Personality of adults who were born very preterm

Suna Eryigit-Madzwamuse; Victoria Strauss; Nicole Baumann; Peter Bartmann; Dieter Wolke

doi:10.1136/archdischild-2014-308007

Personality of adults who were born very preterm

Arch Dis Child Fetal Neonatal Ed. 2015 Nov;100(6):F524-9. doi: 10.1136/archdischild-2014-308007. Epub 2015 Jul 27.

Authors

Suna Eryigit-Madzwamuse¹, Victoria Strauss², Nicole Baumann³, Peter Bartmann⁴, Dieter Wolke⁵

Affiliations

¹ Centre for Health Research, School of Health Sciences, University of Brighton, Brighton, UK.
² Centre for Statistics in Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
³ Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK.
⁴ Department of Neonatology, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
⁵ Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK Division of Mental Health and Wellbeing, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK.

PMID: 26215406
DOI: 10.1136/archdischild-2014-308007

Abstract

Objectives: To examine very preterm (gestational age at birth <32 weeks) and/or very low birth weight (birth weight <1500 g: VP/VLBW) adults' personality and risk taking when compared with term controls. To investigate whether differences between VP/VLBW adults and controls remain after taking their general cognitive abilities into account.

Design: The Bavarian Longitudinal Study is a geographically defined prospective cohort study of neonatal at-risk children born in 1985/1986 in Germany. A total of 200 VP/VLBW and 197 controls completed main outcome measures including broad autism phenotype, personality traits (eg, introversion, neuroticism), and risk taking at 26 years of age.

Results: When compared with term controls, VP/VLBW adults scored significantly higher in autistic features, introversion and neuroticism but not in conscientiousness and closeness scales. They also reported lower risk taking. Profile analysis showed higher introversion, autistic features and neuroticism and lower risk taking as unique features of VP/VLBW adults (F(within-group)=0.81, ns; F(between-group)=49.56, p<0.001). These characteristics were found to load onto a single profile factor which was equivalent between the VP/VLBW and control samples (χ(2)=12.49, df=7, ns; comparative fit index=0.98). VP/VLBW birth significantly predicted the profile factor (β=0.33, p<0.001) and explained 11% of its variance. Adjusting for general cognitive deficits did not alter the findings.

Conclusions: VP/VLBW birth poses an important risk for a global withdrawn personality, as indicated by being less socially engaged (introversion), low in taking risks, poor in communication (autistic features) and easily worried (neuroticism). This profile might help to explain the social difficulties VP/VLBW individuals experience in adult roles, such as in peer/partner relationships and career.

Keywords: Autism; low birth weight; personality traits; preterm birth; risk taking.

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Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Autistic Disorder / epidemiology*
Autistic Disorder / etiology
Birth Weight
Cohort Studies
Female
Germany
Humans
Infant, Extremely Premature / psychology*
Infant, Newborn
Infant, Very Low Birth Weight / psychology*
Longitudinal Studies
Male
Personality*
Pregnancy
Pregnancy Complications
Prospective Studies
Risk-Taking*