Introduction

Efforts to identify the predictors of maternal knowledge on Early Child Development (ECD) have proven inconclusive thus far, particularly with respect to socially deprived contexts in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs). We quantified the extent of ECD knowledge among mothers who were the primary caregivers of 0–38-month-old infants in marginalized communities in Mexico. We also explored the characteristics of the children, both individually and with regard to their households, given the influence of these factors on childhood development.

Methods

We analyzed primary data obtained through a questionnaire administered to mothers who were the primary caregivers of 1045 girls and boys 0–38 months of age. The instrument was specifically designed for our study in order to explore the knowledge of participants about physical, neurological and psycho-affective development during childhood. We performed fractional regression analysis to assess the predictors of ECD knowledge.

Results

The mean score of maternal ECD knowledge increased with their age and schooling as well as with their levels of cognitive ability and self-esteem. Irrespective of age at first birth, mean knowledge was relatively high for women with high school education and low for women with elementary or no formal education, a gradient with respect to age at fist birth was more marked among women with middle school education. ECD knowledge scores increased among mothers from households enjoying higher socioeconomic levels and from households with health insurance. Scores were lower for indigenous households regardless of their participation in social programs.

Conclusion

Public policies on ECD should promote programs that are not only adapted to specific contexts, but also designed to improve shared child-rearing, early childhood care and as well as psycho-emotional education skills as a pathway to healthier ECD. The participation of families and communities in sensitive childhood care should form part of multisectoral programs involving education, health and wellbeing.

中文翻译：

---

墨西哥高度边缘化社区儿童早期发展的孕产妇知识预测因素：对公共政策的影响

介绍

迄今为止，确定孕产妇早期儿童发展 (ECD) 知识预测因素的努力已证明尚无定论，尤其是在低收入和中等收入国家 (LMIC) 的社会贫困背景下。我们量化了墨西哥边缘化社区 0-38 个月大婴儿的主要照顾者母亲的 ECD 知识程度。鉴于这些因素对儿童发展的影响，我们还探讨了儿童的个人特征和家庭特征。

方法

我们分析了通过对 1045 名 0-38 个月大的女孩和男孩的主要照顾者母亲进行的问卷调查获得的原始数据。该仪器专为我们的研究而设计，旨在探索参与者在儿童时期的身体、神经和心理情感发展方面的知识。我们进行了分数回归分析以评估 ECD 知识的预测因子。

结果

母亲ECD知识的平均得分随着她们的年龄和教育程度以及她们的认知能力和自尊水平而增加。与初生年龄无关，高中教育女性的平均知识相对较高，小学或未受过正规教育的女性平均知识较低，初产年龄的梯度在初中教育女性中更为明显。来自社会经济水平较高的家庭和拥有健康保险的家庭的母亲的 ECD 知识得分有所提高。无论土著家庭是否参与社会计划，他们的得分都较低。

结论

有关 ECD 的公共政策应促进不仅适应特定环境，而且旨在改善共享育儿、幼儿保育和心理情感教育技能的计划，作为通向更健康的 ECD 的途径。家庭和社区参与敏感的儿童保育应成为涉及教育、健康和福祉的多部门计划的一部分。