Climate change is a threat multiplier for violence against children.

BACKGROUND: The climate crisis is the biggest threat to the health, development, and wellbeing of the current and future generations. While there is extensive evidence on the direct impacts of climate change on human livelihood, there is little evidence on how children and young people are affected, and even less discussion and evidence on how the climate crisis could affect violence against children. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: In this commentary, we review selected research to assess the links between the climate crisis and violence against children. METHODS: We employ a social-ecological perspective as an overarching framework to organize findings from the literature and call attention to increased violence against children as a specific, yet under-examined, direct and indirect consequence of the climate crisis. RESULTS: Using such a perspective, we examine how the climate crisis exacerbates the risk of violence against children at the continually intersecting and interacting levels of society, community, family, and the individual levels. We propose increased risk of armed conflict, forced displacement, poverty, income inequality, disruptions in critical health and social services, and mental health problems as key mechanisms linking the climate crisis and heightened risk of violence against children. Furthermore, we posit that the climate crisis serves as a threat multiplier, compounding existing vulnerabilities and inequities within populations and having harsher consequences in settings, communities, households, and for children already experiencing adversities. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude with a call for urgent efforts from researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to further investigate the specific empirical links between the climate crisis and violence against children and to design, test, implement, fund, and scale evidence-based, rights-based, and child friendly prevention, support, and response strategies to address violence against children.

Executive function, self-regulation skills, behaviors, and socioeconomic status in early childhood.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Prior research has established steep socioeconomic status (SES) disparities in children's cognitive skills at kindergarten entry. Yet, few studies have had comprehensive, multi-informant data to examine SES-related differences in foundational social and emotional skills and executive function. The objective of the current study is to systematically examine SES-related differences in young children's executive function (EF), self-regulation skills, and behaviors. METHODS: The current study analyzed data on 2,309 young children from the Early Learning Study at Harvard (ELS@H). Multi-method (direct-assessment and reports) and multi-informant (parents and early education and care educators) information on children's executive function, self-regulation skills, and internalizing, externalizing, and adaptive behaviors were used. A parametric framework employing Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) estimation was used to quantify the size of the SES-related differences in this set of children's foundational social-emotional skills. RESULTS: On average, there were differences of 0.24-0.45 SD for EF, 0.22-0.32 SD for self-regulation skills, and 0.27-0.54 SD for behaviors favoring children from the highest SES quartile of the distribution of SES relative to children from the lowest quartile. The SES-related differences were consistent across direct assessment, parent reports, and educator reports. Some differences were larger for older children relative to their younger counterparts. CONCLUSIONS: Findings indicate a need for comprehensive intervention efforts well before kindergarten entry aimed at closing early disparities in children's foundational social and emotional skills and executive function.

Estimates of a multidimensional index of nurturing care in the next 1000 days of life for children in low-income and middle-income countries: a modelling study.

BACKGROUND: Nurturing care is crucial for children's ongoing development during the pre-primary education period, or the next 1000 days of life. We generated nationally representative prevalence estimates of access to ten basic indicators of nurturing care among children aged 3-4 years in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). METHODS: We applied multiple imputation and predictive modelling to data on children living in LMICs. Individual-level data on ten indicators were from UNICEF's Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys and the Demographic Health Surveys Program, and we included data on all children aged 36 to 59 months for whom the surveys asked relevant questions on parenting and child development. We defined minimally adequate care as receiving at least one of two indicators in each of five dimensions of nurturing care: responsive caregiving, early learning, safety and security, nutrition, and health. We used a two-step multi-level multiple imputation procedure to address missing data across individuals, indicators, and countries. Using imputed datasets, we generated a set of expected-a-posteriori estimates of the percentage and overall number of children receiving each indicator of nurturing care, as well as overall minimally adequate care, for each country, country income grouping, and region, and across all LMICs. For the 54 countries with individual-level data on all indicators, we also produced subgroup estimates of nurturing care on the basis of household wealth, child sex, and urbanicity. FINDINGS: We included individual-level data collected between 2005 and 2019 on 426 349 children aged 3-4 years in 104 LMICs. Across the 137 LMICs considered in our modelling, we estimated that 62·0 million (90% credible interval [CrI] 51·6-71·7) children aged 3-4 years, equivalent to 25·4% (90% CrI 21·2-29·4) of that age group in LMICs, were receiving minimally adequate nurturing care at the time of assessment, leaving 181·9 million (172·2-192·3) without adequate care. Access to care was highest for nutrition (86·2% [84·2-88·2], or 210·3 million [205·4-215·1], with healthy weight), and lowest for early learning (29·3% [21·5-39·6], or 71·5 million [52·5-96·6], in early childhood care and education), responsive caregiving (29·7% [25·6-34·9], or 72·4 million [62·4-85·0], experiencing adequate stimulation from non-maternal caregivers), and safety and security (32·3% [28·3-36·7], or 78·7 million [68·9-89·5], living without physical punishment). Gaps were evident in the estimates, with 50·8% (38·3-60·7) of children from upper middle-income countries receiving minimally adequate care compared with 5·6% (4·8-6·4) in low-income countries. Within 54 countries with complete child-level data, 10·7% (10·4-10·9) of children from households in the lowest wealth quintile had access to minimally adequate care compared with 41·2% (40·7-41·7) in the highest quintile. Inequalities were also large by urbanicity (17·7% [17·5-18.0] rural vs 32·2% [31·8-32.6] urban) but smaller by child sex (23·9% [23·6-24·2] girls vs 22·1% [21·9-22·4] boys). INTERPRETATION: Most children in LMICs are not receiving minimally adequate nurturing care during the next 1000-day period. Further investments in indicator measurement and resources for preschool-age children are needed, particularly for low-income populations and in the domains of responsive caregiving, early learning, and safety and security. FUNDING: None.

Measuring and forecasting progress in education: what about early childhood?

A recent Nature article modelled within-country inequalities in primary, secondary, and tertiary education and forecast progress towards Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets related to education (SDG 4). However, their paper entirely overlooks inequalities in achieving Target 4.2, which aims to achieve universal access to quality early childhood development, care and preschool education by 2030. This is an important omission because of the substantial brain, cognitive and socioemotional developments that occur in early life and because of increasing evidence of early-life learning's large impacts on subsequent education and lifetime wellbeing. We provide an overview of this evidence and use new analyses to illustrate medium- and long-term implications of early learning, first by presenting associations between pre-primary programme participation and adolescent mathematics and science test scores in 73 countries and secondly, by estimating the costs of inaction (not making pre-primary programmes universal) in terms of forgone lifetime earnings in 134 countries. We find considerable losses, comparable to or greater than current governmental expenditures on all education (as percentages of GDP), particularly in low- and lower-middle-income countries. In addition to improving primary, secondary and tertiary schooling, we conclude that to attain SDG 4 and reduce inequalities in a post-COVID era, it is essential to prioritize quality early childhood care and education, including adopting policies that support families to promote early learning and their children's education.

Global estimates of the implications of COVID-19-related preprimary school closures for children's instructional access, development, learning, and economic wellbeing.

Observational data collected prior to the pandemic (between 2004 and 2019) were used to simulate the potential consequences of early childhood care and education (ECCE) service closures on the estimated 167 million preprimary-age children in 196 countries who lost ECCE access between March 2020 and February 2021. COVID-19-related ECCE disruptions were estimated to result in 19.01 billion person-days of ECCE instruction lost, 10.75 million additional children falling "off track" in their early development, 14.18 million grades of learning lost by adolescence, and a present discounted value of USD 308.02 billion of earnings lost in adulthood. Further burdens associated with ongoing closures were also forecasted. Projected developmental and learning losses were concentrated in low- and lower middle-income countries, likely exacerbating long-standing global inequities.

Physical punishment as a predictor of early cognitive development: Evidence from econometric approaches.

This study estimates the effect of physical punishment on the cognitive development of 1,167 low-income Colombian children (Mage = 17.8 months old) using 3 analytic strategies: lagged-dependent variables, a difference-in-differences-like approach (DD), and a novel strategy combining matching with a DD-like approach. Across approaches, physical punishment at ages 9-26 months predicted reductions in children's cognitive development of 0.08-0.21 SD at ages 27-46 months. These results, plus null results of falsification tests, strengthen the argument that physical punishment leads to slower cognitive growth and illustrate the utility of alternative statistical methods to reduce problems of selection bias in developmental research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Maternal, paternal, and other caregivers' stimulation in low- and- middle-income countries.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Globally, studies have shown associations between maternal stimulation and early child development. Yet, little is known about the prevalence of paternal and other caregivers' stimulation practices, particularly in low- and- middle-income countries (LMICs). METHODS: Data from the Multiple Indicators Cluster Survey (MICS) and the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) were combined across 62 LMICs (2010-2018). The sample included 205,150 mothers of children aged 3 and 4 years. High levels of stimulation were defined as caregiver engagement in at least 4 out of 6 possible activities with the child. The proportion of mothers, fathers, and other caregivers providing high levels of stimulation was calculated by country, region, and for the whole sample. Socioeconomic disparities within and between countries were estimated. RESULTS: On average, 39.8% (95% CI 37.4 to 42.2) of mothers, 11.9% (95% CI 10.1 to 13.8) of fathers, and 20.7% (95% CI 18.4 to 23.0) of other adult caregivers provided high levels of stimulation. Stimulation varied by region, country income group, and Human Development Index (HDI), with higher levels of maternal and paternal-but not other caregivers'-stimulation in high-income and high-HDI countries. Within countries, stimulation levels were, on average, lower in the poorest relative to the richest households, and some but not all countries exhibited differences by child sex (i.e., boys vs. girls) or area (i.e., urban vs. rural). CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest a need for intervention efforts that focus on increasing caregiver stimulation in LMICs, particularly for fathers and in low-income contexts.

Inequalities in early childhood care and development in low/middle-income countries: 2010-2018.

Background: Inequalities in early childhood development (ECD) tend to persist into adulthood and amplify across the life course. To date, little research on inequalities in early childhood care and development in low/middle-income countries has been available to guide governments, donors and civil society in identifying which young children and families should be targeted by policies and programmes to improve nurturing care that could prevent them from being left behind. Methods: Using data from 135 Demographic and Health Surveys and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys between 2010 and 2018, we assessed levels and trends of inequalities in exposure to risks of stunting or extreme poverty (under age 5; levels in 85 and trends in 40 countries), early attendance of early care and education programmes (36-59 months; 65 and 17 countries), home stimulation (36-59 months; 62 and 14 countries) and child development according to the Early Childhood Development Index (36-59 months; 60 and 13 countries). Inequalities within countries were measured as the absolute gap in three domains-child gender, household wealth and residential area-and compared across regions and country income groups. Results: 63% of children were not exposed to stunting or extreme poverty; 39% of 3-4-year olds attended early care and education; and 69% received a level of reported home stimulation defined as adequate. Sub-Saharan Africa had the lowest proportion of children not exposed to stunting or extreme poverty (45%), attending early care and education (24%) and receiving adequate home stimulation (47%). Substantial gaps in all indicators were found across country income groups, residential areas and household wealth categories. There were no significant reductions in gaps over time for a subset of countries with available data in two survey rounds. Conclusions: Available data indicate large inequalities in early experiences and outcomes. Efforts of reducing these inequalities must focus on the poorest families and those living in rural areas in the poorest countries. Improving and applying population-level measurements on ECD in more countries over time are important for ensuring equal opportunities for young children globally.