Motor and cognitive development of infants of adolescent and adult mothers: longitudinal study

Abstract

The aims of this study were to investigate in infants of adolescent and adult mothers: (1) the risk factors for child development; (2) changes in cognitive and motor development over four months of follow-up, (3) correlation between cognitive and motor development over four months of follow-up. This is a longitudinal study with 40 infants, 20 infants of adolescent mothers and 20 of adult mothers from Porto Alegre and Butiá, state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Three evaluations of motor and cognitive development were performed using the Alberta Motor Infant Scale (AIMS) and the Bayley Scale Infant Development II. Significant difference in the supine position of AIMS was observed between groups in the third evaluation. Infants of adolescent mothers showed lower scores than those of adult mothers. The motor scores of each position and total AIMS score showed significant difference during overall time and in each group. The Bayley-II mental score also showed significant difference during overall time and in each group. There was a positive, strong and significant association between AIMS and Bayley scores in all three evaluation stages as in the group of infants of adolescent and adult mothers. It was concluded that infants of adolescent mothers showed worse results in the supine position during the third evaluation than those of adult mothers. There was a significant association between motor and cognitive development in both groups of infants over time.