Resolved Parental Infertility and Children’s Educational Achievement

Bibliographic Data

ID10968302
AuthorsAmelia R Branigan (0000-0002-3104-2946, University of Illinois Chicago, corresponding author), J Helgertz (0000-0002-2200-9095, Lund University)
Year2017
Volume54
Issue3
Pages911-931
Publication date2017-06-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueDemography (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0070-3370 • E-ISSN: 1533-7790
PublisherDuke University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1007/s13524-017-0573-3
PMID28432558
OpenAlexW2606230972
LanguageEN
References cited33

Although difficulty conceiving a child has long been a major medical and social preoccupation, it has not been considered as a predictor of long-term outcomes in children ultimately conceived. This is consistent with a broader gap in knowledge regarding the consequences of parental health for educational performance in offspring. Here we address that omission, asking how resolved parental infertility relates to children’s academic achievement. In a sample of all Swedish births between 1988 and 1995, we find that involuntary childlessness prior to either a first or a second birth is associated with lower academic achievement (both test scores and GPA) in children at age 16, even if the period of infertility was prior to a sibling’s birth rather than the child’s own. Our results support a conceptualization of infertility as a cumulative physical and social experience with effects extending well beyond the point at which a child is born, and emphasize the need to better understand how specific parental health conditions constrain children’s educational outcomes

Biology · Developmental psychology · Environmental health · Fertility · Infertility · Population · Pregnancy · Sociology · Assisted Reproductive Technology and Twin Pregnancy · Demography · Family Dynamics and Relationships · Genetics · Medicine · Psychology · Reproductive Health and Technologies

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