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Some observers have concluded that poor children suffer from ‘‘double jeopardy’’in that they are both more likely to suffer negative health shocks and less likely to be able to recover from them (see S. Parker et al., 1988). This paper investigates the linkages between socioeconomic status (SES) and a specific shock: low birth weight (LBW). There is much evidence that children of higher SES do better than other children on average, regardless of the outcome measure. There is also a great deal of evidence linking LBW to poor health, cognitive deficits, and behavioral problems among young children (see GP Aylward et al., 1989). These observations suggest that the effects of LBW may be longlasting, but there has been little direct corroboration of this conjecture. The first goal of this study is to shed light on the persistence of LBW effects. A second goal is to investigate the interactive effects of SES and LBW. The …