About this session

Thursday, 1:40 PM - 3:10 PM

Exploring Influences of Caregiver Investments on Early Childhood Development: Research from Across the Global South

As evidence on protective factors of child development in low- and middle- countries proliferates, opportunities arise to explore how these pathways may persist or vary across contexts. This symposium compares patterns of caregiver’s cognitive stimulation in the home and their association with early childhood development outcomes across 30+ countries in the Global South.

Paper 1 examines the association between the frequency of cognitive stimulation during early childhood and children’s developmental outcomes through a systematic review and meta-analysis of 146 studies in low-, middle-, and high-income countries. Subgroup analyses compare the strength of these relationships based on developmental domain, country income status, child age, and other relevant study characteristics.

Paper 2 examines the caregivers’ use of cognitive stimulation practices as a mediator of the relation between caregiver education and infant and toddler development. This work takes a cross-national approach, including samples from eight countries, and compares processes between child gender and across geographic regions.

Paper 3 narrows our focus to a single region in Uganda, exploring caregiving factors and early childhood development outcomes among refugee and host community households. This study explores how experiences of displacement moderate the relations between caregivers’ beliefs about nurturing care and psychological distress, caregiver investments in early learning, and their young children’s developmental outcomes.

Collectively, these papers elevate commonalities and nuances in the associations between cognitive stimulation and early outcomes across diverse cultural contexts. Discussions will highlight implications for scaling two-generation interventions and considerations for future data collections to improve cultural sensitivity

Paper #1
Title	Effects of Caregiver Cognitive Stimulation on Early Childhood Development: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Presenting author	Sarah Hatch, Harvard, United States

Paper #2
Title	Caregiver Education, Home-Stimulating Activities, and Child Development in Majority World Countries
Presenting author	Hang Heather Do, University of Pennsylvania, United States

Paper #3
Title	Influences of caregiver investments and early childhood outcomes in refugee and host households in Uganda
Presenting author	Lindsay Dusard, University of Pennsylvania, United States

View all paper details

Session chair
Lindsay Dusard, University of Pennsylvania, United States

Discussant
Dr. Sharon Wolf, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania, United States

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