Do Early Childhood Schools Have Contextual Effect on Child Development Aged 3-6 Years in Tanjung Jabung Timur, Jambi?

Abstract

Background: Early childhood development is a critical period in children's lives. The develop­ment index in early childhood in Indonesia is rela­­­tive­ly low compared to other developing coun­­­tries, which is 88.3%. Various factors that can influence early childhood development were the nutritional status of children, stimulation by pa­rents, exclusive breastfeeding, dietary patterns, and parental characteristics. This study aimed to analy­ze the contextual influence of early child­hood education on child development in Tanjung Jabung Timur, Jambi. Subjects and Method: This was a cross sec­tional study conducted at 25 early childhood schools in Tanjung Jabung Timur, Jambi, from Sep­tember to October 2019. A sample of 200 child­ren aged 3-6 years old was selected by stra­tified random sampling. The dependent variable was child development. The independent variables were nutritional status, dietary pattern, ex­clu­sive breastfeeding, maternal education, mater­nal occupation, and family income. Child deve­lop­ment was measured by The Indonesian child deve­lopment prescreening questionnaire. The other data were collected by questionnaire. The data were analyzed by a multilevel multiple logis­tic regression run on Stata 13. Results: Early childhood development increased with good nutritional status (b= 1.88; 95% CI= 0.48 to 3.28; p= 0.008), good dietary pattern (b= 1.58; 95% CI= 0.26 to 2.91; p= 0.019), exclusive breastfeeding (b= 0.64; 95% CI= -0.69 to 1.99; p= 0.346), maternal education ≥High school (b= 2.45; 95% CI= 0.97 to 3.92; p= 0.001), and family income ≥Rp 2,840,000 (b= 1.93; 95% CI= 0.32 to 0.53; p= 0.018). Early childhood development decreased with maternal working outside the house (b= -1.42; 95% CI= -2.66 to -0.17; p= 0.025). Early childhood school had low effect on child development with intra-class correlation= 10.09%. Conclusion: Early childhood development was influenced by nutritional status, dietary patterns, ex­clusive breastfeeding, maternal education, maternal employment, and family income. Early child­hood education has contextual influence on child development. Keywords: child development, early childhood edu­cation Correspondence: Dinda Septiani Hardilla. Masters Program in Public Health, Universitas Sebelas Maret. Jl. Ir. Sutami 36A, Surakarta, Central Java. Email: dindaseptianihardilla15@gmail.com. Mobile: 082373568987. Journal of Maternal and Child Health (2020), 5(2): 120-128 https://doi.org/10.26911/thejmch.2020.05.02.01