Africa Knowledge Hub for Children

Peer-reviewed articleOpenAlex1 Jan 2026

THE INFLUENCE OF PARENTAL BEHAVIOR ON EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT

Семья является основным окружением, в котором ребенок воспитывается и социализируется. Взаимоотношения между родителями, их установки в отношении различных ситуаций и демонстрируемые ими модели поведения играют значительную роль в развитии, формировании личности и поведении детей дошкольного возраста. Моделирование поведения родителями способствует усвоению деть-ми собственного социального опыта. Теплая семейная атмосфера, взаимное уважение и удовлетворенность членов семьи, открытое общение, сохранение традиций и создание безопасной среды для жизни формируют основу психологически здорового роста и развития ребенка. Цель данного исследования – изучить, как поведение родителей и стили воспитания влияют на развитие детей дошкольного возраста. В исследовании приняли участие 30 родителей воспитанников детского сада № 113 района Сонгино-Хайрхан, Улан-Батор. Для изучения поведенческих установок родителей и подходов к воспитанию применялся метод анкетирования на основе кейсов. Результаты показывают, что авторитетный стиль воспитания оказывает наибольшее положительное влияние на развитие ребенка, тогда как авторитарный и пренебрежительный стили воспитания имеют негативные эффекты.

Barkhas Bayarjargal

DevelopmentPractitioner

Peer-reviewed articleOpenAlex8 Nov 2019

Novel Approaches for the Measurement of Early Childhood Development

Early identification of developmental delay (DD) is essential to providing timely and targeted intervention in the first years of life when the brain is considered to be the most malleable. Current evaluation methods are designed to measure developmental progress but fail to capture the child’s real-world activity and engagement. This thesis aims to describe innovative approaches to improve measurement of what children are doing in their everyday lives. Activity card sorts (ACS) provide a method for individuals to be an active part of their own healthcare team, yet there is none to support caregivers in this vulnerable age group. When DD are identified early, children 0-36 months can be eligible to receive early intervention. Motor deficits are often the first easily measurable sign of dysfunction, but subtle impairment is often missed by parents and pediatricians during brief clinical encounters. Wearable technology has opened up the opportunity for measurement of real-world movement during a child’s typical day and a method to affordably screen children at risk for motor deficits. Evidence suggests that movement measured with bilateral wrist-worn accelerometers can accurately describe upper extremity motor activity in children. The purpose of this dissertation was twofold: (1) Develop and validate the Infant Toddler Activity Card Sort (ITACS) to describe real-world engagement of infants/toddlers and (2) Use accelerometry to describe real-world activity of children with and without disability.

Catherine Rose Hoyt

DevelopmentRead at source

Peer-reviewed articleOpenAlex1 Sept 2019

Characteristics of early childhood development: screening opportunities

Проведена оценка общего развития детей раннего возраста с помощью методики скрининг-оценки ASQ-3. Определены гендерные особенности и динамика признаков нарушений развития у этих детей. Отмечено, что негативная возрастная динамика и наличие признаков нарушений развития у детей в возрасте до трех месяцев требует внедрения в практику специальных методик скрининг-оценки.

Г. В. Кукуруза, Olena Kyrylova, S.M. Tsilyurik

DevelopmentPractitionerRURead at source

Peer-reviewed articleOpenAlex14 Jan 2019

The effect of a maternal training programme on early childhood development in Egypt

BACKGROUND: The initial years of life, particularly the first two years, are considered the most important for brain development and timely interventions profoundly affect the health of the child and families. AIMS: This study aimed to determine the effect of maternal health education on motor, social and cognitive development in infants less than two years old, and to identify the factors that could affect normal development. METHODS: Two hundred and ten mothers and their infants (109 interventions, 101 controls) were recruited from maternal and child health centres in Assiut Governorate, Egypt, in 2017. The maternal training programme has been taught to mothers of infants in intervention groups twice per month and up to five months' duration; however, routine services are provided to control groups only. Bivariate and multivariable analyses were performed to identify the most important predictors of normal development. RESULTS: There were significant improvements in early childhood developmental domains for the intervention groups after five months comparable to the base line assessment. Percent of normal development among intervention groups in communication subscale increased from 46.8% to 76% to 97.9% compared to 50.5% to 46.8% to 57.4% in the control groups (baseline, after two month and after five months assessment respectively). The intervention was a significant predictor in normal development. CONCLUSIONS: There was an improvement in early childhood developmental domains for the intervention groups after applying maternal training programme. Designing educational interventions for routine health care services that reach all children will provide mothers with the opportunity for improvement in early childhood developmental.

Heba M. Mohammed, Omaima El Gibaly, Eman M. M. Monazea et al.

DevelopmentExperimentalEGRead at source

Peer-reviewed articleOpenAlex3 Apr 2020

Household food insecurity and early childhood development: Longitudinal evidence from Ghana

The burden of food insecurity is large in Sub-Saharan Africa, yet the evidence-base on the relation between household food insecurity and early child development is extremely limited. Furthermore, available research mostly relies on cross-sectional data, limiting the quality of existing evidence. We use longitudinal data on preschool-aged children and their households in Ghana to investigate how being in a food insecure household was associated with early child development outcomes across three years. Household food insecurity was measured over three years using the Household Hunger Score. Households were first classified as "ever food insecure" if they were food insecure at any round. We also assessed persistence of household food insecurity by classifying households into three categories: (i) never food insecure; (ii) transitory food insecurity, if the household was food insecure only in one wave; and (iii) persistent food insecurity, if the household was food insecure in two or all waves. Child development was assessed across literacy, numeracy, social-emotional, short-term memory, and self-regulation domains. Controlling for baseline values of each respective outcome and child and household characteristics, children from ever food insecure households had lower literacy, numeracy and short-term memory. When we distinguished between transitory and persistent food insecurity, transitory spells of food insecurity predicted decreased numeracy (β = -0.176, 95% CI: -0.317; -0.035), short-term memory (β = -0.237, 95% CI: -0.382; -0.092), and self-regulation (β = -0.154, 95% CI: -0.326; 0.017) compared with children from never food insecure households. By contrast, children residing in persistently food insecure households had lower literacy scores (β = -0.243, 95% CI: -0.496; 0.009). No gender differences were detected. Results were broadly robust to the inclusion of additional controls. This novel evidence from a Sub-Saharan African country highlights the need for multi-sectoral approaches including social protection and nutrition to support early child development.

Elisabetta Aurino, Sharon Wolf, Edward Tsinigo

SurvivalDevelopmentExperimentalGHRead at source

Peer-reviewed articleOpenAlex2 May 2018

Maternal Stress During Pregnancy and Early Childhood Development

There is a consensus in the literature on the relevance of the first 1,000 days since conception in the development of a child's cognitive and non-cognitive skills. However, little is known of the determinants of these skills at that age, as previous literature has focused on the effect of in utero and early childhood shocks on outcomes at birth or at age 7 and beyond. In this paper, we analyze the impact of prenatal stress on cognitive and non-cognitive development of the child by age 2. By exploiting a longitudinal dataset of children and their parents, we find that children who were exposed in-utero to maternal stress do not have different birth-weight relative to those who were not exposed, yet by age 2, exposed children had a lower level of development, cognition skills, and more attention problems relative to children not exposed to in utero stress. We also find that the negative impacts are observed if in-utero stress occurs during the first trimester of pregnancy. The negative impact on cognitive skills and development is concentrated on lower-income children and attention problems occur among high-income children, and boys suffer lower development and worse attention problems, while girls' cognition is negatively affected by in-utero stress.

Matías Berthelon, Diana Krüger, Rafael Myro Sánchez

DevelopmentUSCLDERead at source

Peer-reviewed articleOpenAlex24 Jan 2025

Early Childhood Development and Education for National Development: Relevance and Delivery System in Nigeria

The study examined early childhood development and education for national development: relevance and delivery system in Nigeria. The paper examined the concept of Early Childhood Development and Education (ECDE), its purpose and relevance, and the delivery system in the country. The paper suggests strategies to improve early childhood care and development and recommends that the Government improve ECDCE by having a strong political will towards it, among other things.

Atakpo Theresa Edirin

DevelopmentNGRead at source

Peer-reviewed articleOpenAlex30 Jun 2020

Measuring early childhood development with The Early Human Capability Index (eHCI): a reliability and validity study in China

BACKGROUND: With the importance of early childhood development more recognized by the international society, low-cost and cross-culturally comparable measures of early childhood development is in great demand, both in China and worldwide. In this study, we aim to test the psychometrics of the Chinese version of The Early Human Capability Index (eHCI), which is designed as a measurement for school readiness in large population. METHODS: We evaluated the internal consistency, test-retest reliability, inter-rater reliability, factor structure, criterion-related validity, and discriminant validity of the eHCI in 20,324 preschool children in Shanghai. We also compared eHCI scores with test result of ASQ in 815 children in Yexian and EAP-ECDS in 6947 children in Daming. RESULTS: The ICC between parents and teachers were 0.83 and 0.63 for Literacy Numeracy and Overall Development. The confirmatory factor analyses showed good model fit (χ2 = 509,323, p < 0.001; CFI = 0.901; RMSEA = 0.038). The correlations between the scores of eHCI and other ECD metrics ranged between r = - 0.42 and r = 0.53. The scale discriminated between children's developmental level based on sex, parental education, family income, family assets, and nutrition status. CONCLUSIONS: Results from Chinese population suggested that eHCI is valid and reliable for measuring early childhood development in children aged 3-6 years. The eHCI can be applied to map the global distribution of early childhood development for allocating scarce resources to help those in greatest demand. Longitudinal studies are warranted to test its predictive validity for later outcomes.

Jin Hua Zhao, Sally Anne Brinkman, Yunting Zhang et al.

DevelopmentCNRead at source

Policy documentOpenAlex17 May 2023

Sustainable Development Goals summit 2023 and the global pledge on disability-focused early childhood development

In September, 2023, the second global summit on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will be held during the annual UN General Assembly for the midpoint appraisal of the 2015–30 Agenda for Sustainable Development.1 The summit will review the global progress in implementing the SDGs, consider new challenges that arose since 2015, provide updated policy guidance, and mobilise action to accelerate progress towards achieving the SDGs. This occasion provides a rare and timely opportunity to review the global commitment on early childhood development (ECD) for children younger than 5 years, and to leave no one behind (SDG 4.2).

Bolajoko Olubukunola Olusanya, Vivian G. Cheung, Mijna Hadders‐Algra et al.

DevelopmentNGUSNLGBRead at source

Peer-reviewed articleOpenAlex30 May 2025

Literature Study on the Impact of Micronutrient Deficiencies on Early Childhood Development

Early childhood is a golden period in human life that greatly determines the quality of long-term growth and development. One important factor that supports the optimization of this phase is the fulfillment of micronutrient needs such as iron, iodine, zinc, and vitamin A. This study aims to examine in depth the impact of micronutrient deficiencies on early childhood development through a literature study method with a qualitative approach. The results of the literature search indicate that micronutrient deficiencies have a serious impact on cognitive development, physical growth, social-emotional abilities, and children's immune systems. Iron deficiency anemia, iodine deficiency, zinc deficiency, and lack of vitamin A have been shown to contribute to decreased IQ, motor delays, and increased risk of infectious diseases and child mortality. These findings emphasize that the problem of micronutrient deficiencies is a multidimensional issue that requires cross-sector interventions based on scientific evidence. These interventions include family education, fortification programs, and community empowerment in providing nutritious food. Thus, the fulfillment of micronutrients from an early age is a strategic step in developing superior, healthy, and productive human resources in the future

Firayani Firayani

SurvivalDevelopmentIDRead at source

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