The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #49851

Kathleen F. Norr, MA, PhD, College of Nursing, University of Illinois at Chicago, 845 Damen Ave (m/c 802), Chicago, IL 60612, 312-996-7940, KNorr@uic.edu, Kathleen S. Crittenden, PhD, Sociology, University of Illinois at Chicago, MC 312, 1007 W. Harrison St., Chicago, IL 60607, Kaoru Watanabe, MS, RN, College of Nursing, Department of Maternal-Child Nursing, University of Illinois at Chicago, 845 South Damen Ave (MC 802), Chicago, IL 60612, and Seijeoung Kim, PhD, Hektoen Research Institute, 1900 W. Polk St., Administration building, room #901, Chicago, IL 60612.

PROBLEM: To examine the influences of maternal demographics, depression, parenting attitudes and parenting behaviors (HOME) on mental development scores over the first two years of life for African-American and Mexican-American children over the first two years of life. METHOD: Data come from a longitudinal clinical trial assessing the impacts of a home visiting program for 613 low income inner city African-American and Latina (predominately Mexican-American) women from prenatal intake to 24 months after birth. According to Singer's specifications, we used SAS PROC MIXED to fit a longitudinal model for baby's mental development (MDI) at 12, 18, and 24 months. RESULTS: Preliminary models established that MDI decreases over the second year of the baby's life. The one-year intervention increased mental development at 12 months but had no effect on later development. Next we added demographic factors. This model showed lower MDI when the baby is a boy, the birth is multiparous, and the mother is African American and not high school educated. The final model added repeated measurements of parenting attitudes and HOME scores. This final model shows that mental development is a positive function of both positive parenting attitudes and HOME, and mother's education, a baby being female and a first child. Race of the mother is no longer significant, suggesting that its effect on mental development is indirect, through its effects on the parenting environment. IMPLICATIONS: These results highlight the importance of parenting support interventions to improve mental development as well as physical health for low-income infants and toddlers.

Learning Objectives:

• To identify factors associated with higer mental development scores for low income children at 1-2 years.
• To identify public health and policy implications of these findings.

Keywords: Children, Ethnicity

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

Handout (.ppt format, 88.5 kb)