Family and socio-economic factors associated with the psychomotor development of pre-school children
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47197/retos.v73.117561Keywords:
Child neurodevelopment, income level, living with parents, parental education, psychomotor performanceAbstract
Introduction: During the infancy, experiences and context are essential for psychomotor development (PMD), which impacts healthy brain development.
Objective: to analyze the association between family and socioeconomic factors with the DPM of preschool-aged children.
Methodology: A cross-sectional design with non-probabilistic sampling was employed. A total of 533 participants (273 children and at least one of their parents) were selected from a town in northern Colombia. The participants were aged between 48 and 66 months (Mean = 53.11, Standard deviation = 5.10). PMD was assessed using the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ-3) across five domains: communication, fine motor skills, gross motor skills, problem solving and social-individual development. Family and socioeconomic factors were collected via questionnaires.
Results: The findings show that older children obtained higher scores in most DPM domains. Children from higher-income households obtained higher scores in most of the five DPM domains. Children whose mothers had a higher level of education obtained better scores. Living with both parents was significantly associated with better communication and motor skills. Being a girl and attending school was associated with a higher probability of demonstrating good fine motor skills, problem-solving abilities, and socio-individual development. Children of parents with higher education performed better in problem solving.
Discussion: The age, income level and maternal education were factors associated with the analysed DPM domains, except for fine motor skills and maternal education.
Conclusions: Findings highlight the need to develop child-friendly policies.
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