Original articleParenting Very Low Birth Weight Children at School Age: Maternal Stress and Coping
Section snippets
Methods
Mothers were interviewed in a longitudinal study of the outcomes of infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), a chronic lung disease of prematurity,19, 20 and VLBW.4, 9, 12, 21 Children with VLBW admitted to all neonatal intensive care units in a Midwest region were prospectively enrolled between 1989 and 1991 at birth, with current follow-up at 8 years.
High-risk children with VLBW (high-risk VLBW; n = 110) had a diagnosis of BPD, birth weight <1500 g, supplementary oxygen requirement for
Sample Characteristics
Demographic and medical characteristics of the high-risk and low-risk VLBW groups at 8 years reflect the research design (Table). The high-risk VLBW children had lower birth weights, gestational ages, more neurologic and medical risk at birth, and lower IQ at 8 years compared with the low-risk VLBW and term children (Table). IQ scores were in the range of mental retardation (IQ < 70) for 19% of the high-risk VLBW children, 9% of the low-risk VLBW children, and <2% for the term children (χ2 =
Discussion
At child age 8 years, the pattern of maternal adaptation to VLBW birth was similar to that noted at the 3-year follow-up,12 indicating significant stress in mothers of high-risk VLBW children but largely equivalent experiences between the mothers of low-risk VLBW children and those of term children. However, there were several areas in which the mothers of both high-risk and low-risk VLBW children differed from term mothers. The mothers of VLBW children did not advance in educational attainment
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Supported by grants from the Maternal and Child Health Program, Health Resources and Services Administration, Department of Health and Human Services (MCJ-390592, MC-00127, and MC-00334).
No reprints are available from the authors.