Table 2.
OLS regression estimates and Oster lower-bound estimates of the relations between cesarean birth and child cognitive (standard deviations).
| Child cognitive measures | OLS regression | Osterb | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All births | Low-risk privately insured birthsa | Coefficient lower-bound | |||
| Coefficient | s.e. | Coefficient | s.e. | ||
| NAPLAN at 8–9 | |||||
| Reading | −0.076** | (0.033) | −0.051 | (0.059) | −0.067 |
| Writing | −0.060** | (0.031) | −0.131** | (0.053) | −0.055 |
| Spelling | −0.043 | (0.033) | −0.132** | (0.060) | −0.033 |
| Grammar | −0.055* | (0.033) | −0.097 | (0.061) | −0.042 |
| Numeracy | −0.095*** | (0.034) | −0.135** | (0.060) | −0.09 |
| LSAC survey administered measures | |||||
| School readiness 4–5 | −0.051 | (0.035) | −0.127** | (0.061) | −0.014 |
| Vocabulary 4–5 | −0.087** | (0.035) | −0.127** | (0.057) | −0.092 |
| Vocabulary 6–7 | −0.05 | (0.037) | −0.097 | (0.064) | −0.056 |
| Vocabulary 8–9 | −0.047 | (0.037) | −0.058 | (0.067) | −0.054 |
| Problem solving 6–7 | −0.036 | (0.117) | −0.052 | (0.071) | −0.000 |
| Problem solving 8–9 | −0.069* | (0.039) | −0.077 | (0.069) | −0.068 |
***p-value < 0.01; **p-value < 0.05; *p-value < 0.1. SE, standard error. Results are estimated with adjustments for confounders related to family socio-economic and perinatal risk factors. aLow-risk privately insured births are those that are not low birth weight (at least 2.5 kg), full-term (38–40 weeks), singleton, conceived without IVF and without medication taken for blood pressure or diabetes during pregnancy and whose parents were privately insured in the year of birth. bThe Oster coefficient lower-bound is the estimated coefficient when adjustment in the coefficient due to selection on unobserved covariates is equal to adjustment due to selection on observable covariates.