Exploring the cognitive development of children born to adolescent mothers in South Africa

Steventon Roberts, Kathryn J., Smith, Colette, Toska, Elona, Cluver, Lucie, Wittesaele, Camille, Langwenya, Nontokozo, Shenderovich, Yulia ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0254-3397, Saal, Wylene, Jochim, Janina, Chen-Charles, Jenny and Sherr, Lorraine 2023. Exploring the cognitive development of children born to adolescent mothers in South Africa. Infant and Child Development 32 (3) , e2408. 10.1002/icd.2408

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Abstract

This study explores the cognitive development of children born to adolescent mothers within South Africa compared to existing reference data, and explores development by child age bands to examine relative levels of development. Cross-sectional analyses present data from 954 adolescents (10–19 years) and their first-born children (0–68 months). All adolescents completed questionnaires relating to themselves and their children, and standardized child cognitive assessments (Mullen Scales of Early Learning) were undertaken. Cognitive development scores of the sample were lower than USA reference population scores and relative performance compared to the reference population was found to decline with increasing child age. When compared to children born to adult mothers in the sub-Saharan African region, children born to adolescent mothers (human immunodeficiency virus [HIV] unexposed; n = 724) were found to have lower cognitive development scores. Findings identify critical periods of development where intervention may be required to bolster outcomes for children born to adolescent mothers.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education) Development and Evaluation of Complex Interventions for Public Health Improvement (DECIPHer)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) R Medicine > RZ Other systems of medicine
Publisher:	Wiley
ISSN:	1522-7227
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	31 January 2023
Date of Acceptance:	4 February 2023
Last Modified:	28 Jul 2023 08:58
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/156323

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