The learning, physical, and emotional environment of the home in the context of poverty: The infant health and development program

Abstract

The impact of individual environmental and biological risks and the number of risks on the home environment of 3-year-olds is examined in a sample of low birth weight, premature infants enrolled in the Infant Health and Development Program (IHDP). The IHDP is a large clinical trial designed to test the efficacy of early intervention services. The effects of 13 risk factors upon the HOME are examined separately for poor and non-poor families. Compared to nonpoor families, poor families experienced more multiple risk factors and had lower HOME scores. The number of risk factors was associated with less stimulating home environments, in both poor and non-poor families. Early intervention services were associated with higher learning scores but not higher physical or emotional environment scores. In terms of learning experiences, non-poor mothers who experienced the greatest number of risks benefitted more from the treatment than mothers with fewer risk factors. The pathways through which poverty influences learning experiences and intervention strategies to improve the home environments of young children are proposed.