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Cognitive Development from Childhood Through Adolescence
Shalonte Cross
Southern New Hampshire University
PSY 322: Adolescent Development
Professor Emily Garcia
March 31, 2024
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Black, M., & Adjei, N. K. (2022). Longitudinal analysis of cognitive development across
childhood and adolescence: evidence from the UK Millennium Cohort Study. The
Lancet, 400, S23.
Black and Adjei (2022) implemented a longitudinal study, using data from UK
Millennium Cohort Study, to estimate cognitive development trajectories across the childhood
and early teenage years. They identified four trajectories: early childhood cognitive concerns,
late childhood cognitive problems, persistent cognitive problems, and low cognitive
problems. They found out that economic issues including growing poverty, low maternal
education, and low parental engagement at school are connected to cognitive issues at all
ages. Similarly, gender, ethnicity, experienced bullying, parents reading habits, and school
enjoyment act as different variables felt to influence cognitive development trajectories as a way
of finding areas of intervention.
Kent, G., Pitsia, V., & Colton, G. (2018). Cognitive development during early childhood:
Insights from families living in areas of socio-economic disadvantage. Early Child
Development and Care.
Kent et al. (2018) examined cognitive development of children in early age, especially of
those who grow up in socially deprived community in Ireland. Part of a randomized controlled
trial, their study involving 126 four-year-old children suggested several factors that could be
predictors of child cognitive development. It was revealed that among these factors, gender,
breastfeeding attempts, home income level, and intervention intensity were highly significant
determinants of cognitive scores. Such results signify that actions and policies designed to deal
with social-economic inequalities tend to have as a consequence the improvement of cognitive
outcomes to achieve during early childhood.
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Lima, R. A., Soares, F. C., van Poppel, M., Savinainen, S., Mäntyselkä, A., Haapala, E. A., &
Lakka, T. (2022). Determinants of cognitive performance in children and adolescents: A
populational longitudinal study. International journal of environmental research and
public health, 19(15), 8955.
Lima et al. (2022) implemented a longitudinal study of large population samples in order
to understand the factors involved with cognitive performance in children and youth. They found
it by studying 502 young people from the ages 8 and 12, 437 from 12 to 14, and 277 from 14 to
18; the prevalence of lifestyle factors, such as physical fitness activities and cognitive
engagement for example, reading and playing music, had a positive effect on cognitive
performance. First, of all, maternal factors as preeclampsia and some lifestyle activities for
example watching TV, diminished the cognitive outcomes. This study highlights the role of these
lifestyle choices and physical activities in shaping intellectual development as children grow and
become teens.
Cozzani, M., Aradhya, S., & Goisis, A. (2021). The cognitive development from childhood to
adolescence of low birthweight children born after medically assisted reproduction—a
UK longitudinal cohort study. International Journal of Epidemiology, 50(5), 1514-1523.
Cozzani et al. (2021) examined low birthweight infants who were conceived by
medically assisted reproduction (MAR) versus naturally conceived infants by investigating their
cognitive development. The researchers based their data on UK Millennium Cohort Study, which
showed that MAR low BW children have the same cognitive ability as naturally conceived
children of non-low birthweight in age range from early age to adulthood. Nevertheless, given
that we measured family socio-demographics together with cognitive test scores, cognitive
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differences between MAR low birthweight children and other groups turned out to be less. The
fact that MAR children harbored better socioeconomic backgrounds may have cushioned the
brain development problems brought about by low birthweight.
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References
Black, M., & Adjei, N. K. (2022). Longitudinal analysis of cognitive development across
childhood and adolescence: evidence from the UK Millennium Cohort Study. The
Lancet, 400, S23.
Cozzani, M., Aradhya, S., & Goisis, A. (2021). The cognitive development from childhood to
adolescence of low birthweight children born after medically assisted reproduction—a
UK longitudinal cohort study. International Journal of Epidemiology, 50(5), 1514-1523.
Kent, G., Pitsia, V., & Colton, G. (2018). Cognitive development during early childhood:
Insights from families living in areas of socio-economic disadvantage. Early Child
Development and Care.
Lima, R. A., Soares, F. C., van Poppel, M., Savinainen, S., Mäntyselkä, A., Haapala, E. A., &
Lakka, T. (2022). Determinants of cognitive performance in children and adolescents: A
populational longitudinal study. International journal of environmental research and
public health, 19(15), 8955.
