Parenting and cognitive and psychomotor delay due to small-for-gestational-age birth

BackgroundTo examine whether different dimensions of parenting at different ages help small-for-gestational-age (SGA) children catch-up' the normal children in cognition and psychomotor. MethodsWe analyzed data of 800 children born SGA and 3,000 children born appropriate-for-gestational-age (AGA) from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth cohort. The Two Bag Task was used to measure 2-year or 4-year parenting dimensions. Children's reading, math, gross motor, and fine motor scores were assessed at 5years. Multivariable linear regression models were fitted to test the interactions between SGA and 2-year or 4-year parenting dimensions on 5-year cognitive and psychomotor outcomes (dependent variables). ResultsThere were significant interactions between SGA and early parenting on 5-year reading, math, and fine motor scores. The gap between SGA and AGA children in 5-year fine motor score was attenuated to null [-0.25 (95% confidence interval, -0.41, -0.09) vs. 0.03 (-0.13, 0.20)] when 2-year parental sensitivity score increased from 1 standard deviation (SD) below mean (Mean-SD) to 1 SD above mean (Mean+SD). The gap between SGA and AGA children in 5-year fine motor [-0.28 (-0.44, -0.13) vs. 0.06 (-0.09, 0.22)] and math [-1.32 (-2.27, -0.37) vs. 0.20 (-0.77, 1.17)] scores was also attenuated to null when 4-year parental emotional support score increased from Mean-SD to Mean+SD. In contrast, the gap between SGA and AGA children in 5-year reading score increased from 0.49 (-0.90, 1.88) to -1.31 (-2.55, -0.07) when 4-year parental intrusiveness score increased from Mean-SD to Mean+SD. Similarly, the gap between SGA and AGA children in fine motor score increased with 4-year parental negative regard from 0.02 (-0.14, 0.18) to -0.23 (-0.38, -0.08). ConclusionsEarly high-quality parenting may buffer some adversity in long-termreading, math, and fine motor skills related to SGA birth, whereas low-quality parenting can amplify the adversity.