Twins are not likely to perform as well academically in early adulthood as their single peers, probably because of a shorter gestation period, lower birth weight and less attentive parental care, researchers at Mackay Memorial Hospital said yesterday.
Twins who take the college joint entrance examination tend to score significantly lower in Chinese, mathematics and natural sciences than singletons, said Tsou Meng-ting (鄒孟婷), an attending physician and assistant professor at the hospital.
“The percentage of university admission among twins is also 2.2 percent lower than that of children born individually,” Tsou said.
BRITISH STUDY
A report published in the British Medical Journal said the main factors behind the difference in academic performance include the twins’ birth weight, gestational age, birth order and gender, as well as their parents’ sociodemographic status.
After studying 1,687 twins and 21,897 singletons born in Taiwan between 1983 and 1985, as well as their respective performance in the college admission exams in 2002 and 2003, the researchers said that a child’s weight at birth might be the factor with the highest impact on academic performance.
The researchers observed that twins whose weight at birth was less than 2.5kg were the most likely to suffer academically.
Tsou said that compared with twins that have a normal birth weight, twins with low birth weights are 8.5 percent less likely to be admitted by a university, while singletons with a low birth weight are only 3.2 percent less likely to get into a university.
PREVENTATIVE CARE
Researchers involved in the project said that an improved environment, healthcare and day care services could help bridge the gap between twins and singletons.
They also advised mothers who expect to give birth to twins to seek medical assistance in extending the gestation period and allow the babies to gain more weight before birth.
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