Birth Weight and Early Cognitive Skills: Can Parenting Offset the Link?

• Published in: Maternal and child health journal Vol. 21; no. 1; pp. 156 - 167
• Main Authors: Lynch, Jamie L., Gibbs, Benjamin G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 2017; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Age; Apgar Score; Birth certificates; Birth size; Birth weight; Birth Weight - physiology; Child development; Child Development - physiology; Child, Preschool; Children & youth; Childrens health; Cognition & reasoning; Cognition - physiology; Cognitive ability; Cognitive development; Dyslexia - etiology; Families & family life; Female; Gynecology; Health aspects; Humans; Infant; Infant, Low Birth Weight - growth & development; Infant, Newborn; Influence; Longitudinal studies; Male; Maternal and Child Health; Mediation; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Parenting; Parents & parenting; Pediatrics; Population Economics; Pregnancy; Psychological aspects; Public Health; Skills; Smoking; Social Class; Socioeconomic factors; Socioeconomics; Sociology; United States; United States > US; Early childhood; Parenting; Birth weight; Cognitive development
• ISSN: 1092-7875; 1573-6628
• DOI: 10.1007/s10995-016-2104-z

Objectives There is an enduring negative association between low birth weight (<2500 g) and early childhood cognitive skills. This study examines if parenting practices meaningfully contribute to or offset birth weight disparities in cognitive development prior to formal schooling. Methods This study uses the ECLS-B, a nationally representative sample of live births in the United States in 2001. Unlike studies focused on one or two measures of parenting and investment, this study considers a wide array parenting measures collected at multiple time points, tracked from before birth across 5 years of development. Results Regression results show that nearly 50 % of the low-birth-weight gap in early math and reading ability is associated with family socioeconomic status. Between-family OLS regressions show that parenting practices, including “parental interaction,” “cognitive stimulation,” and “parent quality”, are negatively associated with low birth weight and positively associated with improved cognitive skill among all children. After adjustment for family socioeconomic status, parenting practices did little to offset (by mediation or moderation) remaining birth weight disparities in early cognitive development. Conclusions Effective parenting is positively associated with cognitive development, but parenting is not a panacea—the developmental disadvantages associated with poor child health are not linked to parenting practices. We argue that birth weight disparities are rooted in biology and cannot easily be offset by parenting practices.