There are many reasons for Gu Ailing's success, hard work, talent, full support from the original family, scientific training methods... Wait a minute.
After she won the championship, many netizens analyzed that there was another reason: the mother Gu Yan gave birth to her daughter after the age of 40, the mother was an elderly mother, and the baby born by the elderly mother was smarter.
If the news is true, Gu Yan was indeed an elderly mother when she gave birth. In medicine, if the maternal age is greater than or equal to 35 years, it is considered to be an advanced maternal age.
Many studies have found that babies born to older women are more likely to develop neonatal defects such as malformations and neonatal complications such as neonatal pneumonia and anemia than those of appropriate age [1].
(Image source: CCTV5 live broadcast screenshot)
Today we will talk about it, are the children born of elderly mothers really smarter?
Many studies have indeed found a correlation between the two.
A study published in the International Journal of Epidemiology found that children born to elderly mothers may be smarter [2].
(Image source: References[2])
Another study supported this result to some extent: in statistics on attention problems, IQ, and educational achievements of tens of thousands of Dutch school-age children, it was found that children born to older parents had fewer attention problems, which was beneficial to children's IQ and educational achievement [3].
The reason for this may be that older parents are relatively mature and have better economic conditions, providing a better environment for offspring [3]. (Interestingly, however, studies have also shown that the age of the father and the IQ of the child show an "inverted U-shape" relationship, which implies that it is more secure to make the children of older mothers smarter and to be more secure with a younger father.)
If you want your baby to be smarter, instead of paying attention to the age of the mother, it is better to pay more attention to the cultivation of the day after tomorrow.
Needless to say, the growth of the child also has a lot to do with the mother's education.
Older mothers are more communicative than younger mothers, communicating more with their babies, learning more vocabulary and being more responsive to the outside world.
It is not difficult to find such examples in life: many elderly mothers are "successful people" who are busy with their careers when they are young, they have a high level of education and excellent work background, and can give their children a very favorable growth environment.
It is precisely these external factors that are related to the "intelligence" of children [5].
In the face of elderly mothers, there is another voice in society: women must give birth to children before the age of 30, otherwise they will have a negative impact on the safety and health of babies and mothers.
So, is advanced age really not suitable for procreation?
In medical statistics alone, the answer seems frustrating.
Compared with young mothers (24 to 29 years old), the fertility of elderly mothers (≥35 years old) has indeed declined, and the probability of birth defects such as chromosomal abnormalities, cardiovascular disease, and esophageal atresia in their newborns has greatly increased, and even many elderly mothers need to use IVF technology to have their own children [7].
But these are only medically statistical probability problems, and do not mean that it will necessarily happen in a single person.
In life, we are independent individuals, do a good job of prenatal physical examination screening, most of them can give birth to healthy and cute babies.
In this day and age, the postponement of women's reproductive age has become a "normal" phenomenon.
According to the CDC survey in the United States, since 2000, the average childbearing age of women has begun to be postponed[7]; women over the age of 35, even if they are given the medical definition of "advanced maternal age", are actually living more and more.
Everyone's rhythm of life is different, there is no best reproductive age for all, and women's reproductive decisions should not be "kidnapped" by age.
Whether you are a young mother or an elderly mother, the best time to give birth is what is right for you.
Fertility, in addition to "birth", there is also "breeding".
Perhaps, when a woman is mature enough, has enough economic foundation, and social experience, you may be more able to understand the love and responsibility of being a mother.
While we see the aura on Gu Ailing's body, we should also see the sweat and sincerity of her mother Gu Yan.
Age is not a shackle, becoming a mother, whether it is 30 years old or 40 years old, it is not too late.
Review expert: Yao Ruojin
Chief Physician of obstetrics department of Xiangya Hospital, Central South University
bibliography
[1] Wang Z, Li L, Lei XY, Xue J, Mi HY. Zhongguo Dang Dai Er Ke Za Zhi. 2016;18(11):1084-1089. doi:10.7499/j.issn.1008-8830.2016.11.006
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7389863/
[2] Goisis A, Schneider DC, Myrskyl M. The reversing association between advanced maternal age and child cognitive ability: evidence from three UK birth cohorts. Int J Epidemiol. 2017;46(3):850-859. doi:10.1093/ije/dyw354
[3] Veldkamp SAM, Zondervan-Zwijnenburg MAJ, van Bergen E, et al. Parental Age in Relation to Offspring's Neurodevelopment. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol. 2021;50(5):632-644. doi:10.1080/15374416.2020.1756298
[4] Bornstein MH, Putnick DL, Suwalsky JT, Gini M. Maternal chronological age, prenatal and perinatal history, social support, and parenting of infants. Child Dev. 2006;77(4):875-892. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2006.00908.x
[5] Tearne JE. Older maternal age and child behavioral and cognitive outcomes: a review of the literature. Fertil Steril. 2015;103(6):1381-1391. doi:10.1016/j.fertnstert.2015.04.027
[6] Tea Trillingsgaard & Dion Sommer (2018) Associations between older maternal age, use of sanctions, and children’s socio-emotional development through 7, 11, and 15 years, European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 15:2, 141-155, DOI: 10.1080/17405629.2016.1266248
[7] Attali E, Yogev Y. The impact of advanced maternal age on pregnancy outcome. Best Pract Res Clin Obstet Gynaecol. 2021;70:2-9. doi:10.1016/j.bpobgyn.2020.06.006
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