Relationship between home environment and psychomotor development in Urban and Rural children: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background and Purpose: Development of children has shown to be influenced by various factors, one of them being the environment. There are diverse cultural practices across different settlements that play a role in conditioning the child's pattern of development. A home serves to be the primary environment in which every child grows in, which influences development. This study intends to determine the relationship between home environment and psychomotor development in children and to compare the psychomotor development in children of urban and rural areas. Materials and Methods: A door-to-door survey was conducted for the recruitment of participants from urban and rural areas as per inclusion criteria. Two hundred children were evaluated, 100 each from urban and rural areas. Home environment assessment made using Affordances in the Home Environment for Motor Development (AHEMD) scale versions as per the age of the child. The developmental assessment was done using the Developmental Assessment Scales for Indian Infants (DASII). Results: A significant positive correlation was found between AHEMD and motor quotient (MoQ) (r = 0.2892) and mental quotient (MeQ) (r = 0.3940) on DASII. There was a significant difference in the AHEMD scores of urban and rural participants (P = 0.0038). The MoQ was between urban and rural participants which was statistically significant. A significant difference (P = 0.0006) was found in MeQ scores between urban and rural participants. Conclusion: The present study concludes that there is a positive correlation between the environment at home and psychomotor development in children. The urban children had better mental and motor development scores than the rural children, although both the urban and rural children showed average development.