Premature Babies Suffer Social Woes Later

W A S H I N G T O N, Aug 8, 2000 -- Babies born prematurely tend to have moreproblems in school and in childhood socializing than do babies thatwere carried to full term, according to a new study.

The study, by psychology researchers at Syracuse University,found that significantly more children born prematurely hadbehavioral, learning and thinking problems than did children whowere born full term. The study was presented Monday at the nationalconvention of the American Psychological Association.

Lawrence Lewandowski of Syracuse University said the study wasimportant because more babies born at 24 to 31 weeks now are beingkept alive and become well enough physically to leave the hospital.

A study co-authored by Lewandowski and Jeremie R. Barlowcompared the development of 118 babies born prematurely (gestationof 24 to 31 weeks) with that of 119 babies who were delivered aftera full term gestation, 38 to 42 weeks. The study conclusions werebased on tests that started at birth and were continued atintervals until the age of 10.

Barlow said that she found 39 percent of the premature babieshad below normal IQs of 85 or less, while only 13 percent of thefull term infants had such IQs. The international average for IQsof 85 or less is 16 percent.

Social Problems Plague Preemies

Based on data from questionnaires filled out by teachers andparents, Barlow said the researchers also found that the prematureyoungsters had more social problem.

“More of them did poorly on measures of social skills,” saidBarlow. “There was more peer conflict and they tended to havefewer friends, and less social success.”

In a study measuring academic skills, 41 of the prematurechildren, or 35 percent, scored at the deficit level in an academicscreening test, while 10 of the full term children, about eightpercent, scored in the low range.

Twenty-eight of the 118 premature children were classified aslearning disabled, while 11 of the 119 full term children weregiven this classification.

“The results … indicated that preterm children were more likelyto have clinically significant scores [impairment] on more than onemeasures and in more than one area,” the researchers said.

Lewandowski said that earlier studies had shown that childrenborn prematurely were up to four times less likely to graduate fromhigh school. The new study shows that social and academic deficitsstart very early and continue until at least age 10. He said it ishoped that the children can be followed through high school to seeif there is an improvement with maturity.

In any case, said Lewandowski, the study suggests strongly thatparents of premature babies need to make special effort to enrichthe social and intellectual development of their children. He saidsuch parents should seek professional help to learn special“parenting skills” that may be needed for these children.

Such things as massage and other physical contact, bright andinteresting visual objects, and pleasant and interesting sounds allprovide cribside stimulation that may help these infants developbetter intellectual and social skills for their school years, hesaid.