Children's Cognitive Scores Research Articles

Assessment of nutritional status, cognitive development, and mother-child interaction in Central American refugee children.

A cross-sectional study was conducted between July and December 1992 to assess the nutritional status, cognitive development, and mother-child interactions in a group of 153 Nicaraguan refugee children living in Costa Rica. Nutritional status was assessed using anthropometric indices. Cognitive development was assessed with the Bayley Scale of Mental Development. Mother-child interaction was assessed with the Nursing Child Assessment Teaching Scale and Caldwell's Home Observation and Measurement of the Environment Inventory. Correlational analysis was performed to examine the relationship between child cognitive development scores and mother-child interaction measures and also between anthropometric measures and child cognitive development scores. Multiple regression analysis was performed to evaluate the relationship between the mother-child interaction measures and cognitive development scores, after adjusting by anthropometric measures. Thirty-three percent of the children were below the 10th percentile for height-for-age. There was no significant correlation between the total amount of mother-child interaction and child cognitive development. However, certain aspects of the home environment correlated with cognitive development, specifically the manner in which the mother responded emotionally and verbally to her child, and the organization of the child's physical and temporal environment. Multiple regression analysis revealed that the manner in which the mother responded and the child's weight-for-height were important in predicting child cognitive development. The child's weight-for-height and certain aspects of the home environment played an important role in the cognitive development of this refugee population. The findings indicate the importance of assessing nutritional status in this refugee population.

Cognitive Development following Prenatal Cocaine-Exposure • 1235

Prospective, blinded studies of children prenatally exposed to cocaine have not demonstrated significant cognitive impairment. However, prior studies have been limited by the early study age or small sample size. The aim of this preliminary report was to provide information on the cognitive outcome of 6-7 year old children prenatally exposed to cocaine. Subjects are singleton infants born to women extensively screened during pregnancy by research staff for alcohol, cigarette, cocaine and other drug use. As indicated, maternal and infant drug testing was ordered. Cocaine exposure was positive if history of lab was positive. Substance abuse was also quantified. Six years later, families were re-contacted. After informed consent, the child, primary caretaker and, when available, the biologic mother were tested. Child cognition was measured by the Weschler Preschool and Primary Scales of Intelligence (WPPSI). To reduce cultural bias, the triangles subscale of the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) was also included. This subtest is a good measure of simultaneous processing. Adult IQ was measured by the WAIS. Drug use since the child's birth was assessed by trained researchers using a structured interview. Results: The study sample consisted of 670 singleton children. Four subjects were known to have expired. Of those remaining, 36% could not be located. Only 8% refused participation. Testing was available for 57% of the sample (Cocaine exposed: N=137). Frequency of prenatal cocaine exposure was available for 314 children and highly correlated with postnatal use in the child's home (r=.35). However, urine testing of 150 children failed to identify any child positive for cocaine at follow-up. In the regression model, after controlling for gestational age, prenatal alcohol and cigarette exposure and the IQ of either the mother (86% cases), father(2%) or primary caretaker (12%), there was no significant relationship between either the binary or quantitative cocaine exposure and any of the child's cognitive scores. Conversely, prenatal alcohol exposure was negatively and significantly related to the WPPSI IQ (r=-.12, p=.023) and the K-ABC subscale approached significance (r=-.10, p=.08). An N of 314 provides sufficient power(.8) with α=.05 to detect a correlation of 0.16. Preliminary results of this NIDA-funded study suggest that cognition was negatively impacted by prenatal alcohol but not cocaine.

Consequences for Children of Their Birth Planning Status

Of 1,327 children younger than two in 1986 whose mothers were participants in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 61% were wanted, 34% were mistimed and 5% were unwanted. Planning status is associated with the level of developmental resources the child receives at home: At ages one and older, mistimed and unwanted children score significantly lower on a scale measuring opportunity for skill development and on a scale measuring nonauthoritarian parenting style than their wanted peers; by preschool age, they also have significantly less-positive relationships with their mothers. Measures of the direct effects of planning status on development also indicate that mistimed and unwanted children are at a disadvantage: Those younger than two have higher mean scores for fearfulness than wanted infants and lower scores for positive affect; unintended preschoolers score lower on a measure of receptive vocabulary.

Preschool children at social risk: Chronicity and timing of maternal depressive symptoms and child behavior problems at school and at home

AbstractThe current study investigated the relationship between previous, recent, or chronic maternal depressive symptoms and subtypes of child behavior problems rated by teachers and mothers among 64 low-income children aged 4–6 years. Sixty-nine percent of mothers with high depressive symptom levels at the preschool assessment had also reported high symptom levels during the child's infancy. Children whose mothers reported depressive symptoms at both ages exhibited significantly elevated rates of hostile behavior problems in the classroom and at home compared to children of never-depressed mothers. Children of mothers who were previously but not currently depressed showed significantly more anxious and withdrawn behavior at school and at home, while children of recently depressed mothers were more hyperactive and demanding. Child cognitive scores and father absence were also related to behavior problems, but these variables did not mediate the independent effects of chronicity and timing of maternal depressive symptoms on the types of child symptoms displayed.

Cognitive Attainment Among Firstborn Children of Adolescent Mothers

Earlier studies have suggested that the children of teenage mothers and of mothers who are high school dropouts do worse on tests of cognitive attainment than do children of mothers who are older and/or are progressing normally in school. Using data on the children born to young women in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and data on week-by-week school enrollment for each mother, we examine the effects of early childbearing and the mother's school progress on the cognitive test scores of their threeto seven-year-old firstborn children. In separate multivariate analyses of African-American, Hispanic, and white children, mother's age atfirst birth and school enrollment status at conception were less important predictors of the child's cognitive score than was the mother's score on a test of cognitive achievement. Environmental factors, such as the degree of intellectual stimulation in the child's home, also predicted the child's test score and reduced the effect of the mother's cognitive score to nonsignificance among Hispanics. However, among African-Americans and whites control variables did not dislodge the strong and significant association between the mother's and child's cognitive scores.