Three-year-old development: The relationship of child health and parenting stress to neurocognition.

Abstract

Purpose: This study examined parenting stress and child special healthcare needs to child neurocognitive development (NCD).

Design and methods: This secondary analysis used data from the primary study, a longitudinal cohort study of mother-child dyads. Multivariable regression models examined the associations between parenting stress and child special healthcare needs with NCD. Mothers completed the Children with Special Health Care Needs Screener and the Parenting Stress Index-Short Form. The outcome, child NCD, was evaluated using the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development-Third Edition (Bayley-III) Cognitive and Language Scales. Covariates included maternal and child sociodemographic factors and maternal knowledge of child development, depression, and IQ.

Results: Of the 1040 mother-child dyads in this analysis, 171 (16.4 %) mothers reported that their child had one or more special healthcare needs and reported higher levels of parenting stress (PS) compared to those not experiencing health needs. Models including clinically significant PS along with identified child health needs showed the effect of 0.515 reduction (CI = 0.11, 0.92, p = .013) in Bayley-III Receptive Scaled scores.

Conclusions: Clinically significant parenting stress and the presence of child special healthcare needs were associated with lower child NCD, specifically receptive communication skills.

Practice implications: Healthcare providers, including pediatric nurses, should support NCD in young children by identifying children with special healthcare needs early on, recognizing and providing support to decrease parenting stress, and delivering needed medical and developmental support to young children and their families.