According to an American study, the IQ observed in babies born during the health crisis would be lower than those born before the crisis. The lack of cognitive stimulation would have a lot to do with it.
During their first months of life, babies need to be stimulated to develop their cognitive abilities. However, when these are not or less, the consequences are very real. This is what American researchers have tried to prove, in a study published Wednesday 11 August. According to their analyzes, children born during the Covid-19 pandemic have on average a lower intelligence quotient (IQ) than those born before the health crisis.
To come to such conclusions, the scientists studied the cognitive, verbal and motor skills of American babies. According to them, the standardized level of the average IQ of children born during the epidemic in the state of Rhode Island (United States) is 78. The latter hovered around 100 before the crisis. The study researchers drew on data from 672 healthy term infants. In detail, 308 were born before January 2019, 176 between January 2019 and March 2020 and 188 after July 2020.
It should be noted, however, that their work has not yet received the approval of other scientists, as stated The Guardian.
Several factors involved
In order to explain this unprecedented phenomenon, American scientists have highlighted the environment in which the newborns found themselves during the various confinements and when health measures were tightened in general. The closure of establishments welcoming infants and the stress of parents forced to combine work and management of their children played a role in particular.
At the level of the babies and young children concerned, sensory and intellectual stimulation was limited during a period which was nevertheless crucial in their cognitive development. Even more worrying, the researchers observed a greater drop in IQ in subjects born in the most economically and socially precarious homes. As a result, with Rhode Island being a rather favored state, the study’s findings rule that the situation could be much worse elsewhere.