Three‐Year‐Old Twins and Singletons: a Comparison of Some Perinatal, Environmental, Experiential, and Developmental Characteristics

Abstract

McDiarmid, J. McK. and Silva, P. A. (1979). Aust. Paediatr. J. , 15, 243–247. Three‐year‐old twins and singletons: a comparison of some perinatal, environmental, experiential, and developmental characteristics. Twenty‐four 3‐year‐old twins were compared with 1013 singletons on an array of perinatal, experiential, and developmental parameters. More mothers of the twins had moderate hypertension during pregnancy. The twins experienced significantly more birth hypoxia, had reduced gestational ages, lower birth weight, and more neonatal apnoea than the singletons. The twins had fewer experiences as preschoolers than the singletons. They were slower to smile, talk, feed themselves with a spoon, and attain bladder control. The twins were shorter, lighter, had smaller head circumferences, and were about 3 months slower than the singletons in both receptive and expressive language development. The 24 twins were matched with singletons with similar perinatal histories, gestational age and birth weight, and compared for developmental characteristics. The only significant difference remaining was the age at which the children first talked. By age 3 years, language development was no longer significantly delayed. The results were interpreted as suggesting that developmental disadvantages in preschool twins result from perinatal rather than postnatal disadvantages.