Developmental Outcomes of Children From an Urban Middle-Income South African Setting

ABSTRACT

Early childhood development research typically focusses on populations that are either of upper or lower socioeconomic status. A population especially overlooked is the ‘missing-middle’, represented by middle-income, urban populations. Knowledge of children’s development from middle-income populations to guide the implementation and customisation of early intervention policies, is needed. The Vineland-3 was used to describe the developmental outcomes of 55 young children, six to 24 months old, from an urban, middle-income setting in South Africa. The mHealth PEDS was used to identify caregivers’ developmental concerns. Caregivers’ concerns were positively associated with their children’s developmental outcomes (φ = 0.355; p = .024), emphasising their valuable contribution in early identification of developmental delays. Fifteen percent (n = 8) of participants’ children presented with developmental delays, with low birth weight identified as a significant risk (φ = 0.415; p = .011) and higher maternal education as a significant protective factor (φ = 0.365; p = .016). High gross motor proficiency appears to be a strength within this population, while receptive language and play skills require attention. Early childhood development should be prioritised across all socioeconomic classes to help ensure that children from the ‘missing-middle’ do not miss out on the opportunity to thrive.

KEYWORDS:

• Caregiver concerns
• developmental assessment
• developmental delay
• early childhood development
• early identification
• middle-income
• risk factors
• urban South Africa

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The financial assistance of the National Research Foundation (NRF) towards this research is hereby acknowledged. Opinions and conclusions arrived at, are those of the author and are not necessarily to be attributed to the NRF.