William Atkins
Monday, 09 March 2009 21:34
Science -
Biology
Page 2 of 3
The researchers found that children of older fathers performed worse in IQ tests than children of younger fathers.
In fact, the researchers noted that a child of a father 20 years of age was about two IQ points higher than if a child had a father thirty years older, at 50 years of age.
However, the researchers also found that children of older mothers performed better in IQ tests than children of younger mothers.
The researchers stated,
“Previous researchers have suggested that the children of older mothers may perform better because they experience a more nurturing home environment; if this is the case, this study suggests that children of older fathers do not necessarily experience the same benefit.” [Yubanet.com: “
Children of older fathers perform less well in intelligence tests during infancy”]
They added,
"Unlike a woman's eggs which are formed when she herself is in the womb, a man's sperm accumulates over his lifetime, which previous studies have suggested can mean increased incidence of mutations in the sperm at an older age.” [Yubanet.com]
John McGrath, one of the authors, stated,
“Folk wisdom tells us that the offspring of older parents should get better opportunities and better nurturing. That is exactly what we find for mothers – but exactly what we don't find for dads, which is startling." [New Scientist: “
Older men may have less intelligent kids”]
McGrath, who is from the Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland in Australia, adds,
"I don't think we have enough evidence to say that fathers should avoid parenthood after a certain age, but I think we do need to educate people that there are risks they didn't know about." [New Scientist]
Page three concludes with a comment from the PloS Medicine press release.
