Early Childhood Development and Schooling Attainment: Longitudinal Evidence from British, Finnish and Philippine Birth Cohorts.
BACKGROUND
While recent literature has highlighted the importance of early childhood development for later life outcomes, comparatively little is known regarding the relative importance of early physical and cognitive development in predicting educational attainment cross-culturally.


METHODS
We used prospective data from three birth cohorts: the Northern Finland Birth Cohort of 1986 (NFBC1986), the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS1970), and the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey of 1983 (CLHNS) to assess the association of height-for-age z-score (HAZ) and cognitive development measured prior to age 8 with schooling attainment. Multivariate linear regression models were used to estimate baseline and adjusted associations.


RESULTS
Both physical and cognitive development were highly predictive of adult educational attainment conditional on parental characteristics. The largest positive associations between physical development and schooling were found in the CLHNS (β = 0.53, 95%-CI: [0.32, 0.74]) with substantially smaller associations in the BCS1970 (β = 0.10, 95% CI [0.04, 0.16]) and the NFBC1986 (β = 0.06, 95% CI [-0.05, 0.16]). Strong associations between cognitive development and educational attainment were found for all three cohorts (NFBC1986: β = 0.22, 95%-CI: [0.12, 0.31], BCS1970: β = 0.58, 95%-CI: [0.52, 0.64], CLHNS: β = 1.08, 95%-CI: [0.88, 1.27]). Models jointly estimating educational associations of physical and cognitive development demonstrated weaker associations for physical development and minimal changes for cognitive development.


CONCLUSIONS
The results indicate that although physical and cognitive early development are both important predictors of educational attainment, cognitive development appears to play a particularly important role. The large degree of heterogeneity in the observed effect sizes suggest that the importance of early life physical growth and cognitive development is highly dependent on socioeconomic and institutional contexts.
Department of Global Health and Population, T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America; RAND Corporation, 4570 Fifth Ave #600, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
Evan D
ED
Peet
Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America.
Dana C
DC
McCoy
Department of Global Health and Population, T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America.
Goodarz
G
Danaei
University of London Imperial College of Science, Technology & Medicine, Department Epidemiology & Biostatistics, MRC PHE Centre for Environment & Health, School of Public Health, London, United Kingdom.
Majid
M
Ezzati
Department of Global Health and Population, T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America.
Wafaie
W
Fawzi
University of London Imperial College of Science, Technology & Medicine, Department Epidemiology & Biostatistics, MRC PHE Centre for Environment & Health, School of Public Health, London, United Kingdom; University of Oulu, Institute of Health Sciences, Oulu, Finland; University of Oulu, Biocenter Oulu, Oulu, Finland; Oulu University Hospital, Unit of Primary Care, Oulu, Finland.
Marjo-Riitta
MR
Jarvelin
University of London Imperial College of Science, Technology & Medicine, Department Epidemiology & Biostatistics, MRC PHE Centre for Environment & Health, School of Public Health, London, United Kingdom.
Demetris
D
Pillas
Department of Global Health and Population, T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America.
Günther
G
Fink
D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D010679:Philippines; D010806:Physical Education and Training; D011247:Pregnancy; D012574:Schools; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D006113:United Kingdom