Effects of home environment on changes in the motor development for typical-development infants and toddlers

Abstract

Motor functions are affected by the home environment in childhood. This study aims to identify the home environment factors in the motor development of infants and toddlers. This follow-up study had involved 1000 typical-development children, classifying children into infant group (6 months old, n = 500) and toddler group (3 years old, n = 500). Participants were from Kids in Taiwan: National Longitudinal Study of Child Development & Care (KIT). Developmental Motor Screening Scale for Preschool Children (DMSSPC), including body coordination (BC), stability and locomotion (S&L), visual motor integration (VMI), and grasp and manipulation (G&M) domains, was used to assess motor development at baseline and follow up (infants: 6-months follow up and toddlers: 12-months follow up). Home Environment Scale (HES), including parent response (PR), parent participation/learning stimulation (PP/LS), physical environment (PE), child acceptance (CA), speech stimulation (SS), learning material (LM), and environmental diversity (ED), was measured at baseline. Pearson correlation was used to analyze the correlation between HES and DMSSPC at baseline and change scores of DMSSPC (DMSSPC score at follow-up - DMSSPC score at baseline). Nearly all HES domains had significantly positive correlations with DMSSPC domains at baseline in infant group. In toddler group, HES domains had significantly positive correlations with DMSSPC domains, except PE with VMI and S&L, and CA with VMI and S&L. Additionally, HES domains except PE and CA had significantly negative correlations with change scores of G&M in infant group. While only PP/LS and ED had significantly negative correlations with change scores of G&M in toddler group. A better home environment is associated with greater motor development in most domains. However, a better home environment is linked to lesser changes in G&M development, especially infant groups. These findings may suggest providing a good home environment is important for motor development, especially infant groups.