School Grades and Educational Attainments of Adolescents and Young Adults Born Preterm

Suvi Alenius, Eero Kajantie, Reijo Sund, Markku Nurhonen, Peija Haaramo, Pieta Näsänen-Gilmore, Sakari Lemola, Katri Räikkönen, Daniel D Schnitzlein, Dieter Wolke, Mika Gissler, Petteri Hovi

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

Abstract

Attendance in special education (SE) is more common among individuals born preterm than among those born at term. Less is known about school grades of those born preterm in mainstream education (ME), and how these grades predict later educational attainment. This population-based register-linkage study assessed (1) attendance in SE, and then focused on those in ME by assessing (2) school grades at 16 year, (3) completed educational level at 25 year, and (4) school grades as predictors for completed education by gestational age (GA) with full-term birth (39-41 completed weeks) as reference. The sample comprised 223,744 individuals (10,521 preterm, 4.7%) born in Finland (1/1987-9/1990). Of the sample, 4.9% attended SE. Those born preterm had up to 5.5-fold rates for SE. In ME, those born extremely preterm (EPT) had marginally lower mathematics grades compared with full-term counterparts, whilst those born late preterm or early term had slightly higher grades. Those born EPT or very preterm had lower physical education grades in ME. However, the minor differences in school grades according to GA appear not to translate into educational differences in young adulthood. The associations between school grades at 16 year and completed education at 25 year did not vary by GA.
Original languageEnglish
Article number231
JournalScientific Reports
Volume13
Issue number1
Number of pages13
ISSN2045-2322
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 5 Jan 2023
MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

Fields of Science

  • 515 Psychology
  • Low-birth-weight
  • Physical-education
  • Children
  • Outcomes
  • Performance
  • Infants
  • Metaanalysis
  • Association
  • Abilities
  • Order

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