Neonatal Apgar Ratings as Related to Intelligence and Behavior in Preschool Children

Early Environmental Influences on the Development of Intelligence

“…There have been few reports on the relation of obstetric influences to intelligence in a general population. Snipe, Vandenberg & Brooke Williams (1968) observed no difference at 30 months of age in mean scores from two tests (for social maturity and intelligence) between children who had experienced difficulties at birth and matched controls. However, the number of pairs examined (33) was small and the fact that scores were also unrelated to family size provides some grounds for reservation.…”

Intellectual consequences of perinatal anoxia.

“…The means of the anoxic groups ranged from the dull-normal to above average. The lowest means reported were 83 and 86.92 by Benaron et al (1960) and Shipe et al (1968), respectively. The highest means found were 112.1 and 124.6 by McPhail and Hall (1941) and Ucko (1965), respectively.…”

“…Since significance is contingent upon sample size, the absence of significance may not indicate the lack of relationship between the variables. In the studies by Benaron et al (1960), Corah et al, (1965, Drage et al (1969), andShipe et al (1968), the anoxic groups had a lower mean IQ than their control groups. In con-trast, Arenberg (1960), McPhail andHall (1941), and Usdin and Weil (1952) found the anoxic groups to have a higher mean IQ.…”

“…The hypothesis under consideration was that the anoxic group had a significantly lower IQ than the control group. This hypothesis was confirmed by Darke (1944) and not confirmed by Arenberg (1960), Benaron et al (I960), Campbell et al (1950), Shipe et al (1968), and Usdin and Weil (1952). Although the retrofollow-up design avoids the limitation of backward contingency probabilities, it must still rely and deal with old, documented birth records.…”

“…Graham et al (1962) and Corah et al (1965) have found from their prospective study that at age 3 and 7 years, the anoxic group had a significantly lower vocabulary score. Shipe et al (1968) reported that the subjects with the lower Apgar scores had advanced vocabulary scores. It is suggested that more analyses of this type be conducted to assess possible effects of anoxia upon specific intellectual functions.…”