Abstract
The overall goal of this study was to examine the relationship between parenting practices and cognitive development among preschool-aged children in poor rural China. We drew on data from a large-scale panel dataset of 1,802 children and their caregivers in rural China. The cognitive development of children was measured at 22–30 months and then again at 49–65 months by the Bayley Scales of Infant Development-First Edition (BSID-I) and the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-Fourth Edition (WPPSI-IV), respectively. The results showed that the prevalence of cognitive delay was 38% when children were older. Our findings also revealed that only a small proportion of caregivers engaged in different types of positive stimulating activities (7–24%), while the prevalence of different types of negative parenting practices ranged from 19% to 32%, when the children were 49–65 months old. We found that positive parenting practices were significantly positively associated with the Full-Scale Intelligence Quotient and Primary Indexes, whereas negative parenting practices were significantly negatively associated with these indicators (p < 0.01). When examining child characteristics, the data showed that gender and whether the child attended preschool were significantly associated with positive parenting practices. There is an urgent need to develop initiatives that can improve the children’s cognitive developments from rural China. It is necessary to address the economic and knowledge constraints that prevent rural caregivers from engaging in positive parenting practices by providing financial support to caregivers and developing a public platform that provides parenting information.
Highlights
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In total, 7% to 24% of caregivers engaged in positive stimulating activities.
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In contrast, 19% to 32% of caregivers engaged in negative parenting practices.
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Positive parenting practices were positively associated with children’s cognition.
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Negative parenting practices were negatively associated with children’s cognition.
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Subsample analysis on whether the child was cognitively delayed before preschool age showed consistent results.
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Acknowledgements
Many people assisted to make this project and paper possible. In particular, we would like to acknowledge Sarah-Eve Dill for her writing assistance. We also would like to thank the editors and reviewers for their efforts.
Funding
This work was supported by 111 Project (Grant number B16031); the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant number by 71703084); and the National Social Science Foundation of China (Grant number 17BJY201); and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (100522021QNPY43).
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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and national research committee (Stanford University Institutional Review Board, Protocol ID 25734; Sichuan University Ethical Review Board, Protocol ID 2013005–01) and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
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We obtained oral consent from all participating caregivers for their own and their infants’ involvement in the study. All participants were aware of the risks involved and understood that their participation was purely voluntary.
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Bai, Y., Liu, B., Wang, L. et al. Parenting Practices and Cognitive Development of Preschool-Aged Children: Evidence from Rural China. J Child Fam Stud 30, 2980–2991 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-021-02134-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-021-02134-8