Determinants of child resilience in poverty: findings from the Taiwan Birth Cohort Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
L Chiang ◽  
C J Wang ◽  
T L Chiang

Abstract Background Poverty has adverse effects on child health. While children in poverty face greater health challenges, some still achieve positive health outcomes. This is in part due to their resilience when facing adversity. Identifying the factors that foster child resilience can aid in developing strategies to promote child resilience and reduce the harmful effects of child poverty. This study aims to identify the biological and social factors of resilience among children in poverty from birth to age 12. Methods Data for the analysis came from the Taiwan Birth Cohort Study, a nationally representative sample of 17,354 children who completed six waves of interview surveys between 2005 and 2017. Our sample included 4,570 children who experienced poverty from birth to age 12. The primary outcome variable was child resilience, defined as impoverished children who maintained good health outcomes over the 12-year survey period. Multiple logistic regression was used to examine the factors of child resilience. Results Of the 4,570 children, 36.1% always had good health despite experiencing poverty before the age of 12. An easy temperament (OR = 2.5, 95% CI: 1.9-3.0), female (OR = 1.1, 95% CI: 1.0-1.3), a birth weight greater than 2,500 grams (OR = 1.6, 95% CI: 1.2-2.1), having a foreign-born mother (OR = 1.5, 95% CI: 1.2-1.7), receiving breast milk after birth (OR = 1.3, 95% CI: 1.1-1.5), and good parent-child interaction at 3 years of age (OR = 1.4, 95% CI: 1.2-1.7) were associated with child resilience. Early parent-child interactions can moderate the effect of children's birth weight on later resilience. Conclusions Our findings indicated the factors associated with child resilience in the context of poverty, suggesting that supporting breastfeeding and nurturing parent-child relationships are effective public health actions to foster child resilience. Future research is needed to unravel the underlying mechanisms of biological factors associated with child resilience. Key messages Breastfeeding after birth and high-quality parent-child interaction can lead to positive adaptations to child poverty. Children with difficult temperaments, boys and those born at low birthweight are more vulnerable to poverty and should be targeted for building resilience against poverty.

Author(s):  
P J Clamp ◽  
K De-Loyde ◽  
A R Maw ◽  
S Gregory ◽  
J Golding ◽  
...  

Abstract Objective This study aimed to analyse social, health and environmental factors associated with the development of chronic otitis media by age nine. Method This was a prospective, longitudinal, birth cohort study of 6560 children, reviewed at age nine. Chronic otitis media defined as previous surgical history or video-otoscopic changes of tympanic membrane retraction, perforation or cholesteatoma. Non-affected children were used as the control group. Results Univariate analysis demonstrated an association between chronic otitis media and otorrhoea, snoring, grommet insertion, adenoidectomy, tonsillectomy, hearing loss, abnormal tympanograms and preterm birth. Multivariate analysis suggests many of these factors may be interrelated. Conclusion The association between chronic otitis media and otorrhoea, abnormal tympanograms and grommets supports the role of the Eustachian tube and otitis media (with effusion or acute) in the pathogenesis of chronic otitis media. The role of snoring, adenoidectomy and tonsillectomy is unclear. Associations suggested by previous studies (sex, socioeconomic group, parental smoking, maternal education, childcare, crowding and siblings) were not found to be significant predictors in this analysis.


2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (5) ◽  
pp. 1545-1555
Author(s):  
Chih-Fu Wei ◽  
Mei-Huei Chen ◽  
Ching-Chun Lin ◽  
Yueliang Leon Guo ◽  
Shio-Jean Lin ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Maternal shift work is associated with preterm delivery, small-for-gestational-age new-borns, childhood obesity and future behavioural problems. However, the adverse effects on and interactions of maternal shift work with infant neurodevelopment remain uncertain. Therefore, we examined the associations between maternal-shift-work status and infant neurodevelopmental parameters. Methods The Taiwan Birth Cohort Study is a nationwide birth cohort study following representatively sampled mother–infant pairs in 2005. The participants’ development and exposure conditions were assessed by home interviews with structured questionnaires at 6 and 18 months of age. Propensity scores were calculated with predefined covariates for 1:1 matching. Multivariate conditional logistic regression and the Cox proportional-hazards model were used to examine the association between maternal-shift-work status and infant neurodevelopmental-milestone-achievement status. Results In this study, 5637 term singletons were included, with 2098 cases selected in the propensity-score-matched subpopulation. Persistent maternal shift work was associated with increased risks of delays in gross-motor neurodevelopmental milestones [aOR = 1.36, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.06–1.76 for walking steadily], fine-motor neurodevelopmental milestones (aOR = 1.39, 95% CI = 1.07–1.80 for scribbling) and social neurodevelopmental milestones (aOR = 1.35, 95% CI = 1.03–1.76 for coming when called upon). Moreover, delayed gross-motor and social development were identified in the propensity-score-matched sub-cohort. Conclusions This study shows negative associations between maternal shift work and delayed neurodevelopmental-milestone achievement in the gross-motor, fine-motor and social domains at 18 months. Future research is necessary to elucidate the possible underlying mechanisms and long-term health effects.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
For-Wey Lung ◽  
Bih-Ching Shu ◽  
Tung-Liang Chiang ◽  
Shio-Jean Lin

Abstract Background Functional and excessive use of internet is hard to distinguish, and internet use can affect adolescents’ development of self-identity. The aim of our study was to investigate the pathway relationship of the risk and protective factors of internet use, including mother care, absorptive dissociative trait, having been bullied, exercise, self-perceived depressive mood and happiness of 12-year-old adolescents. Methods The Taiwan Birth Cohort Study dataset, which used a national household probability sampling method and included 17,694 12-years-old adolescents, was used for this study. Results Our results showed 5.3% adolescents reported to spend more than five hours online during schooldays. Additionally, adolescents that spend more than five hours online during schooldays tended to have higher absorptive trait, perceived less care from mothers, more likely to have been bullied, expressed higher level of depressed mood, which leads to lower level of perceived happiness. Conclusions Adolescents that spend more than 5 hours online during schooldays, compared to those that spent less than an hour online, were more likely to have been bullied and affect their level of happiness, showing that they may be a group of higher concern. Since parental care and regular exercise are protective factors for internet addiction, it should be promoted to all adolescents, especially those in the high risk group, to prevent them from being addicted online.


BMJ Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. e033613
Author(s):  
Yi-Ching Lin ◽  
Yi-Fan Li ◽  
Tung-liang Chiang

ObjectivesWe have previously developed the Child Healthy Living Practices in Family (CHLPF) Index and found that the CHLPF Index was concurrently associated with the health of children at age 3. In this follow-up study, we aimed to examine whether healthy living practices in family at age 3 predicted health of children at school age.Design and settingData came from the Taiwan Birth Cohort Study designed to assess the development and health of 24 200 children born in 2005.ParticipantsA total of 18 553 cohort members whose mothers or primary caregivers had completed 6-month, 3-year, 5-year and 8-year surveys were included for analysis, representing a response rate of 87.3%.Outcome measuresA multiple logistic regression model was used to test the relationship between mother-rated children’s health at age 8 and the CHLPF Index level, after controlling for sex, birth outcomes, family structure, parental education, residential area, family income and mother-rated child’s health at age 3.ResultsThe percentage of mother-rated good health at age 8 was 79.7%. Compared with the low CHLPF level, the adjusted OR of mother-rated good health was 1.38 (95% CI 1.19 to 1.60), 1.21 (95% CI 1.10 to 1.35) and 1.17 (95% CI 1.07 to 1.29), respectively, for high, high–low and mid-low CHLPF levels. Moreover, the prevalence of mother-rated good health at age 8 with high-level CHLPF Index in the low-income group was similar to that of the high-income group (83.72% vs 84.18%); the prevalence with low-level CHLPF Index in the low-income group was much lower than that of the high-income group (70.21% vs 78.98%).ConclusionsOur study underscores that high level of healthy living practices in early childhood is positively associated with good health at school age, particularly for children from disadvantaged families.


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