Joshua Jeong|Dana Charles McCoy|Aisha Yousafzai|Carmel Salhi|Günther Fink
Paternal Stimulation and Early Child Development in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
Harvard Global Health Institute|Harvard University|Aga Khan University|Northeastern University|Harvard Global Health Institute
studies examined relationship paternal stimulation childrens growth development particularly low middleincome countries lmics study aimed estimate prevalence paternal stimulation assess whether paternal stimulation associated early child growth developmentdata multiple indicator cluster surveys rounds 4 5 combined across 38 lmics sample comprised 87 286 children aged 3 4 years paternal stimulation measured number play learning activities 6 father engaged child past 3 days linear regression models used estimate standardized mean differences heightforage zscores early childhood development index ecdi zscores across 3 levels paternal stimulation controlling caregivers stimulation demographic covariatesa total 478 fathers engage stimulation activities whereas 64 fathers engaged 5 6 stimulation activities children whose fathers moderately engaged stimulation 14 activities showed ecdi scores 009 sd 95 confidence interval ci 012 006 lower children whose fathers highly engaged children whose fathers unengaged showed ecdi scores 014 sd lower 95 ci 017 012 neither moderate paternal stimulation lack paternal stimulation associated heightforage zscores relative high stimulationincreasing paternal engagement stimulation likely improve early child development lmics