Early and Concurrent Home Stimulation: Unique and Indirect Links With Four-Year-Old Children's Motor Skills in Rural Pakistan

• In Event: Factors Contributing to Children's Development

Abstract

Fine motor skills enable children to make precise, coordinated movements and support their school readiness. In a longitudinal study of 1,058 four-year-olds in rural Pakistan (n = 488 girls), we examined how prior and concurrent levels of home stimulation relate to fine motor skills. Home stimulation at 18 months was positively associated with motor skills at age four, controlling for family socioeconomic resources, via an indirect pathway through early physical growth and food insecurity. In contrast, home stimulation at age four was positively associated with concurrent motor skills controlling for family socioeconomic resources, and prior and concurrent measures of physical growth and food insecurity. Stimulating experiences at home at age four may uniquely relate to variability in fine motor development.

Authors

• Emma Armstrong-Carter, Stanford University

• Michael J. Sulik, Stanford University

• Saima Siyal, Aga Khan University

• Aisha Yousafzai, Harvard University

• Jelena Obradovic, Stanford University