Premature Babies Linked to Withdrawn Personalities : Mental Health

“The physiological circumstances of these babies’ birth might help explain the higher rates of career and relationship difficulties in adulthood”.

Professor Wolke says being born very prematurely or underweight may lead to difficulties in later life.

This study differs from previous ones which are contradictory; some reported higher introversion or higher neuroticism while others found increased levels of conscientiousness and agreeableness.

Many adults who were very premature and/or severely underweight babies have long-lasting problems.

“Personality characteristics are very important because they help people to develop into adult roles and form and maintain social relationships”, Prof Wolke said.

The study found said parents of premature babies might be more likely to be anxious about their offspring, which could also affect their personalities.

Researchers led by Dieter Wolke, a professor in the psychology department at the University of Warwick in England, compared the personality traits of hundreds of 26-year-old men and women in Bavaria, Germany.

Adults who were born very prematurely are more likely to be socially withdrawn and display signs of autism, a new study suggests.

“They may also be less prone to form cultural contacts, to help keep romantic relationships also to have kids”.

Some participants in the research are in the Bavarian Longitudinal Study, which tracks the health and wellbeing of children born in 1985 and 1986 and admitted to hospital within 10 days of birth. Looking beyond neurology, researchers from University Hospital Bonn, Oxford, and other English universities decided to construct a general personality profile for babies born either severely premature or underweight.

Their data was compared to a control group of adults who were born healthy in the same obstetric wards.

The research Personality of adults who have been born very preterm have been published inside Archives of Disease throughout Childhood: Fetal & Neonatal Version published by means of BMJ.

The researchers attribute this to alterations in brain structure and function during development.

This region is involved in social regulations and social cognition.

He suggested that early stresses experienced in the womb, or having parents who are over-protective, could contribute to a withdrawn personality.

It is already known that babies born before 32 weeks, or those with a birthweight of less than 1,500g (3.3lb), are more likely to be on the autistic spectrum. They’re less likely to achieve higher levels of education or get well-paid jobs, have a harder time making friends or finding long-term partners, and are less likely to have children, the researchers noted.