A high incidence of social, behavioral and learning problems have recently been reported in school age children born at very low birth weight (VLBW). However, the basis of these problems is unclear. In their ongoing longitudinal studies of VLBW children's development, the investigators have identified deficits in the development of self-regulation and executive processing skills (SR/EP skills) which they have hypothesized may be an important contributing factor to these later difficulties. These deficits have been identified for a large cohort of tri-ethnic, socially disadvantaged, medically high risk and low risk VLBW children compared with demographically similar full-term controls followed from 6 months through 4 years of age. Objectives for this continuation study include continued evaluation of growth in SR/EP skills across four age points (3,4,6, and 8 years) and their influence on later social, behavioral, and learning outcomes at 8 years. At 3 and 4 years of age, the children were evaluated for growth in four areas related to SR/EP abilities (i.e. delayed search skills, independent goal-directed play, social initiative, social responsiveness. The investigators propose to continue study of these same areas of ability at 6 and 8 years of age. Four age points will allow the investigators to evaluate complex patterns of growth like those which proved significant in earlier studies of this sample. Both groups of VLBW children are expected to display slower rates of development of SR/EP skills based on findings that at 3 and 4 years. This slower rate of development is expected to predict lower scores on social, behavioral, and learning outcomes at 8 years of age that also place demands on children's regulation and organization of their behavior and flexibility in problem solving, including the presence of learning and attentional problems. The 8 year outcomes include peer competency, impulse control, and cognitive flexibility in social and nonsocial situations as well as measures of intelligence, adaptive behavior, academic and attentional skills. Measures of children's biological risk, neuromotor, cognitive-linguistic, and joint attention development and mothers' behavior collected in the first 24 months of life, will also be used in this study to examine the early precursors to the development of SR/EP skills. This study offers an opportunity to investigate whether there is a direct link between problems in the early development of SR/EP skills and the social, behavioral, and learning problems reported for VLBW children by 8 years. Empirical information on the developmental origins of these later school age problems would have important theoretical implications as few studies have examined this question.
Showing the most recent 10 out of 19 publications
