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Child stature, maternal education, and early childhood development in Nigeria.

ABSTRACT: Data from the 2016-17 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey from Nigeria are used to study the relationship between child stature, mother's years of education, and indicators of early childhood development (ECD). The relationships are contrasted between two empirical approaches: the conventional approach whereby control variables are selected in an ad-hoc manner, and the double machine-learning (DML) approach that employs data-driven methods to select controls from a much wider set of variables and thus reducing potential omitted variable bias. Overall, the analysis confirms that maternal education and the incidence of chronic malnutrition have a significant direct effect on measures of early childhood development. The point estimates based on the ad-hoc specification tend to be larger in absolute value than those based on the DML specification. Frequently, the point estimates based on the ad-hoc specification fall inside the confidence interval of the DML point estimates, suggesting that in these cases the omitted variable bias is not serious enough to prevent making causal inferences based on the ad-hoc specification. However, there are instances where the omitted variable bias is sufficiently large for the ad hoc specification to yield a statistically significant relationship when in fact the more robust DML specification suggests there is none. The DML approach also reveals a more complex picture that highlights the role of context. In rural areas, mother's education affects early childhood development both directly and indirectly through its impact on the nutritional status of both older and younger children. In contrast, in urban areas, where the average level of maternal education is much higher, increases in a mother's education have only a direct effect on child ECD measures but no indirect effect through child nutrition. Thus, DML provides a practical and feasible approach to reducing threats to internal validity for robust inferences and policy design based on observational data.

SUBMITTER: Skoufias E

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8700053 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BackgroundSeveral systematic reviews have reviewed the evidence relating to nature on aspects of children and adolescent's health and wellbeing; however, none have looked at the associations or effectiveness of attending nature-based early childhood education (ECE). The main objective is to systematically review and synthesise the evidence to determine if nature-based ECE enhances children's health, wellbeing and development.MethodsWe will search the following electronic databases (from inception onwards): MEDLINE, Scopus, PsycINFO, ERIC, SportDiscus, Australian Education Index, British Education Index, Child Development and Adolescent studies, and Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts. Grey literature will be identified searching dissertations and reports (e.g. Open Grey, Dissertations Theses Database [ProQuest], and Google Scholar). All types of studies (quantitative and qualitative) conducted in children (aged 2-7 years old) attending ECE who had not started education at primary or elementary school will be included. The exposure of interest will be nature-based ECE settings that integrate nature into their philosophy and/or curriculum and environment. The outcomes of interest will be all aspects of the child's physical, cognitive, social and emotional health wellbeing and development. Two reviewers will independently screen full-text articles. The study methodological quality (or bias) will be appraised using appropriate tools. If feasible, a meta-analysis will be conducted using a random-effect model for studies similar in exposure and outcome. Where studies cannot be included in a meta-analysis, findings will be summarised based on the effect directions and a thematic analysis will be conducted for qualitative studies.DiscussionThis systematic review will capture the state of the current literature on nature-based ECE for child health, wellbeing and development. The results of this study will be of interest to multiple audiences (including researchers and policy makers). Results will be published in a peer-reviewed journal. Gaps for future research will be identified and discussed.Systematic review registrationPROSPERO CRD42019152582.

Project description:BackgroundExisting health and nutrition services present potential platforms for scaling up delivery of early childhood development (ECD) interventions within sensitive windows across the life course, especially in the first 1000 days from conception to age 2 years. However, there is insufficient knowledge on how to optimize implementation for such strategies in an integrated manner. In light of this knowledge gap, we aimed to systematically identify a set of integrated implementation research priorities for health, nutrition and early child development within the 2015 to 2030 timeframe of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).MethodsWe applied the Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative method, and consulted a diverse group of global health experts to develop and score 57 research questions against five criteria: answerability, effectiveness, deliverability, impact, and effect on equity. These questions were ranked using a research priority score, and the average expert agreement score was calculated for each question.FindingsThe research priority scores ranged from 61.01 to 93.52, with a median of 82.87. The average expert agreement scores ranged from 0.50 to 0.90, with a median of 0.75. The top-ranked research question were: i) "How can interventions and packages to reduce neonatal mortality be expanded to include ECD and stimulation interventions?"; ii) "How does the integration of ECD and MNCAH&N interventions affect human resource requirements and capacity development in resource-poor settings?"; and iii) "How can integrated interventions be tailored to vulnerable refugee and migrant populations to protect against poor ECD and MNCAH&N outcomes?". Most highly-ranked research priorities varied across the life course and highlighted key aspects of scaling up coverage of integrated interventions in resource-limited settings, including: workforce and capacity development, cost-effectiveness and strategies to reduce financial barriers, and quality assessment of programs.ConclusionsInvesting in ECD is critical to achieving several of the SDGs, including SDG 2 on ending all forms of malnutrition, SDG 3 on ensuring health and well-being for all, and SDG 4 on ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promotion of life-long learning opportunities for all. The generated research agenda is expected to drive action and investment on priority approaches to integrating ECD interventions within existing health and nutrition services.

Project description:BackgroundThe associations among maternal depressive symptoms (MDS), mother-child interactions and early child development are poorly understood. This study aimed to explore the role of mother-child interactions on the associations between MDS and child development.MethodsA cross-sectional study with a multistage sampling method was conducted in rural areas of Central and Western China. MDS, child development outcomes (communication, gross motor function, fine motor function, problem solving and personal social skills) and mother-child interactions were assessed by The Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale, the Chinese version of the Ages and Stages Questionnaires and the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys, respectively. Regression-based statistical mediation and moderation were conducted using the PROCESS macro for SPSS.ResultsA total of 2,548 participants (mothers: 1,274; children: 1,274) were included in our analyses. MDS was negatively associated with child development outcomes and mother-child interactions partly mediated these associations. The proportion of the mediating effect of mother-child interactions was 7.7% for communication, 8.2% for gross motor, 10.3% for fine motor, 10.1% for problem-solving and 9.5% for personal social domains. In addition, the interaction effects of MDS and mother-child interactions on the communication domain were significant (β = 0.070, 95% CI 0.016, 0.124; p = 0.011). The associations between MDS and child communication abilities were weaker at the high level (simple slope = -0.019, t = - 0.458, p = 0.647) of mother-child interactions than at the mean level (simple slope = -0.089, t = - 3.190, p = 0.002) and the low level (simple slope = -0.158, t = - 4.231, p < 0.001). Similar moderating effects were not observed in the other child development outcomes.ConclusionOur results suggest the important role of mother-child interactions on the associations between MDS and early childhood development. Due to the cross-sectional design of this study, these associations require further investigation in prospective studies.

Project description:BackgroundPrevious studies found that maternal shift work during pregnancy was associated with many reproductive hazards, including small for gestational age, preterm birth, stillbirth, and neurodevelopmental impairment. Some studies also showed that these children are more likely to become overweight in early childhood. However, the association with metabolic factors, such as insulin resistance and dyslipidemia, was less studied. Hence, we aimed to understand better the relationship between maternal shift work during pregnancy and the risk of childhood overweight and metabolic outcomes. Confounding factors were also discussed, including diet, exercise, and demographical factors.MethodsWe enrolled pregnant women before delivery in the Taiwan Birth Panel Study (TBPS) II conducted between 2010 and 2012, and followed the children of these participants in 2018. The objective of this study is to investigate the influence of prenatal and postnatal factors on infant and early childhood health. During the follow-up in 2018, we checked children's demographic data, obtained blood specimens, and checked their blood sugar, blood insulin, and lipid profiles. Structured questionnaires were used to evaluate demographic data. Multiple linear and logistic regressions were used to examine the associations between maternal shift work during pregnancy and child overweight, metabolic disorders, such as HOMA-IR, and lipid profiles.ResultsIn this study, we included 407 mother-children pairs with different work shifts (350 day workers and 57 shift workers), and a sub-population without underweight children was also created (290 day workers and 47 shift workers). Shift work during pregnancy was associated with a higher Homeostasis Model Assessment-Insulin Resistance index (HOMA-IR) and a higher odds ratio for overweight in children born from mothers doing shift work during pregnancy after adjustment. The findings were attenuated when we investigated the effect of shift work before pregnancy.ConclusionOur study suggested that maternal shift work during pregnancy was associated with child overweight and insulin resistance in early childhood.

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Child stature, maternal education, and early childhood development in Nigeria.

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