Parental visual dysfunction and its associations with early childhood development in a community sample of families in Beijing, China

Abstract

While research has associated parental visual functions with child vision, little is known about whether parental visual dysfunction is related to early childhood development (ECD) outcomes other than vision. Considering that parents with visual dysfunction conditions may encounter difficulties in engaging in some daily activities, the children of these parents possibly have fewer opportunities to acquire and refine certain ECD skills. This research explores associations between parental visual dysfunction conditions and different ECD outcomes in a community sample of families from Beijing, China. Participants were parents of 2140 young children (44.4% girls; age range = 0.75–63.25 months). Parents reported concerns about their visual dysfunction and responded to the Chinese version of the Ages and Stages Questionnaires, Third Edition (ASQ-C). Family demographics and child health indicators were controlled for as covariates. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) tests were used to compare group differences in the ASQ-C scores. Logistic regressions were conducted to examine the relative risk of suspected developmental delays in the ECD domains for children with parents with different visual function conditions. Results showed that children whose parents had visual dysfunction scored lower on the gross motor domain. Specifically, children whose parents had visual dysfunction conditions other than myopia had lower scores on the gross-motor and problem-solving domains relative to their counterparts. This group of children was prone to suspected developmental delays in the problem-solving domain. In conclusion, our findings suggest that having parents with visual dysfunction conditions other than myopia may be a risk, potentially compromising ECD in China.