Home Environment and Early Development of Rural Children: Evidence from Guizhou Province in China.

Renfu Luo,Tianyi Wang,Lena Kuhn,Chengfang Liu

doi:10.3390/ijerph18116121

Abstract

Delays in early child development are among the aspects underlying the persistent developmental gaps between regions and social strata. This study seeks to examine the relationship between the home environment and early child development in less-developed rural areas by drawing on data from 445 children from villages in Guizhou province in southwest China. A demographic questionnaire, the Home Observation Measurement of the Environment (HOME), and the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, version III (BSID-III), were used to measure the child’s demographic characteristics, home environment, and early development outcomes, respectively. Our data show that the sample children suffer a delay in various dimensions of child development and a deficit in the HOME scale. The results from a hierarchical regression model suggest that the availability of learning material at home, caregivers’ responsiveness and organization sub-scales are significantly positively correlated with the early development of sample children, after controlling for general socioeconomic status, health, and nutrition, and this correlation differs by gender. These results imply that the provision of learning material to households, promoting caregivers’ responsiveness and organization in less-developed rural areas could improve early child development among deprived children.

Highlights

An individual’s well-being is strongly related to his or her development between 0 and 8 years of age
The variables entered the regression in three groups—general socioeconomic characteristics, nutrition, and health-related characteristics—and the Home Observation Measurement of the Environment (HOME)
This study shows that the sample children suffer a delay in cognition, language, motor, and social–emotional development and a deficit in the parenting environment according to the HOME scale and sub-scales

Summary

Introduction

An individual’s well-being is strongly related to his or her development between 0 and 8 years of age. Key early child development dimensions include physical, cognitive, motor, and social–emotional development [1]. Delays in early child development may contribute to the persistent developmental gaps between social strata or regions, and may even counteract all efforts to avoid the emergence of a middle-income trap [2]. Many children are subject to various deprivations that fundamentally hinder their developmental progress. As estimated by a study in The Lancet, deprivation is so profound that nearly half (43%) of children in low- and middle-income countries may not achieve their full development potential [3]. A recent study discovered that 85% of children in rural China suffer from at least one kind of developmental delay [4]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion