Does the month of birth affect long-term educational and health outcomes in Northern Ireland? A population-based analysis.

Presenter: Stefanie Doebler, University of Liverpool

Studies in the US, the UK and other countries found children born close to the cut-off date for the start of school-year tend to show lower educational attainment than their older classmates. This is attributed to the fact that pupils born shortly before the cut-off date are almost a year younger than many of their classmates. They are in an earlier stage of their intellectual, emotional and physical development and are thus relatively disadvantaged. Studies also found differences in growth and health outcomes by birth month. This paper tests whether long-term educational and health disadvantages of individuals born just before the start of school-year cut-off date of July 1st exist in Northern Ireland. The analysis is based on a c.28% representative population sub-sample of young people aged 12-18 in 2001 and subsequently aged 22 to 28 in the Northern Ireland Longitudinal Study (NILS) with linked 2001 and 2011 Census records. Our findings based on binary logistic multilevel models indicated that those born in May and June were no less likely to have obtained A-levels, or a degree by 2011 and were also no more likely to report suffering from poor health or poor mental health on the Census-2011 form than their younger peers. We found no long-term educational, or health disadvantage of those born closer to the school cut-off date in a cohort in Northern Ireland.