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Babies who are born preterm have a challenging start in life. Although most babies survive this challenging start without severe impairments, more subtle problems may occur in the long term. The aim of this dissertation was to evaluate attentional functioning in children born preterm from infancy to early adolescence. We focused in particular on children born moderately preterm (1-2 months early). Children born preterm were found at increased risk of various attention problems at school-age (6-13 years) compared to children born at term. Much variation occurs between children born preterm in the presence, severity and type of attention problems they experience. Over time, children born preterm also show varying developmental patterns of attention. One-third of these children had stable average attentional functioning, while one quarter showed some catch-up in their abilities, and yet almost half of all children born preterm had poorer attentional functioning over time. The type of attention difficulties these children show also seems to be age-dependent. At younger ages, difficulties in orienting and sustaining attention were more frequent, while difficulties in more complex attention abilities, such as shifting and dividing attention appeared more often in early adolescence. Adverse early brain development, less favorable family environment, and attention and language abilities at toddler age appeared to act as early markers for later attentional functioning. In the future, monitoring based on such markers could help identify children at risk early on. These findings highlight the need for early monitoring and comprehensive assessments of attentional functioning in children born preterm.