Early Childhood Development and Schooling Attainment: Longitudinal Evidence from British, Finnish and Philippine Birth Cohorts

• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0137219
• Publication Date: 2015-09-09T19:20:17Z
• Authors: Evan D. Peet; Dana C. McCoy; Goodarz Danaei; Majid Ezzati; Wafaie Fawzi; Marjo-Riitta Jarv...; Demetris Pillas; Günther Fink
• Keywords: Educational Attainment; Longitudinal Study; Child Development; Cognitive test

Background While recent literature has highlighted the importance of early childhood development for later life outcomes, comparatively little is known regarding relative physical and cognitive in predicting educational attainment cross-culturally. Methods We used prospective data from three birth cohorts: Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 (NFBC1986), 1970 British Study (BCS1970), Cebu Longitudinal Health Nutrition Survey 1983 (CLHNS) to assess association height-for-age z-score (HAZ) measured prior age 8 with schooling attainment. Multivariate linear regression models were estimate baseline adjusted associations. Results Both highly predictive adult conditional on parental characteristics. The largest positive associations between found CLHNS (β = 0.53, 95%-CI: [0.32, 0.74]) substantially smaller BCS1970 0.10, 95% CI [0.04, 0.16]) NFBC1986 0.06, [-0.05, 0.16]). Strong all cohorts (NFBC1986: β 0.22, [0.12, 0.31], BCS1970: 0.58, [0.52, 0.64], CLHNS: 1.08, [0.88, 1.27]). Models jointly estimating demonstrated weaker minimal changes development. Conclusion results indicate that although are both important predictors attainment, appears play a particularly role. large degree heterogeneity observed effect sizes suggest growth dependent socioeconomic institutional contexts.