Quality Of Home Environment Research Articles

In This Issue

In This Issue

Effects of Prenatal DHA Supplementation on Child Development at age 5 years in Mexico

Docosahexanoic acid (DHA) is an important constituent of the brain that accretes during the first 1000 days of life. Evidence of long‐term benefits of increasing DHA intakes during pregnancy is sparse. We have completed the age 5 y follow‐up of offspring of women who participated in a double‐blind randomized controlled trial of prenatal DHA supplementation in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Pregnant women (n=1094) were randomized to receive a daily supplement of 400 mg of DHA or placebo from 18–22 weeks of pregnancy until delivery. We assessed child development at age 5 y for 798 children (82% of live births) using the Spanish language version of the McCarthy Test for Global Development. Loss to follow‐up did not differ by treatment group and the groups remained balanced for maternal baseline and infant birth characteristics. Intent to treat analysis showed no significant differences by treatment group (p>;0.05) for measures of global development. We however find evidence of selective effects by quality of home environment (measured at age 12 mo; p<0.05 for interaction). Among children from poor home environments, those exposed to DHA in utero had better verbal, memory and overall scores compared to those in the placebo group. No difference was observed for children from better home environments. Children lacking an enriched learning environment may be able to “catch‐up” to their peers by DHA supplementation in pregnancy. (Support: NIH – HD043099).

The Parenting Responsibility and Emotional Preparedness (PREP) Screening Tool

OBJECTIVE To test the ability of a 3-item screening tool (Parenting Responsibility and Emotional Preparedness [PREP]) to detect adolescent mothers at elevated risk for nonoptimal parenting and poor child development outcomes at 2 years of age. DESIGN A 4-site prospective cohort study conducted from December 2001 to August 2007 of adolescent mothers recruited in the third trimester of pregnancy and followed up at 4, 8, 18, and 24 months post partum. SETTING Community clinics and home settings in Birmingham, Alabama; Kansas City, Kansas and Missouri; South Bend, Indiana; and Washington, DC. PARTICIPANTS A total of 270 first-time adolescent mothers (aged 15-19 years) and their infants (birth to 2 years of age). MAIN EXPOSURES Naturalistic observations of parent-child interactions and quality of home environment during the first 2 years of life. OUTCOME MEASURES Maternal mental health and cognitive indicators, positive mother-child interactions, quality of home environment, child social-emotional development, and child cognitive development (Bayley scales). RESULTS PREP scores identified adolescent mothers with significantly elevated depressive symptoms and childhood trauma and lower scores of knowledge of infant development and maternal IQ. PREP predicted significantly lower quality of home environments and higher levels of nonoptimal mother-child interactions at 4, 8, and 18 months. PREP also predicted significantly lower child outcomes at 2 years of age for cognitive scores and higher levels of depressive and withdrawal symptoms and dysregulation and negative emotionality. CONCLUSIONS PREP is a low-cost, easily administered, nonstigmatizing screening tool that identifies adolescent mothers who self-recognize that they need help to meet their infants' social, emotional, and cognitive needs.

Does the home environment and the sex of the child modify the adverse effects of prenatal exposure to chlorpyrifos on child working memory?

Prenatal exposure to chlorpyrifos (CPF), an organophosphorus insecticide, has long been associated with delayed neurocognitive development and most recently with decrements in working memory at age 7. In the current paper, we expanded the previous work on CPF to investigate how additional biological and social environmental factors might create or explain differential neurodevelopmental susceptibility, focusing on main and moderating effects of the quality of the home environment (HOME) and child sex. We evaluate how the quality of the home environment (specifically, parental nurturance and environmental stimulation) and child sex interact with the adverse effects of prenatal CPF exposure on working memory at child age 7years. We did not observe a remediating effect of a high quality home environment (either parental nurturance or environmental stimulation) on the adverse effects of prenatal CPF exposure on working memory. However, we detected a borderline significant interaction between prenatal exposure to CPF and child sex (B (95% CI) for interaction term=−1.714 (−3.753 to 0.326)) suggesting males experience a greater decrement in working memory than females following prenatal CPF exposure. In addition, we detected a borderline interaction between parental nurturance and child sex (B (95% CI) for interaction term=1.490 (−0.518 to 3.499)) suggesting that, in terms of working memory, males benefit more from a nurturing environment than females. To our knowledge, this is the first investigation into factors that may inform an intervention strategy to reduce or reverse the cognitive deficits resulting from prenatal CPF exposure.

Effects of home environment and center-based child care quality on children's language, communication, and literacy outcomes

This study examined the joint effects of home environment and center-based child care quality on children's language, communication, and early literacy development, while also considering prior developmental level. Participants were 95 children (46 boys), assessed as toddlers (mean age=26.33months; Time 1) and preschoolers (mean age=68.71months; Time 2) and their families. At both times, children attended center-based child care classrooms in the metropolitan area of Porto, Portugal. Results from hierarchical linear models indicated that home environment and preschool quality, but not center-based toddler child care quality, were associated with children's language and literacy outcomes at Time 2. Moreover, the quality of preschool classrooms moderated the association between home environment quality and children's language and early literacy skills – but not communication skills – at Time 2, suggesting the positive cumulative effects of home environment and preschool quality. Findings further support the existence of a detrimental effect of low preschool quality on children's language and early literacy outcomes: positive associations among home environment quality and children's developmental outcomes were found to reduce substantially when children attended low-quality preschool classrooms.

Home environments of infants: relations with child development through age 3

BackgroundThis study aimed to examine prospective associations of young infants' home environments with expressive vocabulary delay and internalising and externalising problem scores independently of family socioeconomic status (SES) and national...

Correlational Study of Perceived Quality of Home Environment and Self-Concept Among Adolescents

Adolescence is a period which is marked by several physical, cognitive and socio-emotional developments, during this crucial phase how quality of home environment plays an important role in the development of self-concept to be explored by this study. A sample of 100 adolescents (50 males and 50 females) studying in class Xth, XIth and XIIth were selected from various schools of Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh. For collecting data the research tools namely Home Environment Inventory by Dr. Karuna Shankar Misra (1983) and Self-concept scale by Dr. Mukta Rani Rastogi (1979) were used. Findings of the Pearson Product Moment Coefficient of Correlation revealed that for the development of positive self-concept among adolescents, there should be less or no use of rejection, control, deprivation of privileges and social isolation of home environment. Results also revealed that home environment nurturance and permissiveness showed significantly negative correlation and plays an important role in the development of components of self-concept that is beliefs and convictions and feelings of shame and guilt among adolescents. Further t-test shows significant gender difference in terms of the perception of different dimensions of home environment and self-concept. That is on both the dimensions males scored significantly higher in terms of mean score than female adolescents except feelings of shame and guilt. These findings suggest that there should be an intervention program arranged for enhancing relationship between parents and adolescents especially for females.

Does executive function mediate SES and home quality associations with academic readiness?

► Examined EF as a mediator of developmental context-school readiness association. ► 49 mother–child dyads completed home observation and laboratory visit. ► EF mediated associations between socioeconomic status and math skills. ► Observed relationships were independent of child verbal ability. This study examined the extent to which executive function (EF) mediated associations of socioeconomic status (SES) and home-environment quality with academic readiness (math, letter and word identification, and knowledge of story-and-print concepts). Forty-nine 54–66-month old children and their mothers participated in a home observation and laboratory visit. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed the EF mediated associations between SES and math outcomes. These findings were observed after controlling for child verbal abilities. Implications for the role of verbal ability in EF, the developmental context in predicting EF, and the influence of EF on academic readiness are discussed.

Home‐based Child Development Interventions for Preschool Children from Socially Disadvantaged Families

This Campbell systematic review assesses the effectiveness of home‐based child development interventions in improving children's developmental outcomes. The review summarises findings from seven studies. Two of the studies were undertaken in the US, one in Canada, one in Jamaica, one in Ireland, one in an unreported location and one in Bermuda.The nature of the evidence makes it difficult to assess the impact on child cognitive development. Evidence synthesis of four of the seven studies finds no effect. But evidence from the other three studies cannot be combined, so the overall finding is inconclusive. Adverse outcomes for parents (for example, disempowerment) were not reported in any of the seven studies, so no conclusion can be reached.The evidence did not allow conclusions to be reached for secondary outcomes such as child physical development and parenting behaviour.AbstractBACKGROUNDSocial disadvantage can have a significant impact on early child development, health and wellbeing. What happens during this critical period is important for all aspects of development. Caregiving competence and the quality of the environment play an important role in supporting development in young children and parents have an important role to play in optimising child development and mitigating the negative effects of social disadvantage. Home‐based child development programmes aim to optimise children's developmental outcomes through educating, training and supporting parents in their own home to provide a more nurturing and stimulating environment for their child.OBJECTIVESTo determine the effects of home‐based programmes aimed specifically at improving developmental outcomes for preschool children from socially disadvantaged families.SEARCH STRATEGYWe searched the following databases between 7 October and 12 October 2010: Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (2010, Issue 4), MEDLINE (1950 to week 4, September 2010), EMBASE (1980 to Week 39, 2010), CINAHL (1937 to current), PsycINFO (1887 to current), ERIC (1966 to current), ASSIA (1987 to current), Sociological Abstracts (1952 to current), Social Science Citation Index (1970 to current). We also searched reference lists of articles.SELECTION CRITERIARandomised controlled trials comparing home‐based preschool child development interventions with a ‘standard care’ control. Participants were parents with children up to the age of school entry who were socially disadvantaged in respect of poverty, lone parenthood or ethnic minority status.DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSISTwo authors independently selected studies, assessed the trials' risk of bias and extracted data.RESULTSWe included seven studies, which involved 723 participants. We assessed four of the seven studies as being at high risk of bias and three had an unclear risk of bias; the quality of the evidence was difficult to assess as there was often insufficient detail reported to enable any conclusions to be drawn about the methodological rigour of the studies. Four trials involving 285 participants measured cognitive development and we synthesised these data in a meta‐analysis. Compared to the control group, there was no statistically significant impact of the intervention on cognitive development (standardised mean difference (SMD) 0.30; 95% confidence interval ‐0.18 to 0.78). Only three studies reported socioemotional outcomes and there was insufficient data to combine into a meta‐analysis. No study reported on adverse effects.AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONSThis review does not provide evidence of the effectiveness of home‐based interventions that are specifically targeted at improving developmental outcomes for preschool children from socially disadvantaged families. Future studies should endeavour to better document and report their methodological processes.PLAIN LANGUAGE SUMMARYThe early years of a child's life are extremely important in terms of development and growth. Children from a deprived family background are at greater risk of developmental problems and poor health. Parenting and the quality of the home environment can help boost young children's development and reduce the negative consequences of deprivation. The purpose of this review was to look at whether home‐based parenting programmes, which aim to improve child development by showing parents how to provide a better quality home environment for their child, are effective in doing so. Seven randomised controlled trials (RCTs) met the inclusion criteria for this review. It was possible to combine the results from four of the seven studies, which showed that children who received the programme did not have better cognitive development than a control group. Socioemotional development was measured in three studies but we could not combine this data to help reach a conclusion about effectiveness. None of the studies measured adverse effects. The quality of the evidence in the studies was difficult to assess due to poor reporting. More high quality research is needed.

Family’s Social Climate and Support System in Rural Haryana

KEYWORDS Communicate. Stimulation. Home environment. Social maturity. Preschoolers ABSTRACT The child learns the best lesson of citizenship between the kiss of the mother and the care of the father . The way in which the parents communicate with the child, the choice of words, the underlying ideas and values, the extent to which they give meaning to their experiences have a lasting impact in shaping the personality of the child. Lack of stimulation and an unresponsive environment can hamper children's overall development. In the present study, quality of home environment describes environmental stimulation provided by mothers to their children. In day to day life, mothers perform certain activities consciously or unconsciously which may become an effective stimulative channel for the development of children. The family's social climate and support system was judged by observing the home environment of the preschoolers using Mohite' s Home Environment Inventory. The results revealed that in case of language development, physical environment, variety in stimulation and discipline of children, mothers exposed their children to low level of stimulation. Moderate level stimulation was provided for encouraging social maturity among children. The poorest aspects were the physical environment and variety in stimulation, as almost none of the mothers provided high quality stimulation for these two aspects whereas in other aspects, high level stimulation was provided though by few mothers. From the above findings, it can be summarized that maternal contribution was of low quality as poor stimulation was provided by mothers.

Home and preschool learning environments and their relations to the development of early numeracy skills

Preschool quality Home learning environment Numeracy skills Longitudinal study International childcare perspectives Cognitive development a b s t r a c t This study examined the influence of the quality of home and preschool learning environments on the development of early numeracy skills in Germany, drawing on a sample of 532 children in 97 preschools. Latent growth curve models were used to investigate early numeracy skills and their development from the first (average age: 3 years) to the third year (average age: 5 years) of preschool. Several child and family background factors (e.g., gender, maternal education, socioeconomic status), measures of the home learning environment (e.g., literacy- and numeracy-related activities), and measures of preschool structural and process quality (e.g., ECERS-E, ECERS-R) were tested as predictors of numeracy skills and their development. The analyses identified child and family background factors that predicted numeracy skills in the first year of preschool and their development over the three points of measurement—particularly gender, parental native language status (German/other), socioeconomic status, and mother’s educational level. The quality of the home learning environment was strongly associated with numeracy skills in the first year of preschool, and this advantage was maintained at later ages. In contrast, the process quality of the preschool was not related to numeracy skills at the first measurement, but was significantly related to development over the period observed. The results underline the differential impact of the two learning environments on the development of numeracy skills. Interaction effects are explored and discussed.

Impact of Depression and Childhood Trauma in Mothers Receiving Home Visitation

Research has documented the deleterious effects of maternal depression and childhood trauma on parenting and child development. There are high rates of both depression and childhood trauma in new mothers participating in home visitation programs, a prevention approach designed to optimize mother and child outcomes. Little is known about the impacts of maternal depression and childhood trauma on parenting in the context of home visitation. This study contrasted depressed and non-depressed mothers enrolled in the first year of a home visitation program on parenting stress, quality of home environment, social network, and psychiatric symptoms. Mothers were young, low income, and predominantly unmarried. Results indicated that depressed mothers displayed impairments in parenting, smaller and less robust social networks, and increased psychiatric symptoms relative to their non-depressed counterparts. Path analyses for the full sample revealed a path linking childhood trauma, depression, and parenting stress. Path analyses by group revealed several differential relationships between dimensions of social network and parenting. Number of embedded networks, namely the number of different domains in which the mother is actively interacting with others, was associated with lowered parenting stress among non-depressed mothers and increased parenting stress in their depressed counterparts with childhood trauma histories. In depressed mothers, social network size was associated with lower levels of parenting stress but decreased quality of the home environment, whereas number of embedded networks was positively related to quality of the home environment. Implications of findings for home visitation programs are discussed.

Cross‐border marriage and disparities in early childhood development in a population‐based birth cohort study: the mediation of the home environment

Taiwan has experienced a large influx of cross-border marriage migrants in recent years. The majority have been women in their childbearing ages and have come from countries with lower average standards of living than Taiwan. This trend has changed the ethnic composition of children who live in Taiwan, and it has generated considerable social concern over the future health status of Taiwan's citizens. This study aimed to examine: (1) whether there are disparities in development between children reared in families characterized by cross-border marriages and children reared in families with two Taiwanese-born parents; and (2) whether the quality of home environment explains the group differences in early childhood development. Data came from the Taiwan Birth Cohort Study. A total of 19,499 participants who completed 6-month, 18-month and 3-year surveys were included for analysis. Cross-border marriage status was defined by mother's original nationality and categorized into three broad groups: Taiwanese-born, Chinese cross-border and South-East Asian (SEA) cross-border. Early childhood development was measured at age 3 years, and covered the domains of gross motor, fine motor, language and socio-emotional competence. Hierarchical linear regressions were used to examine the mediation effects of the home environment. Children of Chinese and SEA cross-border groups scored lower in fine motor, language and socio-emotional competence than those of their Taiwanese-born counterpart at age 3 years. Chinese-Taiwanese group differences in all three developmental domains became insignificant after the addition of home environment, while SEA-Taiwanese group differences in fine motor and language development remained, yet were noticeably reduced. The mediation of home environment was further confirmed using the Sobel test. Home environment plays a central role in reducing the disparities in developmental outcomes among children of different marriage groups. Interventions should be directed towards enhancing the quality of early home environment for children reared in families of cross-border marriages.

The stability of mastery motivation and its relationship with home environment in infants and toddlers

Mastery motivation (intrinsic drives to explore and master one's environment) is a key developmental element. The aims of this study were to investigate (1) the stability of mastery motivation between 2 and 3 years of age for two genders; and (2) the associations between early home environment and toddlers’ mastery motivation in children with typical development. Methods Data of 102 children developing typically from a birth cohort study at Northern Taiwan were analyzed in two parts: (1) stability part: mastery motivation of children were measured at 2 and 3 years of age; (2) environment part: child–parent dyads were assessed from birth, 4 months, 6 months, and 2–3 years of age. Outcomes variables were measured at ages 2 and 3 years by the Dimension of Mastery Questionnaire-17th version. Main predictive variables were measured by Home Observation for Measuring Environment Inventory (HOME) to collect data of the qualities of home environment at 6 months and 2 years; by the Revised Infant Temperament Questionnaire to obtain 4-month activity levels; and by the Comprehensive Developmental Inventory for Infants and Toddlers to obtain 2-year developmental quotient (DQ). Results There was moderate stability of mastery motivation from 2 to 3 years, and girls’ stability was higher than boys’. 6-Month HOME rather than 2-year HOME measures were positively and significantly correlated with instrumental mastery motivation even when controlling for gender, activity level, and DQ. Conclusion Mastery motivation had moderate stability during the toddler period. The quality of home environment in infancy appeared to have a significant impact on toddler's mastery motivation. To promote mastery motivation, caregivers should provide better quality of home environment for infants/toddlers during the very early years.

The import of the cortisol rise in child care differs as a function of behavioral inhibition.

Children of ages 3 to 4.5 years (N = 107; 45 boys, 62 girls) were studied twice, 6 months apart, to examine whether the cortisol rise in child care at Time 1 (T1) was associated with (a) changes in anxious, vigilant behavior from T1 to Time 2 (T2) and (b) higher internalizing symptoms at T2. Controlling for measures of home environment and child care quality at T1, as well as for cortisol activity at T2, we obtained results indicating that behavioral inhibition moderated the associations between the rise in cortisol at T1 and child outcomes at T2 (i.e., anxious, vigilant behavior and internalizing symptoms). For both outcomes, the rise in cortisol at T1 became more positively predictive at increasing levels of behavioral inhibition. Specifically, at higher levels of behavioral inhibition, children with larger T1 cortisol increases expressed more internalizing symptoms than did children at lower levels of behavioral inhibition; in contrast, for those with low cortisol activity at T1, children with higher levels of inhibition expressed fewer internalizing symptoms than did children at lower levels of inhibition. In addition, children with higher levels of behavioral inhibition and lower cortisol activity at T1 exhibited reductions in anxious, vigilant behavior from T1 to T2, whereas at lower levels of behavioral inhibition, variations in the T1 cortisol rise bore no relation to changes in this behavior. These results suggest that the rise in cortisol at child care may have differential predictive value as a function of behaviorally inhibited temperament.

The early home environment and developmental outcomes for young children in the child welfare system

The quality of the early home environment is predictive of young children's subsequent cognitive, academic, and behavioral functioning. Limited research has focused on the effects of the early caregiving environment on the functioning of young children involved with the child welfare system. This study investigated the influence of children's home environments (i.e., number of children in the home, number of moves the child experienced, level of cognitive stimulation, and level of emotional support) during the first 2 years of life on their preschool developmental outcomes (i.e., cognition, language, social skills, and behavior problems). As anticipated, a high-quality early home environment promoted the well-being of preschool children who had entered the child welfare system as infants. Children who lived with greater numbers of children incurred more compromised cognitive, language, behavioral, and social outcomes. No significant associations emerged between the total number of placements and developmental outcomes; children who remained in the same home during infancy (typically the birth family home) had more compromised developmental outcomes in every domain except behavioral problems. Both cognitive stimulation and emotional support in the home predicted higher cognitive and language scores, decreased behavioral problems, and increased social skills. Early out-of-home placement and lack of emotional support interacted to predict children's behavioral problems. These findings are considered in the context of extant research and policy relevant to young children in the child welfare system.

Child Undernutrition in India

We have constructed a composite indicator of anthropometric failure (CIAF) that refines the Waterlow-3 tier classification, using a recent nation-wide household survey. The CIAF and its disaggregation into subcategories of undernourished 5 years old children reveal a grimmer story of child undernutrition than conventional anthropometric indicators do. Besides, simultaneous occurrence of anthropometric failures (e.g. stunting and underweight, and stunting, wasting and underweight) is pervasive. Our analysis of determinants of CIAF yields some new insights-specifically, the important role of food prices. Investigation of the links between different anthropometric failures and prevalence of infectious diseases (viz. Diarrhoea and acute respiratory infection), however, offers some justification for the disaggregated classification of undernourished children used here. Specifically, those with more than one failure were worse-off in this respect than children with no failure. There is a strong case for income growth together with food price stabilisation in curbing child undernutrition. Education has the desired effect but it is less strong than expected. Improvement in the quality of home environment makes a difference too but it is not conditional on income or wealth alone.

Double Jeopardy: Poorer Social‐Emotional Outcomes for Children in the NICHD SECCYD Experiencing Home and Child‐Care Environments That Confer Risk

Using data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Early Child Care Research Network (NICHD SECCYD), the authors examined whether interactions between home and child-care quality affect children's social-emotional adjustment at 24, 36, and 54 months (N = 771). Triadic splits on quality of home and child care were used to examine children in specific ecological niches, with a focus on those who experience the double jeopardy of poor quality home and child-care environments. Children in this niche exhibited the highest levels of mother-reported problem behavior and the lowest levels of prosocial behavior. However, there was evidence that children from lower quality home environments were able to benefit from the compensatory influence of high-quality child care. These results suggest policies aimed at the cross-context influences of protective and risky settings.

Residents’ Satisfaction of Indoor Environmental Quality in Their Old Apartment Homes

The purpose of this study is to determine the characteristics of indoor environmental quality (IEQ) of old apartment homes and the residents’ satisfaction with living in these properties. About 168 households were surveyed in this study. The survey was based on the evaluation of deterioration using housing performance indicators and the questionnaire study. First, this study compared and analysed the results of both technical evaluation and residents’ satisfaction on the IEQ of old apartments based on case studies. Second, the study validated the IEQ evaluation of the home environments using multiple regression analyses based on residents’ satisfaction and their perception about the indoor environment. Third, the importance of the indoor environment composition factors contributing to the home environmental quality was assessed based on the survey of residents’ perception and experts’ opinions. Analytic hierarchy process was used to evaluate the housing experts’ opinions. The objective evaluation by technical criteria was also carried out to determine the conditions of the apartment homes. This study should contribute to elaborate evaluation models for the development of guidelines for the home environmental quality of high-rise and high-density old apartment buildings in Korea.

Parental work schedules and adolescent risky behaviors.

Using a large contemporary data set (the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth-Child Supplement), the authors examined the effects of parental work schedules on adolescent risky behaviors at age 13 or 14 and the mechanisms that might explain them. Structural equation modeling suggests mothers who worked more often at night spent significantly less time with children and had lower quality home environments, and these mediators were significantly linked to adolescent risky behaviors. Similar effects were not found for evening work schedules, while other types of maternal and paternal nonstandard work schedules were linked to higher parental knowledge of children's whereabouts, which led to lower levels of adolescent risky behaviors. Subgroup analyses revealed that boys, those in families with low incomes, and those whose mothers never worked at professional jobs may particularly be affected by mothers working at nights, due to spending less time together, having a lower degree of maternal closeness, and experiencing lower quality home environments. In addition, the effects of maternal night shifts were particularly pronounced if children were in the preschool or middle-childhood years when their mothers worked those schedules. Implications and avenues for future research are discussed.