Rahimi Faroushani, Abbas;
(1997)
Effect of breast feeding on cognitive performance in a British birth cohort.
Masters thesis (M.Phil), UCL (University College London).
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Abstract
Breastfeeding is an important determinant of child health during infancy when physical growth and interactional attachment behaviour between the mother and the child, which may programme adulthood cognitive performance, are critical. Relatively little longitudinal research has been carried out to trace the effect of breastfeeding on child development over time and to examine the continuity of the effect of breastfeeding on adult cognitive performance. Longitudinal studies have shown that cognitive performance is a continuous and dynamic process involving biological and psychological factors (Rodgers, 1978; Hofer, 1981; Rogan & Gladen, 1993). The aim of this study was to investigate the persistence and stability of the effect of early life development on later life performance amongst a sample of 5362 individuals born between the 3rd and the 9th of March 1946 in Britain. The objectives were: (i) to examine the effect of breastfeeding on the mean scores of cognitive tests after allowing for confounding variables; and (ii) to establish several path diagram models by which the mechanism of the effect of breastfeeding and birth weight on later cognitive tests can be traced. The statistical software package LISREL 8.12 (Joreskog and Sorbom, 1993) was used for structural equation modelling and path analysis. Descriptive results revealed that children who were breastfed showed earlier developmental milestones (age of first walking, standing, sitting, and talking) than children who were never breastfed. Children who were either breastfed or had higher birthweight scored higher in cognitive test scores than the other children. Analysis of variance revealed that after allowing for sex, social group, and developmental milestones, children between 8 to 15 years who were breast fed scored higher than those who never breast fed in terms of both verbal and non-verbal scores. Life-span developmentalists believe that development over time is plastic, and it may take many paths from infancy to mid-adult life (Santrock, 1995). Findings from the path analysis of this study show that a significant nutritional and psychological effect of breastfeeding programmes later development at ages 2, 4-6, 8, 11, 15, 26, and 43 years, so that the imprint effect of breastfeeding might be reawakened even in adult life. Birth weight appeared to act as a synergistic variable to breastfeeding, so that both variables together were significant effects in the early life. Findings from this study may have implications for future longitudinal modelling in developmental psychology studies, by showing that the two mechanisms of early biological development and later cognitive performance can be linked.
| Type: | Thesis (Masters) |
|---|---|
| Qualification: | M.Phil |
| Title: | Effect of breast feeding on cognitive performance in a British birth cohort |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Thesis digitised by ProQuest. |
| Keywords: | Psychology |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10099766 |
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