نقاط عطف آموزشی اولیه بعنوان پیش بینی کننده پیشرفت تحصیلی مادام العمر، تنظیم میانسالی و طول عمر

This study gathered follow-up data from the Terman Life Cycle Study (N = 1023) to examine how age at first reading and age at school entry relate to grade school academic performance, lifelong educational attainment, midlife health and mental adjustment, and longevity across eight decades. Early reading was associated with early academic success, but less lifelong educational attainment and worse midlife adjustment. Early school entry was associated with less educational attainment, worse midlife adjustment, and most importantly, increased mortality risk. Personality, midlife adjustment, and educational attainment partially mediated the school entry-longevity association (controlling for age, sex, personal characteristics, and home environment factors). Although the sample is limited in some respects and care should be taken in generalizing the results, findings do confirm the importance of lifespan approaches in understanding the effects of education on individual patterns within social contexts.

Learning to read and entering school are important early educational milestones. Reading is one of the most valuable skills developed during childhood, but is also one of the most cognitively challenging proficiencies to acquire (Lyon, 1998). Although reading is formally introduced and cultivated in the primary grades, some children begin to read before starting school, while others struggle throughout elementary school. Many believe that early success may set a positive life-course trajectory, leading to good academic and psychosocial outcomes, whereas hampered reading skills may lead to less desirable outcomes (e.g., Butler et al., 1985, Senechal and LeFevre, 2002, Stainthorp and Hughes, 2004 and Wagner et al., 1997). In a related vein, there is much debate on the optimal age of initiating school attendance. Despite numerous studies and multiple policy changes throughout the 20th century, the field remains divided (Jones, 2001 and Sharp, 1998). The appropriate timing of school entry is necessarily a complex issue with no clear answers, due to the host of influences involved. One approach to advancing our understanding is to consider which factors may be relevant to important later life outcomes. This study uses a lifespan analysis to explore long-term academic and psychosocial correlates of the ages of learning to read and initiating formal schooling.