Abstract
BackgroundCognitive development after age three tends to be stable and can therefore predict cognitive skills in later childhood. However, there is evidence that cognitive development is less stable before age three. In rural China, research has found large shares of children under age three are developmentally delayed, yet little is known about the trajectories of cognitive development between 0 and 3 years of age or how developmental trajectories predict later cognitive skills. This study seeks to describe the trajectories of child cognitive development between the ages of 0–3 years and examine how different trajectories predict cognitive development at preschool age.MethodsWe collected three waves of longitudinal panel data from 1245 children in rural Western China. Child cognitive development was measured by the Bayley Scales of Infant Development when the child was 6–12 months and 22–30 months, and by the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-Fourth Edition when the child was 49–65 months. We used the two measures of cognitive development before age three to determine the trajectories of child cognitive development.ResultsOf the children, 39% were never cognitively delayed; 13% were persistently delayed; 7% experienced improving cognitive development; and 41% experienced deteriorating development before age 3. Compared to children who had never experienced cognitive delay, children with persistent cognitive delay and those with deteriorating development before age 3 had significantly lower cognitive scores at preschool age. Children with improving development before age 3 showed similar levels of cognition at preschool age as children who had never experienced cognitive delay.ConclusionsLarge shares of children under age 3 in rural Western China show deteriorating cognitive development from infancy to toddlerhood, which predict lower levels of cognition at preschool age. Policymakers should invest in improving cognitive development before age 3 to prevent long-term poor cognition among China’s rural children.
Highlights
Cognitive development after age three tends to be stable and can predict cognitive skills in later childhood
The aim of this paper is to describe the trajectories of child cognitive development between the ages of 0–3 years among in rural Western China and examine how different trajectories predict cognitive development at preschool age
15% of the mothers had completed more than 12 years of schooling
Summary
Cognitive development after age three tends to be stable and can predict cognitive skills in later childhood. Theoretical and empirical research has established that basic cognitive skills developed in the earliest years of life form the foundation for the development of more complex skills later in childhood [4, 10, 11]. For this reason, infants who have delayed development during the first 3 years of childhood face impediments to developing more complex cognitive skills and are likely to continue to have low levels of cognitive skill into their preschool years [6, 7, 12,13,14,15]. The changes in cognitive development over time may be due to measurement error, the measurements used in these studies have high reliability, and most of the changes are likely to represent true fluctuations in cognitive development
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