Association between the home environment and development among 3-to 11-month infants in Shanghai, China

摘要

Background Literature highlighted the home environment as a major factor influencing the overall development of children. However, minimal information is available about the home environment in China and especially in small infants. This survey was conducted to find out the association between the home environment and the early development of infants. Methods A total of 1850 infants aged 3-11 months were randomly selected during December 2014 to September 2015. Affordances in the Home Environment for Motor Development-Infant Scale (AHEMD-IS) was used to measure the home environment considering the availability of toys, physical space and variety of stimulation. The Age and Stage Questionnaire-Chinese (ASQ-C) was used to measure potential developmental delays among infants. Bivariate logistic regression model was used to test the association between home environment and potential developmental delays. Results The percentages of infants with insufficient activity space ranged from 25.27% to 30.23%. With the increase of age, the number of toys available to infants was also increasing. However, varieties of stimulation were decreasing. Compared with infants who have sufficient physical space, the risk of problem-solving development delay increased 26.0% (OR = 0.74, 95% CI: 0.56, 0.97). The risk of gross motor delay was 47.0% (OR = 0.53, 95% CI: 0.53, 0.99) lower in infants with sufficient variety of stimulation than infants without. Fine-motor toys were associated with all domains in ASQ-C except communication development, while gross motor toys mainly affected fine motor and problem-solving development. Conclusion Positive associations between home environment and development among 3- to 11-month infants in Shanghai, China, were revealed in the current study. The results from the study are expected to be useful for early childhood caretakers, public health practitioners and other professionals to plan interventions, especially for low-income families living in a disadvantaged environment.