There is consensus in acknowledging that parental behavior has a decisive influence on the child’s psychosocial development. However, the multitude of interacting variables makes it difficult to determine specifically which aspects of parental behavior clearly intervene in child development, at what moments that influence is most apparent, and for how long its effects are felt.
Many hypotheses are based on experiments carried out in animals, on observations made in institutions that receive children, and on laboratory situations. In most cases, pairs of variables were studied, and only on a few occasions were comprehensive studies carried out analyzing the influence of multiple factors of parental behavior on several aspects of child development. In those cases, various statistical techniques were used, such as analysis of covariance, multiple regression and factor analysis, which have helped demonstrate the complexity of these relationships.
In an exhaustive review of the subject carried out by Clarke-Stewart, the most significant aspects of parental behavior studied in relation to child behavior are analyzed. For example, it has been established that parental rejection or hostility negatively influences the development of the child’s social behavior, while an affectionate attitude promotes positive child development.
However, as the author postulates, parental attitude by itself does not constitute a predictive element of the child’s future performance. Although the amount of time the mother is present in the home may be important for development, more than the amount of time present, what seems to truly influence the child is the frequency with which she interacts with them.
The sensory, psychological and social stimulation that the mother provides to the child during the first months of life favors, among other things, the emergence of cognitive abilities and language development. There is no evident proof of a causal relationship, and the results of the different studies must be considered provisional. This caution must also be exercised when considering long-term effects.
In families of low sociocultural level, the frequency and quality of interactions between mother and newborn are much lower than in more privileged families. Children from less favored classes receive a much smaller amount of stimulation and, therefore, it may be expected that their ability to develop social and psychological skills will be compromised.
When the child, whether from a wealthy or low-income family, is premature, underweight, or suffers from neurological disorders, mental retardation or congenital conditions, their capacity to encourage interaction with their parents is reduced, and consequently the stimulation they receive becomes increasingly limited.
Based on these concepts, early stimulation programs have been established in different parts of the world, including Latin America. Some are directed at children at high biological risk, such as premature infants and children with cerebral palsy, while others are aimed at children at high social risk, such as children from marginal neighborhoods, orphans and institutionalized children.
At least in Latin America, there has not been a thorough evaluation of these programs, specifically in relation to their long-term effects. For these actions to have a lasting impact, according to some opinions, programs should not be limited to the first months of life, but should be extended at least until the end of preschool age.
However, others point out that even in the case of children subjected to interventions restricted to only one period of their lives, the effects may remain latent and later manifest themselves in better performance during school life.
Birth Weight and Psychosocial Determinants
In the initial stages of life, that is, during pregnancy, the influences of the social environment in which the parents live and the consequences of some aspects of their behavior may have a decisive effect on the developmental characteristics of the new being.
Among the indicators of these influences are prematurity and low birth weight. Premature children and those born at term but weighing less than 2,500 grams are at greater risk of dying or suffering illness than children of normal weight.
Children weighing less than 1,500 grams have a high risk of developmental disorders. Similarly, premature children are more likely to present developmental problems. The probability of neurological disorders or psychomotor developmental disorders increases exponentially in inverse relation to fetal age or low fetal weight.
Among the maternal behaviors associated with low birth weight are cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption. The latter may also produce a varied number of congenital malformations.
A large number of premature or low-birth-weight children are born to adolescent mothers. The high risk among very young mothers has been related, on the one hand, to their biological immaturity and, on the other, to the negative conditions in which most of them live, such as malnutrition, lack of medical care and exhausting work, due to the deplorable socioeconomic conditions they face.
These adverse conditions, often coinciding within the same family, represent interacting forces that require deeper studies in order to propose effective corrective measures.
