Better Social-emotional Behavior in Young Nepali Children is Associated with Household Wealth, Child Age, and Family Participation in a Community Development Intervention.

Abstract

Background Mental health and behavior problems are under-recognized in low- and middleincome countries, especially in young children. Early identification of these problems could encourage governments to address the shortages of child mental health professionals and promote early intervention programs to help children achieve their full developmental potential. Objective Describe the social-emotional development of young rural Nepali children; explore risk factors for poor development. Method The study was embedded in a longitudinal intervention trial comparing control households with those who received training in family nutrition+livestock management (Partial Package) or family nutrition+livestock management+community mobilization (Full Package). At midline, enumerators completed a 145-item household questionnaire, child anthropometry, and Administered the Ages and Stages Questionnaire-Social-Emotional (ASQ-SE) to all enrolled children age 33-47 months (n=310). Bivariate and regression analyses examined the relationship of child and household risk factors to administered the Ages and Stages QuestionnaireSocial-Emotional scores. Result Administered the Ages and Stages Questionnaire-Social-Emotional scores were below age cutoffs in 24% of children, suggesting worse social-emotional development. In bivariate analyses and the adjusted linear regression model, older child age, greater household wealth, and Full Package Intervention status were all associated with better social-emotional development scores. Partial Package Intervention status was associated with worse scores. Conclusion The Administered the Ages and Stages Questionnaire-Social-Emotional is a potential tool to assess child social-emotional development in the context of household and community level interventions. Further work is necessary to validate the administered the Ages and Stages Questionnaire-Social-Emotional and similar tools in Nepal, and to better understand the prevalence of challenges to optimal socialemotional development in young children in order to use this information to design and monitor needed interventions.