Factors Affecting Developmental Delay in Children

Research reports that in a diverse, cross-national sample of youth, specific developmental delay domains were found to be associated with physical discipline and cognitive deprivation. //

Dr. Carmel Salhi, lead author, explained that physical discipline and cognitive deprivation are well-established risks to child development, but it is rare that these experiences are examined concerning each other.

This study explores how both of the mentioned risk factors co-occur in childhood and whether they relate to different aspects of child development.

Dr. Salhi adds “This is important as recent research in neuroscience suggests that experiences, which provoke fear, have different effects on a child's neurodevelopment than cognitive deprivation."

The study consisted of a sample of 29,792 children between the ages of 3 - 6 years old and their caregivers from 17 countries. They were asked to complete measures of physical discipline, cognitive deprivation, and risk of developmental delay.

Factors like spanking or slapping on the arm, hand, or leg were used to determine physical discipline, whereas instances like not counting or reading with a child over the past three days and the lack of books in the home were considered cognitive deprivation.

"To see if this framework has the potential to inform policy and public health interventions, we conducted the first large-scale epidemiological study using this conceptual framework," Dr. Salhi added.

Findings showed that physical discipline was associated with a 50% higher risk of socioemotional delay, which is 2.5 times higher than the risk from cognitive deprivation.

Not counting with the child was associated with a 47% higher risk, and not reading with the child was associated with a 67% higher risk of cognitive delay. Physical discipline did not associate with the risk of cognitive delay.

The findings highlight that distinction between fear and deprivation in child development is important to public health research and interventions. Researchers suggest that redistributive policies that alleviate socioeconomic strain can have undeniable positive effects on child developmental outcomes.

Source-Medindia