Do Guyanese mothers' levels of warmth moderate the association between harshness and justness of physical punishment and preschoolers' prosocial behaviours and anger?

Socioeconomic and home educational resource risk factors and Children's literacy and social skills in Guyanese families: Mediating role of parental cognitive engagement and parental guidance

This study examined the mediating role of parental cognitive engagement and parental guidance on the associations between family socioeconomic and home environment resource risk factors and children's literacy and social skills in Guyana. The sample consisted of 1208 families from diverse ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds drawn from the 2019 to 2020 country-level UNICEF MICS data. Caregivers provided assessments of socioeconomic conditions, educational resources in the home environment, cognitive engagement, parental guidance and children's literacy and social skills. Family socioeconomic risk had an indirect association with social skills through cognitive engagement. Home environment educational resource risk had indirect associations with children's literacy and social skills through parental guidance. Findings are discussed in terms of identifying protective factors within families in low- and middle-income Caribbean countries that can better inform intervention efforts geared at reducing risks to childhood development.

Corporal Punishment and Child Development in Low- and- Middle-Income Countries: Progress, Challenges, and Directions

Most studies and reviews of studies on the developmental consequences of corporal punishment have focused on samples from the U.S. and other high-income countries. This study conducted a rapid review of the literature on the associations between corporal punishment and children's cognitive and social-emotional development in low- and- middle-income countries (LMICs). Information from more than 42 studies of children younger than 18 years living in 64 LMICs was reviewed. Overall, the reviewed studies show associations between corporal punishment and negative cognitive and social-emotional outcomes, and there is no evidence that corporal punishment may relate to any positive developmental outcome in LMICs. Yet, issues of internal and external validity are common in the literature. The current evidence indicates that corporal punishment might increase the risk of detrimental child outcomes in LMICs, but further research with stronger methodological designs including samples from multiple settings is warranted.

Measurement tools and indicators for assessing nurturing care for early childhood development: A scoping review

Nurturing care encompasses five components that are crucial for supporting early childhood development: good health, adequate nutrition, opportunities for early learning, responsive caregiving, and safety and security. While there has been increasing attention in global public health towards designing and delivering programs, services, and policies to promote nurturing care, measurement has focused more on the components of health and nutrition, with less attention to early learning, responsive caregiving, and safety and security. We conducted a scoping review to identify articles that measured at least one nurturing care outcome in a sample of caregivers and/or children under-5 years of age in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). We systematically searched five electronic bibliographic databases for peer-reviewed articles published from database inception until November 30, 2020. We first classified outcomes to their respective nurturing care component, and then applied an inductive approach to organize key constructs within each nurturing care component and the specific measures and indicators used across studies. We identified 239 total articles representing more than 50 LMICs for inclusion in the review. The majority of included studies reported a measure of nutrition (N = 166), early learning (N = 140), and health (N = 102), followed by responsive caregiving (N = 78) and lastly safety and security (N = 45). For each nurturing care component, we uncovered multiple constructs relevant to children under-5: nutrition (e.g., anthropometry, complementary feeding), early learning (e.g., stimulation practices, early childhood education), health (e.g., birth outcomes, morbidity), responsive caregiving (e.g., parental responsivity, parent-child interactions), and safety and security (e.g., discipline, inadequate supervision). Particularly for outcomes of early learning and responsive caregiving, there was greater variability with regards to the measures used, reported indicators, and analytic construction of variables than the other three nurturing care components. This study provides a comprehensive review of the current state of measurement of nurturing care. Additional research is needed in order to establish the most optimal measures and indicators for assessing nurturing care, especially for early learning and responsive caregiving.

Maternal use of physical and non-physical forms of discipline and preschoolers' social and literacy skills in 25 African countries

OBJECTIVES

Little is known about associations between different forms of discipline and children's literacy, social skills, and behavior in low- and middle-income countries. This study examined maternal use of physical discipline, harsh physical discipline, psychological aggression, and nonphysical discipline and their relative associations with preschool-aged children's social and literacy skills and behavioral difficulty in 25 diverse African countries. We also explored whether belief in physical discipline and sociodemographic factors moderate the associations between different forms of discipline and childhood outcomes.

METHODS

The participants were 32,817 biological mothers and their preschool-aged children from the UNICEF Multiple indicator Cluster Surveys. Information regarding belief in and use of physical and nonphysical forms of discipline and children's social and literacy skills and behavioral difficulty were obtained via questionnaires obtained from mothers in each household.

RESULTS

Psychological aggression was negatively, and nonphysical discipline positively associated with children's literacy skills. Harsh physical discipline, physical discipline, and psychological aggression were positively, and nonphysical discipline negatively associated with behavioral difficulty in children. Psychological aggression, physical discipline, and nonphysical discipline were positively associated with and harsh physical discipline negatively associated with children's social skills. Maternal education, preschool enrollment, and household wealth variously moderated the associations between different modes of discipline and children's literacy and social skills and behavioral difficulty.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings underline the negative consequences of harsh discipline on children's social and literacy skills and behavioral difficulty in African cultural communities.

Perceptions of Adolescents and Caregivers of Corporal Punishment: A Qualitative Study Among Indo-Caribbean in Suriname

While the protection of children from all forms of violence is a fundamental right guaranteed by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, violence remains a part of life for children around the globe. Corporal punishment is a form of violence and a dominant practice as a method of corrective parenting in the Caribbean. While researchers are starting to ask children directly about their experiences of violence, there is limited research on children's perspectives of the function, legality, and boundaries of corporal punishment, particularly in low-and middle-income countries. This study begins to address this gap by reporting on 12 focus groups that were conducted with adolescents (aged 12 to 18 years) and caregivers of Indo-Caribbean background in Suriname. The aim is to explore adolescents' and caregivers' shared perspectives about the prevalence of corporal punishment in Suriname, responses to and feelings about its use as a discipline strategy and perspectives of the rationales for and against corporal punishment, and their views on banning it. Analyses were done using ATLAS.ti version 1.0.50, a qualitative data package. Corporal punishment showed to be an everyday experience in children's lives in Suriname. There was no clear consensus regarding adolescents' and caregivers' perspectives on the parental use of corporal punishment. Many participants hesitated to support efforts to prohibit corporal punishment legally. Messages arising from this study could usefully inform the development of a public information campaign on safe and effective discipline of children in Suriname.

Differential impact of parental region of birth on negative parenting behavior and its effects on child mental health: Results from a large sample of 6 to 11 year old school children in France

BACKGROUND

In France, one in 10 residents has immigrated mainly from North Africa, West Africa or the Caribbean including the French West Indies. However little is known about how parents from these regions behave when they migrate to countries that have different cultural norms. It is therefore important to determine how ethno-cultural background affects parental behavior and subsequent child mental health in the context of immigration. The objectives are: 1) to compare negative parenting behaviors of French residents from diverse ethno-cultural backgrounds 2) to examine the relationship between parental region of origin and child mental health, and 3) to investigate the extent to which ethno-cultural context moderates the effect of parenting styles on child mental health.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2005 in 100 schools in South-East France. The Dominic Interactive and the parent-reported Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire were used to assess child psychopathology. The Parent Behavior and Attitude Questionnaire was used to assess parenting styles. The final sample included data on 1,106 mother and child dyads.

RESULTS

Caring and punitive attitudes were significantly different across mothers as a function of region of origin. This association was stronger for punitive attitudes with the highest prevalence in the Caribbean/African group, while mothers from Maghreb were more similar to French natives. Differences in caring behaviors were similar though less pronounced. Among children of Maghrebian descent, punitive parenting was associated with an increased risk of internalizing disorders while this association was weaker among children of African and Afro-Caribbean descent.

CONCLUSIONS

Parental region of origin is an important component of both parenting styles and their effect on child mental health. Interventions on parenting should consider both the region of origin and the differential impact of origin on the effect of parenting styles, thus allowing for a finer-grained focus on high-risk groups.

A national study on the prevalence of child abuse and neglect in Suriname

The prevalence of child maltreatment in Suriname has never been subjected to a reliable assessment. The only data available include rough estimates of a range of internationally comparable indicators extrapolated from child protection and police corps statistics for offenses against children. This study aimed to provide a reliable estimate of the prevalence of all forms of child maltreatment in Suriname. One thousand three hundred and ninety-one (1,391) adolescents and young adults of different ethnicities completed a questionnaire about child maltreatment. The study sample, obtained by random probability sampling, consisted of students (ages 12 through 22) from five districts in Suriname. A significant proportion of Surinamese children experienced maltreatment. In total, 86.8% of adolescents and 95.8% of young adults reported having been exposed to at least one form of child maltreatment during their lives. Among the adolescents, 57.1% were exposed to child maltreatment in the past year. When the definition of the National Incidence Study was applied, 58.2% of adolescents and 68.8% of young adults had been exposed to at least one form of maltreatment. Among adolescents, 36.8% reported having experienced at least one form of maltreatment in the past year. The results indicate the (extremely) high lifetime and year prevalence of child maltreatment in Suriname. The serious and often lifelong consequences of such maltreatment indicate that a national approach to child abuse and neglect, including the development of a national strategic plan, a national surveillance system and changes to the state's programmatic and policy response, is urgently needed.