MATERNAL PERINATAL EVENTS AS PREDICTORS OF EDUCATIONAL PLACEMENT: COMPUTATION OF RELATIVE RISK RATIOS

Abstract

This study examined the relative risk of perinatal complications in special education. The sample consisted of 634 children (normal children and those with mental retardation, learning disabilities, and emotional handicaps) whose mothers completed the Maternal Perinatal Scale (MPS). Seven MPS items significantly contributed to the prediction of the mentally retarded, learning disabled, emotionally handicapped, and regular education groups. The two significant discriminant functions correctly classified some 46% of the students correctly. When the separate disorders were collapsed to form a single group, 11 MPS items significantly contributed to the prediction of the special education and regular education groups. The linear composite from discriminant function analysis (DFA) correctly classified some 89% of the special education students. When MPS items were used as predictors, 90% of the special education students were correctly classified. Seven MPS factors comprised the discriminant function. Relative risk ratios were computed for each perinatal item. An overall relative risk of 6.35 resulted, based on the linear composite of perinatal variables defined by the discriminant function, suggesting that a synergism of perinatal complications makes a child over 6 times more likely to be placed in special education. A second overall relative risk of 3.83 was derived from the linear composite of MPS items. This indicated that children with a perinatal history marked by this particular combination of perinatal complications were nearly 4 times as likely to require special educational services.