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Preterm Births and Educational Disadvantage: Heterogeneous Effects across Families and Schools
preprint
posted on 2019-09-16, 14:36 authored by Anna Baranowska-Rataj, Kieron BarclayKieron Barclay, Joan Costa-Font, Mikko Myrskylä, Berkay ÖzcanAlthough preterm births are the
leading cause of perinatal morbidity and mortality in advanced economies,
evidence about the consequences of such births later in life is limited. Using
Swedish population register data on cohorts born 1982-1994 (N=1,087,750), we
examine the effects of preterm births on school grades using sibling fixed
effect models which compare individuals with their non-preterm siblings. We
test for heterogeneous effects by degree of prematurity, as well as whether
family socioeconomic resources and school characteristics can compensate for
any negative effects of premature births. Our results show that preterm births
can have negative effects on school grades, but these negative effects are
largely confined to children born extremely preterm (<28 weeks of gestation,
i.e. born at least 10 weeks earlier). Children born moderately preterm (i.e.
born up to 5 weeks early) suffer no ill effects. We do not find any evidence
for the moderating effect of parental socioeconomic resources. Our results
indicate that school environment is very important for the outcomes of preterm
born children, such that those born extremely preterm that are in the top
decile of schools have as good grades as those born full-term that are in an
average school. However, good schools appear to lift scores for all groups, and
as a result that gap between extremely preterm and full-term children remains
also in the best schools. This highlights the role of schools as institutions
that may either reduce or reinforce the early life course disadvantage.
Funding
Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg project no 2014.0154
Swedish Research Council project no 2014-1992
FORTE project 2014-1466
European Research Council Starting Grant (COSTPOST: 336475)
History
ISSN
2002-617XPublication date
2019-09-16Usage metrics
Keywords
preterm birthgestational ageeducational achievementsibling fixed effectsschool environmentStockholm Reports in DemographySociologiska institutionenDepartment of SociologySUDAStockholm University Demography UnitStockholms universitets demografiska avdelningDemography not elsewhere classifiedSociology
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