Child's Home Environment Research Articles

Stunting and associated factors among primary school children in Ethiopia: School-based cross-sectional study

BackgroundStunting is a common type of undernutrition in schoolchildren, and it has a significant negative impact on academic performance. Stunting refers to a child who is too short for their age. It is the result of chronic or recurring malnutrition. Stunting can have far-reaching consequences that last a lifetime. Malnutrition is still a major public health concern in developing countries, including Ethiopia, with an estimated 118 million people going hungry by 2020. Therefore, this study was intended to assess the prevalence and associated factors of stunting among primary school children. MethodsA cross-sectional school-based study was conducted in Gedeo Zone, South Ethiopia. A multistage sampling technique was used to get a total of 500 study participants from May 1 to June 30, 2021. Data was collected by using face-to-face interviews with structured questionnaires. It was entered into Epi Data version 3.1 and exported to SPSS version 23 for analysis. Variables with a p value of 0.25 in bivariate analysis were fitted to multivariable analysis. A multivariable logistic regression model with a 95% confidence interval and a P-Value of 0.05 was used. ResultsThe study found that 203 (40.6%) of the 500 primary students enrolled were stunted (95% CI: 17–47). Stunting was significantly associated with educational status [AOR 2.49 (95%CI (1.23, 4.06)], dietary diversity [AOR 2.0, (95%CI (1.64, 3.54)], child age [AOR 3.48, (95%CI (2.04, 6.16)], family size [AOR 2.18, (95%CI (2.06, 4.49)], and family type [AOR 2.94, (95%CI (1.84, 4.72)]. ConclusionMore than one-third of elementary school children were stunted. Implementing school health and nutrition initiatives to improve the nutritional status of school-age children in the study area is critical, as is considering a strategy to improve children's wellbeing through cross-cutting child wellbeing strategies, with a special focus on vulnerable children. It should be considered to empower vulnerable families who are at risk of having a child with stunting to improve children's home environments.

Welfare Reform and the Quality of Young Children's Home Environments

Welfare Reform and the Quality of Young Children's Home Environments

Welfare Reform and the Quality of Young Children's Home Environments

Welfare Reform and the Quality of Young Children's Home Environments

Analisis Faktor Penghambat dalam Perkembangan Kecerdasan Interpersonal Anak di Taman Kanak-kanak

Interpersonal intelligence is very important for children to be easily accepted in the community because children with interpersonal intelligence have many skills, namely the ability to empathize (sharing, helping and helping others), the ability to recognize other people's thoughts, the ability to make friends, and establish social relationships so that they can build relationships. positive relationships with others. Some of the inhibiting factors for children's interpersonal intelligence include the child's individual home environment, parenting patterns that are too authoritarian and overprotective. Therefore, teachers and parents should pay attention to every development and interpersonal intelligence of children so that children have good interaction skills in their daily lives

Home mathematics environment and math performance of Chilean students in kindergarten and Grades 1 to 3

We investigated whether home math activities were related to children's math performance in kindergarten and the first three years of primary school. Participants were Chilean parents and their children in kindergarten, Grade 1, Grade 2, and Grade 3 (ns = 101, 95, 87, and 84, respectively). Mothers and fathers independently answered questions about their math activities at home, provided sociodemographic information, and completed an arithmetic fluency task. Children completed measures of applied problem solving, calculation, and arithmetic fluency. For kindergarten children, we found that mothers’ (but not fathers’) reports of the frequency of operational (e.g., mental arithmetic) activities were positively related to children's math performance, whereas mothers’ reports of the frequency of mapping (e.g., counting, number naming) math activities were negatively correlated with performance. For children in Grades 1–3, home math activities were not significant unique predictors of math outcomes. The socioeconomic status of children's schools and maternal math fluency predicted children's math performance in Grades 1–3. The implications of these findings are discussed for understanding how children's home environments are related to their mathematical development.

Ecological Momentary Assessment of Weight-Related Behaviors in the Home Environment of Children From Low-Income and Racially and Ethnically Diverse Households: Development and Usability Study.

BackgroundEcological momentary assessment (EMA) is an innovative tool for capturing in-the-moment health behaviors as people go about their daily lives. EMA is an ideal tool to measure weight-related behaviors, such as parental feeding practices, stress, and dietary intake, as these occur on a daily basis and vary across time and context. A recent systematic review recommended standardized reporting of EMA design for studies that address weight-related behaviors.ObjectiveTo answer the call for reporting study designs using EMA, this paper describes in detail the EMA design of the Family Matters study and how it was adapted over time to improve functionality and meet the needs of a racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse sample.MethodsFamily Matters is an incremental, 2-phased, mixed methods study, conducted with a racially and ethnically diverse, immigrant and refugee sample from largely low-income households, designed to examine risk and protective factors for child weight and weight-related behaviors in the home environment. The Family Matters study intentionally recruited White, Black, Hmong, Latino, Native American, and Somali parents with young children. Parents in phase 1 of the study completed 8 days of EMA on their smartphones, which included signal-contingent surveys (eg, asking about the parent’s stress at the time of the survey), event-contingent surveys (eg, descriptions of the meal the child ate), and end-of-day surveys (eg, overall assessment of the child’s day).ResultsA detailed description of EMA strategies, protocols, and methods used in phase 1 of the Family Matters study is provided. Compliance with EMA surveys and participants’ time spent completing EMA surveys are presented and stratified by race and ethnicity. In addition, lessons learned while conducting phase 1 EMA are shared to document how EMA methods were improved and expanded upon for phase 2 of the Family Matters study.ConclusionsThe results from this study provided an important next step in identifying best practices for EMA use in assessing weight-related behaviors in the home environment.International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)DERR1-10.2196/30525

Home Improvement: Evaluating Secular Changes in NLSY HOME-Cognitive Stimulation and Emotional Support Scores.

This study evaluated changes over time in the quality of children’s home environment, using the Home Observation Measurement of the Environment (HOME). Longitudinal increases in HOME scores were predicted by both theory and past empirical results. Analysis of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth Children data (N = 5715, aged 0–14) suggested that HOME scores have been increasing, and that the increase is a family-level phenomenon. The data were a sample of children born to mothers who were approximately representative of the United States in 1979. An increase in HOME scores occurred primarily for the three age categories younger than ten. Effect sizes were of approximately the same magnitude as the Flynn effect for intelligence. These results have implications for policy and future research regarding the home environment.

Examining the relationships between early childhood experiences and adolescent and young adult health status in a resource-limited population: A cohort study.

Adolescence is a critical point in the realization of human capital, as health and educational decisions with long-term impacts are made. We examined the role of early childhood experiences on health, cognitive abilities, and educational outcomes of adolescents followed up from a longitudinal cohort study in Pakistan, hypothesizing that early childhood experiences reflecting poverty would manifest in reduced health and development in adolescence. Adolescents/young adults previously followed as children aged under 5 years were interviewed. Childhood data were available on diarrhea, pneumonia, and parental/household characteristics. New data were collected on health, anthropometry, education, employment, and languages spoken; nonverbal reasoning was assessed. A multivariable Bayesian network was constructed to explore structural relationships between variables. Of 1,868 children originally enrolled, 1,463 (78.3%) were interviewed as adolescents (range 16.0-29.3 years, mean age 22.6 years); 945 (65%) lived in Oshikhandass. While 1,031 (70.5%) of their mothers and 440 (30.1%) of their fathers had received no formal education, adolescents reported a mean of 11.1 years of education. Childhood diarrhea (calculated as episodes/child-year) had no association with nonverbal reasoning score (an arc was supported in just 4.6% of bootstrap samples), health measures (with BMI, 1% of bootstrap samples; systolic and diastolic blood pressure, 0.1% and 1.6% of bootstrap samples, respectively), education (0.7% of bootstrap samples), or employment (0% of bootstrap samples). Relationships were found between nonverbal reasoning and adolescent height (arc supported in 63% of bootstrap samples), age (84%), educational attainment (100%), and speaking English (100%); speaking English was linked to the childhood home environment, mediated through maternal education and primary language. Speaking English (n = 390, 26.7% of adolescents) was associated with education (100% of bootstrap samples), self-reported child health (82%), current location (85%) and variables describing childhood socioeconomic status. The main limitations of this study were the lack of parental data to characterize the home setting (including parental mental and physical health, and female empowerment) and reliance on self-reporting of health status. In this population, investments in education, especially for females, are associated with an increase in human capital. Against the backdrop of substantial societal change, with the exception of a small and indirect association between childhood malnutrition and cognitive scores, educational opportunities and cultural language groups have stronger associations with aspects of human capital than childhood morbidity.

Chaos during the COVID-19 outbreak: Predictors of household chaos among low-income families during a pandemic.

ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to explore whether household chaos measured during the COVID‐19 pandemic is predicted by prepandemic parental and household characteristics.BackgroundThe COVID‐19 pandemic has dramatically altered children's home environments and routines due to stay‐at‐home orders, school closures, and economic shocks. These disruptions have been especially challenging for low‐income families who have limited resources and have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic. Household chaos, which captures routines, organization, stability, noise, and crowding in the home, is a documented threat to parent functioning and positive child development. The pandemic has likely exacerbated household chaos, especially for low‐income families.MethodData come from a larger, ongoing study of low‐income children and their parents in Tulsa, Oklahoma; this analysis relies on data from the subset of low‐income parents who responded to surveys when their children were in kindergarten (in 2018–2019) and during the pandemic, when their children were in first grade (n = 335). We use multivariate ordinary least squares regression models to test whether household chaos measured during the pandemic is predicted by prepandemic parental and household characteristics.ResultsPrepandemic parental depression and household chaos were significantly predictive of chaos during the pandemic, even after accounting for household demographics.ImplicationsThe current study highlights pandemic‐induced elevations in parental distress and household chaos among low‐income families. Results will provide valuable direction to policymakers, educators, and parents on how best to offset negative impacts of the COVID‐19 pandemic on family functioning and child development.

Exploring qualities of ethnically diverse parents related to the healthy home environment of toddlers

Parents serve as role models and household policy makers for their children's home social environment. Also, parents may influence the home physical environment through the provision of resources to support their children's dietary, activity, and sleep behaviors. Understanding the parental characteristics related to children's home environment may allow for tailoring obesity interventions to families' needs. This study aimed to explore parental qualities (general parenting styles, parent feeding practices, and parental BMI) related to healthy home food, physical activity, media and sleep environment of toddlers. A total of 50 multi-ethnic parents with toddler age children who were enrolled in a randomized pilot study of a wellness program completed the Structure and Control in Parent Feeding (SCPF) questionnaire and Comprehensive General Parenting Questionnaire (CGPQ). Parental BMI was calculated using self-reported weight and height data. The Healthy Home Survey, the Home Food Inventory, the Sleep Environment Questionnaire, and items developed for this study were standardized and summed to create home food, physical activity, screen media, and sleep environment scores; high scores reflected healthier environments. To examine the relationships between parental qualities and the home environment, Pearson's correlation test was performed. Parental BMI and overall healthy home environment were inversely associated (r = -0.306; p = 0.032). Structure in general parenting and parental feeding practice were positively correlated with the overall healthy home environment (r = 0.336; p = 0.026) and healthy home food environment (r = 0.415; p = 0.003), respectively. The coercive control general parenting was inversely related to overall healthy home environment score (r = -0.333; p = 0.022). Based on the findings from this study, parents who provide clear communication, set consistent rules, avoid pressure to control their child's behavior, and have lower BMI tend to live in a home environment that support children's health behaviors.

Video game playing among preschoolers: prevalence and home environment in three provinces from Turkey

ABSTRACT We aimed to investigate the video game habits and their relationship with home environment in children 2–5 years in Turkey. A structured questionnaire about the child’s demographic, screen, and video gaming characteristics was completed by parents in five health centers from three provinces. One-quarter of 1245 preschoolers were found to play video games. The prevalence of playing video games was higher in older age, male gender, low parental education, families with 3 or more children, having a game console, computers and tablets at home, child’s screen time of more than 2 hours per day, child’s non-compliance with the parental screen rules, and presence of someone else playing videogame at home. Of the parents, 54.5% did not know the name of the video game the child was playing. Parents should be counseled about supervising on their children’s video game playing habits and selection of well-designed games with the right content.

The effect of the indoor environment on wheeze- and sleep-related symptoms in young Indian children

Background:Environmental exposures have a significant effect on respiratory and sleep symptoms in young children. Although the effect of air pollution on the respiratory symptoms in young children is well-established, less is known about the effect of household environmental characteristics and practices on wheeze and sleep concerns.Aims:The aim of this pilot study is to explore the association between household environmental characteristics and practices with the symptoms of wheezing and sleep concerns in the past year in a convenience sample of young Indian children.Materials and Methods:A detailed questionnaire about the child's home environment and respiratory and sleep symptoms was administered to the caregivers of 190 outpatients aged between 6 months and 5 years old at a teaching hospital.Results:Indoor environmental characteristics and cleaning techniques were analyzed for the association with wheeze and sleep disorders. Half (50%) of the cohort had the symptoms of wheezing and 21% had occasional or frequent sleep concerns. Sleeping with a stuffed toy was significantly associated with both wheezing and sleep concerns (P = 0.05).Conclusions:Sleeping with a stuffed toy was a risk factor for wheeze and a risk factor for sleep disorders independent of wheeze.

Childhood dietary quality predicts adult facial fluctuating asymmetry in contemporary New Mexicans.

Fluctuating asymmetry (FA) in adults is thought to reflect specific types of developmental stress. If true, adult FA may be a proxy for developmental stress in past as well as current populations. To date, studies of the link between development and adult FA have produced ambiguous results due to insufficient measurement data for childhood environments. This study seeks to overcome this limitation using a structural equation modeling approach to evaluate the relationship between 29 measures of developmental environments and precise measures of adult FA. Sociodemographic information and 3D facial photographs were collected from 80 adult New Mexicans. Facial FA was measured from the photographs using geometric morphometric analysis of 12 facial landmarks. Each participant responded to a questionnaire addressing the developmental environment, including childhood home environment, family SES, health, and dietary quality. We used structural equation models to examine predictive relationships between latent variables constructed from questionnaire responses and adult facial FA. Childhood dietary quality was negatively associated with adult FA scores, meaning that poorer diets predict higher FA (standardized path coefficient -0.174, p = 0.039). Factors that loaded positively on the dietary quality construct were a diet quality index, the frequency of homemade meals, and the frequency of homemade breakfast, while the frequency of fast-food meals loaded negatively. No other latent variable predicted adult facial FA. We posit that the negative relationship between dietary quality and FA reflects a negative energy balance experienced during development. Insufficient nutrition results in a reduced capacity to buffer against environmental perturbations, with increased FA as evidence. Given previously established links between FA and adult health outcomes in humans, this finding also underscores the importance of dietary quality during development for ensuring health and wellbeing later in life. These results indicate that FA in facial shape may signal the relative quality of dietary conditions during development.

Pain experience in an aging adult population during a 10-year follow-up.

This 10-year follow-up study aimed to examine the persistence of SF-36 pain intensity and pain-related interference and to identify baseline factors that may relate to pain experience among community-dwelling aging adults. Questionnaire and clinical data on a total of 1,954 participants (mean age at baseline 63years) were collected in 2002, 2005, 2008, and 2012. Based on pain reports, four pain intensity, pain interference (PIPI) groups were formed at each time point: PIPI group I: none to mild pain intensity and interference; II: moderate to extreme pain intensity, none to mild pain-related interference; III: None to mild pain intensity, moderate to extreme pain-related interference, IV: Moderate to extreme pain intensity and interference. Participants with the most pain at baseline improved their pain situation the most during the follow-up. Higher BMI was associated with pain interference, and metabolic syndrome (MetS) and musculoskeletal diseases with both pain intensity and interference (p<0.05, statistically significant interaction between pain intensity and pain interference) at baseline. According to multivariate logistic regression analysis the following baseline characteristics were associated with remaining in PIPI group I throughout the follow-up: presence of musculoskeletal disease (OR 0.22 [95% CI 0.16-0.30]), high BMI (OR 0.93 [95% CI 0.90-0.97]), high household income (OR 1.46 [95% CI 1.07-1.98]), good childhood home environment (OR 1.03 [95% CI 1.00-1.05]). Multiple factors may affect pain persistence in late adulthood with varying effect on pain intensity and pain-related interference. Pain situation of even those with most pain may be improved.

The enriched home environment and dietary intake are related to percent overBMI in children.

Longitudinal research suggests that living in a cognitively enriched home environment, in which access to activities including hobbies and books are plentiful, can prevent excess weight gain and obesity in children. In order for the enriched home environment to influence weight it should influence energy and macronutrient intake and/or energy expenditure. To test this hypothesis, we used a cross sectional design to study aspects of the child's enriched home environment along with energy and macronutrient intake. A sample of 158 6-9-year-old children measured between February 2017 - April 2019 in Buffalo, NY were selected from a larger study based on criteria for accurate reporting of energy intake using the Block Kid's Food Frequency Questionnaire. Results showed that the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME) subscales enriched environment, parental warmth and an integrated family structure were negatively related to child percent overBMI. Hierarchical regression showed that each of these factors improved variance in child percent overBMI accounted for beyond dietary intake or macronutrients, specifically accounting for a total of 18.2% variance in models controlling for total energy intake. These results provide the first demonstration that characteristics of a child's home environment are associated with lower energy intake and independently associated with percent overBMI beyond knowledge of diet. Enriching a child's home environment by providing alternative activities to eating, improving parental warmth and providing opportunities for parents to interact positively with their children may be novel ways to reduce childhood obesity that should be experimentally tested in future research.

A cumulative risk index for use in the medical home.

Previous studies have described the effect of sociodemographic factors on early development. We describe development of a simple cumulative risk index (CRI) based on four sociodemographic factors and explore the concurrent and predictive relationship of this index to a measure of the cognitive home environment in early childhood and to later school functioning. This was a secondary data analysis of children from an urban pediatrics clinic. Baseline data were collected at 10-23 months (n= 324) with primary follow-up 6months later at 18-35 months (n= 179) and secondary follow-up at 8-10years (n= 68). A CRI score was derived at baseline using maternal education, marital status, race/ethnicity and child insurance. Baseline and primary follow-up included three subscales of the STIMQ, a measure of the cognitive home environment. Effectiveness of CRI was examined using analysis of variance (ANOVA) with linear contrasts. Chi-square examined differences in school function between children from CRI high-risk (CRI 3-4) and low-risk (CRI 0-2) families. CRI had a negative impact in early childhood on STIMQ subscale scores (p<0.007-0.05) that increased as the number of risk factors increased (p<0.05). Significantly more children from high-risk families (CRI 3-4) were rated as having poor school performance than children from low-risk families (CRI 0-2) (p<0.05). We showed that a practice-friendly CRI, based on characteristics typically available in the medical record, could help identify families less likely to support development concurrently at 1 year of age and predictively at 2-3years. School functioning at 8 to 10years was also significantly better in children with a low CRI at 1 year. The CRI could be a useful tool for both clinicians and researchers needing a simple tool for risk assessment.

Parenting and Home Environment in Childhood and Adolescence and Alcohol Use Disorder in Adulthood

PurposeParenting is a modifiable factor affecting the development of alcohol use disorder (AUD); however, the persistence of this effect into adulthood remains poorly understood. This study aimed to explore the longitudinal relationship between positive parenting and AUD in adulthood. MethodsData were gathered from the Christchurch Health and Development Study (CHDS), a birth cohort of 1,265 children born in Christchurch (New Zealand) in mid-1977. Positive parenting was quantified to age 16, and included the extent to which cohort members self-reported: high scores on measures of maternal and paternal care; low scores on a measure of maternal and paternal overprotection; high scores on a measure of parental attachment; low scores on a measure of parental intimate partner violence; and occasional or no use of physical punishment. Outcome measures were AUD incidence and symptoms at ages 15–35, with potential confounding factors and time-dynamic covariates included. ResultsThere was a significant association between positive parenting and AUD outcomes, with higher levels of positive parenting associated with a lower incidence of AUD and AUD symptoms. Controlling for confounding factors reduced the association between positive parenting and AUD outcomes, but they remained statistically significant. Adjustment for mental health, life stress, and employment reduced the magnitude of the association between positive parenting and alcohol outcomes to statistical nonsignificance. ConclusionsParenting factors in childhood and adolescence are linked to AUD outcomes in adulthood, as well as mental health, substance use, and life stress. Investment in positive parenting in adolescence may reduce AUD and associated harms in adulthood.

Home environment: Short-term trends and predictors in early childhood from an Indian community birth cohort.

BackgroundEarly childhood home environment is intricately linked to child development and later cognitive and academic skills. There is limited literature evaluating home environmental trends and predictors in the low‐ and middle‐income country settings.AimsDetermine the trends of early childhood home environment changes between 6 and 36 months of age, and the factors associated with these changes.Study designLongitudinal community‐based birth cohort follow‐up study in a semi‐urban slum in Vellore, South India.SubjectsConsecutive sampling of a birth cohort between March 2010 and February 2012.Outcome measuresHome environment was objectively assessed using the ‘Home Observation for the Measurement of the Environment’ (HOME) scale. Predictors of change in the home environment over time also were analyzed. Multivariable linear regression models and linear mixed effect models were used to identify the factors associated with HOME score at individual time points and over‐a‐time period, respectively.ResultsThe birth cohort enrolled 251 children with a follow‐up of 235, 228 and 218 children at 6, 24 and 36 months, respectively. The socio‐economic status (SES) was the single biggest predictor for the HOME score at each time point, with increasing strength over time. Maternal education predicted home environment at 24 months, while maternal depression was negatively associated at 6 and 24 months of age. SES and maternal factors contributed to the overall change in the HOME score. Maternal factors predicted relational home environmental change over time.ConclusionSES and maternal factors consistently predicted early childhood home environment at 6, 24 and 36 months of age and its change over time. It is important to support maternal education and wellbeing along with socio‐economic measures to optimize early childhood environment.

Impact of Home Confinement Due to COVID-19 Pandemic on Mental Health in Young Children: A Natural Experiment

Background: The outbreak of coronavirus disease in 2019 (COVID-19) has had an enormous impact on people’s health, and profoundly changed our lives and society. However, the impact of pandemic-related home confinement on children’s life and their mental health remains unknown. We took advantage of a natural experiment due to the onset of COVID-19 and examined this issue in two consecutive cohorts. Methods: This study compared mental health, family environment and lifestyles of two representative cohorts of young children in Shanghai, China. Both prospective cohorts recruited children at entry to kindergarten. Surveys were conducted at both entry and graduation of kindergarten using the same assessment instruments. Children in the non-exposed cohort experienced a normal period of kindergarten study and graduated in June, 2019; those in the exposed cohort were under confinement for five months and graduated in June, 2020. Findings: Compared with the non-exposed cohort, the exposed cohort had a significant increased percentage of children classified as “at-risk for mental health problems”, with an adjusted absolute risk difference of 3·1% (95% CI, 1·9% to 4·4%) for total difficulties as measured by the Strength and Difficulty Questionnaire. The effect of pandemic related confinement on mental health was larger in children with lower parental education. The exposed cohort had longer media time, sleep duration and a less favorable home environment. Interpretation: The pandemic related confinement negatively affected children's mental health and home environment. Strategies and actions are urgently needed to improve parenting skills and mitigate the negative impact by strengthening the family environment.Funding Statement: National Natural Science Foundation of China, Shanghai Committee of Science and Technology, Shanghai Municipal Health Commission, Shanghai Education CommitteeDeclaration of Interests: We declare no competing interests.Ethics Approval Statement: The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the Shanghai Children’s Medical Center, the Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine (SCMCIRB-K2016022-01)

Telehealth in pediatric primary care

Telehealth in the broadest sense has been used by pediatric clinicians for over a century, as telephone triage has been and continues to be an essential part of pediatric practice. Utilizing more advanced technology including video communication, although available, was generally underutilized until the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Telehealth presents the opportunity to bridge many divides including geographical and logistical challenges. Many acute pediatric conditions can be managed safely and effectively through telehealth especially when remote physical exam equipment is used. Telehealth can also be especially useful in medical care of children with medical complexity. Traveling with medical equipment to multiple subspecialists can be incredibly challenging and often a similar quality visit can be conducted through telehealth in the comfort of a child's home environment. Well child care presents a unique problem while trying to maintain social distancing. Integrating a hybrid model using both an in-person exam and history through video conferencing can help balance limited face to face time with the need to ensure a full and appropriate physical exam. Integration of telehealth into the pediatric patient centered medical home can enable families to gain convenience while maintaining the essential relationship with their primary care office.