Prematurity, poverty and child development

In 2006 12.8% of births in the U.S. were premature. Premature births are linked to delays in motor/neurologic function, intellectual and academic development, language problems, poorer executive functioning and worse behaviour. Premature births are more common in poorer people. Being poor also has an effect on child development and children who are both premature and have poor parents are at an even greater risk of developmental problems. A team of researchers from the University of Maryland and Pennsylvania State University looked into some of these problems in a study of 122 African-American women with premature babies. They found that psychosocial risk (mothers' depression, stress and self-efficacy) and sociodemographic risk (poverty, mothers' education and marital status) were linked to maternal sensitivity which in turn affected the strength of the attachment between the mothers and their children at 12 months. However, the health of the children did not affect maternal sensitivity or later attachment.

Candelaria, Margo,  Teti, Douglas M. and Black, Maureen M. - Multi-risk infants: predicting attachment

security from sociodemographic, psychosocial, and health risk among African-American preterm infants Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2011.02361.x

Premature babies, psychiatric problems

Advances in medical technology mean that many more premature babies now survive but such children have an increased risk of cognitive, neuromotor and sensory problems later in life. A study by British researchers, led by Samantha Johnson who works at University College London and the University of Nottingham, studied 219 children who were born extremely prematurely and followed them to see how they were getting on 11 years later. At the age of 11 almost a quarter of the children had a psychiatric disorder. The most frequent conditions were Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) (12%), emotional disorders (9%) and autism-spectrum disorders (8%).

http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/04/26/extreme-premies-at-risk-for-psych-disorder/13160.html