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Older mothers are more likely to give birth to smarter children.

Researchers analysed data from three studies of children’s development that were conducted in 1958, 1970 and 2001.

Their ability to think, remember, pay attention and read were tested when they were 10/11 years old.

In the two earlier studies, children born to mothers aged 25 to 29 had the highest cognitive ability, the researchers found.

This was compared to women who were aged between 35 and 39 when they gave birth in the study published in the International Journal of Epidemiology.

However, in 2001 the findings were reversed, the London School of Economics and Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research team found.

The researchers said: ‘Older mothers today tend to be more advantaged than younger mothers – for example, they are well educated, are less likely to smoke during pregnancy and are established in professional occupations.

‘This was not necessarily true in the past.’

Study author Dr Alice Goisis of the LSE, said: ‘Our research is the first to look at how the cognitive abilities of children born to older mothers have changed over time and what might be responsible for this shift, shares Daily Mail.

‘It is essential to better understand how these children are doing given that, since the 1980s, there has been a significant increase in the average age of women having their first child in industrialised countries.

‘Cognitive ability is important in and of itself but also because it is a strong predictor of how children fare in later life – in terms of their educational attainment, their occupation and their health.’

Older mums are often wiser, with so much more life experience. They have lived a full life, often done the career thing and are more than happy to settle down into home life.

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  • i think that they just give their kids attention and most likely have a smaller number of them. Not to say that a younger mother wouldn’t have AWESOME kids as well :) it comes down to the individual really

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  • I agree all older women are most of these things. But I’m not sure I’m up to being a mum again

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  • Older Mums might in some cases have brighter children. How many families did the do research on.
    How many countries have been included in it? Did they check all health factors of the families involved…including that of the Mum? I am really wondering how accurate the research was.

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  • My father did exactly this to me. I think it is a totally ridiculous thing to do and possibly would frighten the daylights out of kids. As far as learning to swim, it’s laughable. I watch my grandchildren having swimming lessons and feel so pleased that they are learning how to be safe in water without being scared to death.

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  • I worked in retail for 16yrs and I always say older mums were more relaxed, and seemed to coped better, I had my first child at 40 and I wish I’d started earlier, my energy level is low and I wonder if I would have coped better 5-10 years earlier

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  • Also, we’re slower, which sometimes enforces calmness… Or so I tell myself!

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  • All positive news for the older mums!

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  • Interesting …but there are for and against issues.

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  • Interesting – it probably shows that it is not the age of the mother itself that is the key factor but other aspects of the mother – education, financial status etc.

    Reply

  • How interesting to see how trends and ideas change over times. There are still other dangers of older mums though

    Reply

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