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Update Date: 2009/03/11 04:09 [International News Center/Comprehensive Report]
The latest report in the journal *PLoS Medicine* indicates that children of older fathers generally perform worse on IQ tests compared to children of younger fathers. Conversely, the older the mother, the better the child's intelligence tends to be.
**Older Mothers Have Smarter Children**
This report was a collaboration between American and Australian scientists, tracking 33,437 American children born between 1959 and 1965. IQ tests were conducted when the children were eight months old, four years old, and seven years old, assessing their cognitive abilities in areas such as thinking, reasoning, focus, memory, comprehension, language, and motor skills.
The fathers of these children ranged in age from 14 to 66, while the mothers were between 12 and 48 years old.
John McGrath, the senior author of the paper and a researcher at the Queensland Brain Institute, stated that the study found that, regardless of the mother's age, children of 50-year-old fathers performed worse in all areas except physical coordination compared to children of 20-year-old fathers. The older the father, the poorer the child's performance tended to be.
In contrast, children of older mothers exhibited better cognitive abilities. This may be because older mothers typically have higher incomes and education levels, providing a better home environment for their children. These findings align with conclusions from previous studies.
McGrath noted that one surprising aspect of the results is that people previously believed a child's performance was solely related to the mother, with the father's age having no effect. "But this data shows that the father's age also influences the child," he said.
**More Sperm Cell Divisions Increase Genetic Error Rates**
One possible explanation is that a woman's eggs only divide 22 times, whereas sperm cells divide more frequently as men age—from about 150 divisions in their 20s to 840 divisions by age 50. The more divisions occur, the higher the likelihood of genetic replication errors. This is why studies have shown that children of older fathers are more prone to conditions such as schizophrenia, autism, dyslexia, epilepsy, and dwarfism.
McGrath stated that these findings serve as a warning to men in Western societies, who often delay having children until after the age of 40.
Source: http:/ / tw. news. yahoo. com/ art……url/ d/ a/ 090311/ 78/ 1fu2i. html
Older Dads Have Kids with Lower IQ
The latest report in the journal *PLoS Medicine* indicates that children of older fathers generally perform worse on IQ tests compared to children of younger fathers. Conversely, the older the mother, the better the child's intelligence tends to be.
**Older Mothers Have Smarter Children**
This report was a collaboration between American and Australian scientists, tracking 33,437 American children born between 1959 and 1965. IQ tests were conducted when the children were eight months old, four years old, and seven years old, assessing their cognitive abilities in areas such as thinking, reasoning, focus, memory, comprehension, language, and motor skills.
The fathers of these children ranged in age from 14 to 66, while the mothers were between 12 and 48 years old.
John McGrath, the senior author of the paper and a researcher at the Queensland Brain Institute, stated that the study found that, regardless of the mother's age, children of 50-year-old fathers performed worse in all areas except physical coordination compared to children of 20-year-old fathers. The older the father, the poorer the child's performance tended to be.
In contrast, children of older mothers exhibited better cognitive abilities. This may be because older mothers typically have higher incomes and education levels, providing a better home environment for their children. These findings align with conclusions from previous studies.
McGrath noted that one surprising aspect of the results is that people previously believed a child's performance was solely related to the mother, with the father's age having no effect. "But this data shows that the father's age also influences the child," he said.
**More Sperm Cell Divisions Increase Genetic Error Rates**
One possible explanation is that a woman's eggs only divide 22 times, whereas sperm cells divide more frequently as men age—from about 150 divisions in their 20s to 840 divisions by age 50. The more divisions occur, the higher the likelihood of genetic replication errors. This is why studies have shown that children of older fathers are more prone to conditions such as schizophrenia, autism, dyslexia, epilepsy, and dwarfism.
McGrath stated that these findings serve as a warning to men in Western societies, who often delay having children until after the age of 40.
Source: http:/ / tw. news. yahoo. com/ art……url/ d/ a/ 090311/ 78/ 1fu2i. html