Pregnancy affects learning outcomes

(Photo: Virginia.edu) The time when a woman conceives during the year may affect her later learning outcomes.

When researchers compared test scores of more than 1.66 million students in Indiana, USA, learning from grades 3 to 10, with the month that the child was conceived, they found pictured children. From May to August, there are worse grades in Mathematics and Language than those who get pregnant in other months of the year.

The correlation between test scores and conception seasons is not affected by religion, gender or class.

According to study author Paul Winchester at Indiana University School of Medicine, the cause comes from the most commonly used pesticides in the summer months. Low scores are related to the content of pesticides and nitrogen on the water at that time.

"Exposure to pesticides and nitrogen can alter the pregnant mother's hormonal environment and fetal brain development," Winchester explained.

However, more research is needed to confirm whether pesticides cause low scores for students.

MT