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Abstract
A sample of 94 children with low birthweights (LBW ≤ 2500 grams) was identified in a group of 857 children who took part in an 18‐year follow‐up study of the Danish Prospective Perinatal Cohort. The LBW group was compared with the rest of the sample on a set of long‐term intellectual and psychosocial outcomes. In addition, the relative predictive power of low birthweight and a set of environmental variables regressed on two adolescent academic outcomes was examined. No significant residual or complicating effects of LBW were found on any outcomes after 18 years. However, full‐birthweight adolescents possessed diferential characteristics with respect to the pattern of correlated environmental variables. LBW adolescents appear to have a greater sensitivity to environmental influences. For males, stability of adult figures and general order and structure are more conducive to an optimal outcome; for females, the strongest predictor was level of maternal psychological adaptation or general contentment.