Department of Maternal and Child Health, School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing 100191, PR China; Department of Epidemiology, Fuwai Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100037, PR China.
Department of Maternal and Child Health, School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing 100191, PR China.
Infant Behav Dev. 2023 May;71:101829. doi: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2023.101829. Epub 2023 Feb 25.
Home environment provides stimulation and learning opportunities required for children's early development. However, few studies have focused on the effects of home environment on left-behind children's development in rural China. The study aimed to investigate the relationship between home environment and early childhood development of left-behind children under 3 years old in rural China.
Information about sociodemographic characteristics, caregivers' mental health, home environment and children's development was collected. Infant/Toddler Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment Inventory (IT-HOME) was used to assess home environment. Child's development was evaluated with the Chinese version of the Ages & Stages Questionnaire - third edition.
Elevated caregivers' depressive symptoms were associated with a higher risk of total suspected development delay. An increase of one score in the IT-HOME resulted in a 7% decrease in total suspected development delay. Higher scores in the dimensions of involvement and variety were associated with a lower risk of suspected development delay adjusting for covariates.
Our results have implications for home-based intervention aiming at promoting nurturing care as well as caregivers' mental health, which is required for early development of young left-behind children in rural areas of China.
家庭环境为儿童早期发展提供了所需的刺激和学习机会。然而，很少有研究关注家庭环境对中国农村留守儿童发展的影响。本研究旨在探讨中国农村 3 岁以下留守儿童家庭环境与早期发展之间的关系。
收集了社会人口特征、照顾者心理健康、家庭环境和儿童发展的信息。采用婴幼儿家庭环境观察量表（IT-HOME）评估家庭环境。使用中文版年龄与阶段问卷第三版评估儿童的发展情况。
照顾者抑郁症状升高与总疑似发育迟缓风险增加相关。IT-HOME 评分每增加 1 分，总疑似发育迟缓的风险就会降低 7%。在调整了协变量后，参与度和多样性维度得分较高与疑似发育迟缓风险较低相关。
我们的研究结果对旨在促进关爱以及照顾者心理健康的家庭干预措施具有启示意义，这是促进中国农村地区留守幼儿早期发展所必需的。
