorical analysis showed that low mental score was a better predictor of low 4-year IQ (IQ less than 85) than was low SES. High SES was a better predictor of high 4-year IQ (IQ greater than 115) than was high mental score.