The study proposes to assess in late adolescence a group of children born preterm who have been monitored intensively since birth. Innovative infant measures of neonatal neurobehavioral functioning and the social environment were used to understand development. A major finding has been that significant relationships were found from neurobehavioral measures to attention and cognitive measures in early adolescence. The proposed project will test the stability of EEG organization from the neonatal period to late adolescence, a relationship that has not been reported previously. Additionally, the project will continue to trace neurobehavioral regulation and the effects of the social environment at age 18 on a broad range of tasks of late adolescence.
The specific aims of the proposal are: 1) to determine the biological stability from neonatal EEG organization, state regulation, and attention to EEG organization, attention, and cognitive processes at 18 years; 2) to determine the extent to which the social environment buffers the child against biological risk; 3) to examine the precursors of adaptation to the developmental tasks of late adolescence; and 4) to determine the relationship between attachment issues in late adolescence and observed parental responsiveness as well as the relationship to developmental tasks of late adolescence. The sample will consist of 100 preterm children studied prospectively from birth. Primary neonatal measures include EEG organization, state regulation, visual attention, and measures of the parental relationship. Middle childhood and early adolescent measures include cognitive processes, attention, school achievement, social-emotional development, and the parental relationship. Measures at age 18 include a comprehensive set of assessments directed at EEG organization, attention, cognitive processes, achievement, adaptation to the life tasks of late adolescence including self-perceptions, social adjustment, psychiatric status, and issues of attachment. Our work indicates the importance of neonatal behavior to late development. The infant neurobehavioral system was supported, buffered, and at times put to great stress by the social environment. The study has shown the importance of both global and fine grained measures of behavior and the social environment. The data base from birth to early adolescence provides a significant foundation for the identification of antecedents of functioning in late adolescence in a large preterm sample.
| Cohen, S E (1995) Biosocial factors in early infancy as predictors of competence in adolescents who were born prematurely. J Dev Behav Pediatr 16:36-41 |
