Cognitive and Motor Development in Infants of Adolescent Mothers: A Longitudinal Analysis

A longitudinal study of cognitive and motor development among infants born to adolescent mothers was conducted with 58 adolescent mothers and a control group of 59 adult mothers. The experimental and control groups were matched on race (white/black), parity, prenatal care, and SES. Data were obtained on antepartum, delivery, and postpartum performance of the mothers, along with data on infant status within each maternal group. Additionally, infants from each maternal group were followed longitudinally over the first year of life. Measures of infant mental and motor development test performance on the Bayley Scales of Infant Development were obtained at six and 12 months of age. The HOME Inventory was also used to obtain ratings of the infant home environment at six and 12 months of age. No differences were observed in the incidence of infant or maternal complications between the adolescent and adult maternal groups. However, birthweight, cesarean section, and labor and delivery complications were significantly related to race, with black subjects experiencing less favorable outcomes on these variables. Infants born to adolescent mothers scored significantly lower on the Mental Development Index of the Bayley relative to controls. Black infants also performed significantly lower on this Index compared to white infants. Home environments of infants born to adolescents were found to be significantly less nurturant than those of controls, and the HOME ratings for black subjects were significantly lower than those for whites.

Stability of measures of the home environment for families of children with severe disabilities

The stability of home environment in families of children with severe disabilities was investigated. Sixty-four families were assessed at three time points regarding aspects of their home environment. Family environment scale, home quality rating scale (HQRS) and home observation for measurement of the environment scores were collected at 7 and 9 years after the initial assessment. A remarkable degree of stability was observed, particularly for the FES. The median change score was zero for most subscales; no correlations differed significantly between the 7- and 9-year retests. A repeated measures MANOVA found a significant change in scores over time for only one subscale of the HQRS but none of the 10 FES subscales. Results suggest that, for the FES, administration of these measures every 2 years, perhaps less often, would be sufficient in longitudinal studies of this population. Internal consistency reliability of the FES was lower for these families than in the standardization samples, emphasizing the need to validate measures used with special populations.

Home visiting to families with a newborn child

OBJECTIVE

To validate child health clinic nurses' observations at the first visit to families having a newborn baby.

DESIGN

The nurses' observations were compared with results from a prenatal assessment of the home conditions and with observations made by a psychologist at a home visit about one year later.

SETTING

A newbuilt suburb of Stockholm.

PARTICIPANTS

373 families with a newborn.

OUTCOME MEASURES

Distribution of observations in subgroups, maximum likelihood, positive predictive value.

RESULTS

A significant relationship between the nurses' observations, the prenatal assessment, and the psychologist's evaluation of the home situation was found. Children from homes assessed as "at risk" by the nurses also had lower quotients at Griffiths' test one year later.

CONCLUSION

Already during the child's neonatal period, the nurses make valid observations that are useful in selecting children at risk of subsequent developmental problems.

A Factor Analytic Study of the Home Screening Questionnaire for Infants

In this study some of the dimensions of the home environments of infants as measured by the Home Screening Questionnaire (HSQ) were examined. The sample consisted of 305 urban African infants between 2 and 30 months. Because the influence of the environment has been found to increase dramatically during the child's second year, two age groups were defined: 183 infants between 2 and 17 months and 122 between 18 and 30 months. Three factors were extracted for both age groups: The first factor for both groups was labelled Opportunities for Stimulation, the second factor for the older group and the third for the younger group was labelled Family (particularly father) Support for Child Development, the second factor for the younger group was labelled Mother's Social Extension and the third factor for the older group was called Encourage Independence. The factor structure found is in many respects similar to that reported for the HOME Scales. The significant correlation found between the HSQ and the mental development of infants was primarily accounted for by the factor labelled Opportunities for Stimulation, that is, the mother's ability to structure the environment for learning by providing stimulating play materials and by her involvement with the child in activities which promote development.

Psychomotor and mental development during infancy. Relation to psychosocial conditions and health. Part IV of a longitudinal study of children in a new Stockholm suburb

This article presents the fourth substudy in a Swedish research project of a birth cohort of children in a newly-built Stockholm suburb. The aims are to follow and to describe their mental development by prospective methods. Here we present the results of the one-year follow-up. The children's mental development, measured with the Griffiths' Development Scales, and their behaviour in the test situation and during the home visit are described. These results are related to various psychosocial background factors (such as the parents' ages, number of siblings, form of custody), home environment factors (the parents' mental disease, addictions and criminality) and the children's physical health and development. Children with deviant behaviour during the home visits are described separately. Of 640 women who paid their first visit to the maternal welfare centers in a new Stockholm suburb during one prospective year, 532 (85%) were interviewed with regard to 41 stress factors forming a "Life stress score" (LSS). The interviews were supplemented with data from hospital, social welfare and police records concerning the expectant mother and the father. The 532 mothers were divided into three groups according to the degree of psychosocial stress (194 without psychosocial stress, 171 with severe psychosocial stress and 167 in an intermediate group). The pregnancies and deliveries of all mothers were evaluated. The physical health and development (using information from the child welfare clinics) and the mental health and development (using information from home visits and testings) were studied during infancy in 452 children (226 boys and 226 girls)--i.e. 77% of all children born in the suburb during the year. The children were tested with the Griffiths' Development Scales and their behaviour during the test was observed on home visits by the same psychologist (L.N.) at the age of 10 months (79 boys, 73 girls) or 14 months (92 boys, 107 girls), or about the age of 18 months (55 boys, 46 girls). The test results are mainly reported by descriptive methods. In summary, the results of the evaluation of the children's mental health during the first year of life, generally showed average developmental quotients. However, 20% of the children had values below the average. Thirty-two per cent of the children with low test results (less than -1 standard deviation on the total test) came from homes with serious psychosocial stress and 29% from homes with a mild degree of psychosocial stress. Of the nine children who had generally very low scores in the Griffiths' evaluation, seven came from homes with psychosocial stress.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

The relation of infants' home environments to achievement test performance in first grade: a follow-up study

In 2 earlier investigations, we found that scores on the HOME Inventory administered during the first 2 years of life were substantially correlated with intelligence test scores at ages 3 and 4 1/2. In the current investigation, HOME scores in first 2 years showed similar relations to SRA Achievement Test scores during the first grade. In general, findings from this study were like those from the earlier investigations except that the subscale, "maternal responsivity," showed a weaker relation to achievement than IQ; while the "variety of stimulation" scale showed a stronger relation. Of all the HOME subscales, "play materials" revealed the strongest correlation with first-grade achievement. When 12-month Bayley MDI scores were partialed out of the HOME/achievement relation, little reduction was noted in the magnitude of the correlation; however, when 3-year IQ or subsequent HOME scores were partialed out, little residual correlation was noted.