Spillover effects of gestational age on sibling's literacy.
David C MallinsonFelix ElwertDeborah B EhrenthalPublished in: Early child development and care (2024)
Adverse health events within families can harm children's development, including their early literacy. Using data from a longitudinal Wisconsin birth cohort, we estimated the spillover effect of younger siblings' gestational ages on older siblings' kindergarten-level literacy. We sampled 20,014 sibling pairs born during 2007-2010 who took Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening-Kindergarten tests during 2012-2016. Exposures were gestational age (completed weeks), preterm birth (gestational age <37 weeks), and very preterm birth (gestational age <32 weeks). We used gain-score regression-a fixed effects strategy-to estimate spillover effect. A one-week increase in younger siblings' gestational age improved the older siblings' test score by 0.011 SD (95% confidence interval: 0.001, 0.021 SD). The estimated spillover effect was larger among siblings whose mothers reported having a high school diploma/equivalent only (0.024 SD; 95% CI: 0.004, 0.044 SD). The finding underscores the networked effects of one individual's early-life health shocks on their family members.
Keyphrases
- gestational age
- preterm birth
- birth weight
- health information
- intellectual disability
- low birth weight
- early life
- healthcare
- public health
- mental health
- physical activity
- social media
- autism spectrum disorder
- middle aged
- high school
- community dwelling
- emergency department
- weight gain
- working memory
- clinical trial
- health promotion
- risk assessment
- big data
- artificial intelligence
- randomized controlled trial
- electronic health record
- body mass index
- machine learning
- deep learning