"Contrary to popular belief, the intellectual development of children born to teen mums does not lag behind that of children born to mums in their 20s and 30s, finds research published online in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.
"While there is some difference in the speed of language development, the spatial and non-verbal skills of children born to teen mums don't differ from those of children born to older mums, after influential factors are taken into account, say the authors....
"Although a difference in verbal skills scores remained among children born to teen mums compared with children born to mothers aged 25-34, the apparent developmental delay fell from 11 months to 5 months after taking social and perinatal factors into account....
"Being a teenage mother significantly limits one's ability to gain further education and higher level employment, which may in turn affect child development," they say."
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-10-cognitive-skills-kids-born-teen.html
Morinis, et al. (2013). "Effect of teenage motherhood on cognitive outcomes in children: a population-based cohort study." Archives of Disease in Childhood. Abstract.
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