Peer-reviewed article
Child development at age 5 years: The effects of maternal education, socioeconomic status and early-life growth examined prospectively in a lowresource setting
Wiedaad Slemming, Shane Anthony Norris, K Kagura, Haroon Saloojee, Linda Richter ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study followed 636 South African children from birth to age 5 to understand how maternal education, household wealth, and early growth affect child development. Children with higher birthweight and from wealthier households showed better developmental outcomes at age 5. Better growth in the first two years of life, especially for boys, was linked to improved development. The study found that good early growth could reduce the negative effects of having a mother with lower education on child development.
Key points
- Higher birthweight and household socioeconomic status were independently associated with better child development scores at age 5 in both boys and girls
- Increased linear growth between ages 0 and 2 years was associated with higher development scores among boys (β=0.82; 95% CI: 0.27–1.37)
- Growth status mediated the relationship between maternal education and child development scores, meaning better growth partially explained how maternal education affects development
- The negative effects of lower maternal education on child development were reduced when children had better growth outcomes
Limitations
The study used data from a single South African birth cohort, so findings may not generalise to other low-resource settings. The analysis was limited to 636 children with complete data at all time points, which may introduce selection bias and reduce the representativeness of the sample.
Abstract
Background. Deeper insight into relationships between social factors and early childhood growth and development is required, particularly in low-resource settings. Objectives. To determine (i) associations between early linear growth and child development at 5 years; and (ii) whether early childhood growth mediates relationships between maternal education, household socioeconomic status (SES) and subsequent child development. Methods. This study used data from the Birth to Twenty Plus study, a longitudinal South African birth cohort study. The study sample comprised 636 participants with complete data at all relevant time points for the analysis. Household SES and maternal education were measured during pregnancy and the first two years of life, and growth between birth and 4 years of age. Child development was assessed using the Revised Denver Pre-screening Developmental Questionnaire (R-DPDQ). Multivariable regression analyses were used to investigate the association between SES, maternal education, growth and child development, and structural equation modelling was used to analyse the mediation of growth. Results. In both sexes, higher birthweight and household SES were associated with higher R-DPDQ scores. Increased relative linear growth, particularly between 0 and 2 years, was associated with higher R-DPDQ scores among boys (β=0.82; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.27 - 1.37) at age 5. Growth status but not SES mediated the association between maternal education and R-DPDQ scores. Conclusion. Child development at 5 years was independently associated with SES and birthweight. The negative effects of lower maternal education on child development was attenuated by better growth.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- No specific intervention was tested; this is an observational study examining the associations between early-life factors (growth, SES, maternal education) and child development
- Population
- 636 children from the Birth to Twenty Plus longitudinal South African birth cohort with complete data from pregnancy through age 5 years
Key finding
Higher birthweight associated with higher R-DPDQ scores in both sexes
Slemming et al. · Prof. Linda Richter (OpenAlex works) · 22 Jul 2022