Birth Weight, Math and Reading Achievement Growth: A Multilevel Between-Sibling, Between-Families Approach

• Published in: Social forces Vol. 87; no. 3; pp. 1291 - 1320
• Main Authors: Goosby, Bridget J., Cheadle, Jacob E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chapel Hill, NC The University of North Carolina Press 01-03-2009; University of North Carolina Press; Oxford University Press
• Subjects: Academic Achievement; Adolescents; Age Differences; Birth size; Birth weight; Body Weight; Child Development; Child growth; Child. Socialization; Childhood; Children; Children & youth; Comprehension; Correlation; Covariance; Demographic aspects; Early Adolescents; Families & family life; Family; Family Environment; Family Influence; Family relations; Family structure; Growing up in Context; Home environment; Infant Mortality; Influence; Literacy; Longitudinal Studies; Low birth weight; Mathematical growth; Mathematics; Mathematics Achievement; Mathematics education; Mathematics Skills; National Longitudinal Survey of Youth; Outcomes of Education; Poverty; Prenatal Care; Reading; Reading Achievement; Reading Comprehension; Reading Skills; Scores; Siblings; Skill Development; Social aspects; Social forces; Sociology; Sociology of the family. Age groups; Study and teaching; Surveys; Variance analysis; Young Children; Youth; United States; United States > US; Adolescence; Childhood; Academic Achievement; Family; Phratry; Birth; Weight
• ISSN: 0037-7732; 1534-7605
• DOI: 10.1353/sof.0.0163

We used multilevel covariance structure analysis to study the relationship between birth weight, family context and youth math and reading comprehension growth from approximately ages 5 through 14 within and between families. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth Child Sample, we examined the relationship between birth weight and subsequent academic achievement growth disparities, distinguishing between birth weight and other contextual social confounders. We found that smaller birth weight is associated with lower math and reading scores at age 5. Additional findings indicated that the home environment has important developmental consequences from early childhood and into adolescence. Overall, the pattern of findings painted a complex picture of disadvantage, beginning in the womb and extending through a variety of mechanisms into adolescence.