Table 3.
Mediating effects of breastfeeding and adverse child and maternal health outcomes on cognitive development.
| Outcomes at 25 | Breastfeedinga | Obesityb | ADDc | Asthmac | ASDc | Poor maternal physical healthd | Poor maternal mental healthd |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NAPLAN, 8–9 | |||||||
| Numeracy | 0.007** | 0.006** | 0.006* | 0.000 | 0.005 | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| (0.003) | (0.003) | (0.003) | (0.000) | (0.003) | (0.001) | (0.000) | |
| Grammar | 0.006** | 0.005** | 0.007* | 0.000 | 0.005 | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| (0.003) | (0.002) | (0.004) | (0.000) | (0.004) | (0.001) | (0.000) | |
| Reading | 0.008** | 0.005** | 0.006* | 0.000 | 0.005 | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| (0.003) | (0.002) | (0.003) | (0.000) | (0.003) | (0.001) | (0.000) | |
| Writing | 0.003 | 0.002 | 0.008* | 0.000 | 0.007 | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| (0.002) | (0.002) | (0.005) | (0.000) | (0.005) | (0.001) | (0.000) | |
| Survey-based cognitive measures | |||||||
| Vocabulary (PPVT), 4–5e | 0.006** | 0.001 | 0.002 | 0.000 | 0.003 | 0.002 | 0.000 |
| (0.003) | (0.002) | (0.002) | (0.001) | (0.002) | (0.002) | (0.001) | |
| Problem solving (MR), 8–9 | 0.004* | 0.005* | 0.004* | 0.000 | 0.002 | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| (0.002) | (0.003) | (0.002) | (0.000) | (0.002) | (0.002) | (0.000) | |
***p-value < 0.01; **p-value < 0.05; *p-value < 0.1. Standard errors are in parentheses. Results are estimated with adjustments for all confounders related to family socio-economic and perinatal risk factors. aBreastfeeding is a binary measure of whether the mother report breastfeeding at 3 months after birth. bObesity is measured each year of the sample. A child is identified as obese using a binary measure of whether the child’s Body Mass Index is above the normal range at the time of cognitive testing (19.3 for those age 4–5 and 23 for 8–9). cAsthma, attention deficit disorder (ADD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are binary measures based on maternal reports of diagnosis. Diagnosis of ADD and ASD is only asked at age 8–9, whereas the diagnosis of asthma is asked each year. For asthma, we use information from the time of cognitive testing. dPoor maternal health is self-reporting of fair or poor general health (4 or 5 on a 5-point scale of general health) and maternal mental health is ever experienced depressive symptoms in the last 4 weeks (a score below 3 on a Kessler 6-point scale of mental health). eFor the outcome of Vocabulary at age 4–5, there is no information on ADD and ASD at the time of testing because these conditions are typically not diagnosed until later. Information on diagnosis of ADD and ASD at 8–9 may still be a valid measure of the presence of these conditions at 4–5.