Toward a globally inclusive knowledge base on adolescent development: A charge to the Majority World and a plea for epistemic and paradigmatic pluralism.

Ongoing internal dialog on the limitations of Euro-American developmental science has opened up space to explore how best to work toward a knowledge base that is adequately representative of the values, cultures, epistemic traditions, and lived experiences of peoples, nations, and regions around the world. So far, recommendations for the advancement of a global developmental science have focused preponderantly on (1) methodological considerations and (2) an architecture to support cross-disciplinary international collaborative inquiry and/or enhance research capacity building for Majority World scholars and institutions. In this commentary, instead of focusing on specific contributions to the Special Issue, I make a case for an explicit commitment to field-building within Majority World contexts as the primary gap-closing path toward the cultivation of a global developmental science knowledge base. I begin with a worldwide population analysis to demonstrate the magnitude of geopolitical, eco-cultural, and epistemic imbalances inherent in the shaping of Euro-American developmental science. In tandem with the Special Issue's central theme, I draw on scholarship from the fields of history, sociology, and political economy to link decolonial theory to the advancement of a global developmental science. Finally, I explore ways in which exemplary research establishments already engaged in prolific inquiry and research training may be ideal candidates to support field-building and help to advance multidisciplinary inquiry within an ethos of epistemic and methodological pluralism.

A community engagement approach for an integrated early childhood development intervention: a case study of an urban informal settlement with Kenyans and embedded refugees.

BACKGROUND: Community engagement is crucial for the design and implementation of community-based early childhood development (ECD) programmes. This paper aims to share key components and learnings of a community engagement process for an integrated ECD intervention. The lessons shared are drawn from a case study of urban informal settlement with embedded refugees in Nairobi, Kenya. METHODS: We conducted three stakeholder meetings with representatives from the Ministry of Health at County and Sub-County, actors in the ECD sector, and United Nations agency in refugee management, a transect walk across five villages (Ngando, Muslim, Congo, Riruta and Kivumbini); and, six debrief meetings by staff from the implementing organization. The specific steps and key activities undertaken, the challenges faced and benefits accrued from the community engagement process are highlighted drawing from the implementation team's perspective. RESULTS: Context relevant, well-planned community engagement approaches can be integrated into the five broad components of stakeholder engagement, formative research, identification of local resources, integration into local lives, and shared control/leadership with the local community. These can yield meaningful stakeholder buy-in, community support and trust, which are crucial for enabling ECD programme sustainability. CONCLUSION: Our experiences underscore that intervention research on ECD programmes in urban informal settlements requires a well-planned and custom-tailored community engagement model that is sensitive to the needs of each sub-group within the community to avoid unintentionally leaving anyone out.

CONTEXT AND THE ADVANCEMENT OF A GLOBAL SCIENCE OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT: A COMMENTARY.

United Nations agencies mandated to address the needs of children around the developing (Majority) world, routinely create large global data sets mostly for purposes of surveillance and strategic planning of development aid. UNICEF's Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) have produced one of the largest sources of internationally comparable data on women and children. This monograph creatively and elegantly harnesses MICS data on 41 low- and middle-income countries to shed light on risk and protective factors associated with growing up a boy or girl in the developing world. In this commentary, I assess the monograph's contribution to the progress that our field must make toward greater geo-ecological and cultural inclusiveness of its knowledge base. I do so in the context of scholarship that is increasingly and justifiably questioning the relevance of mainstream developmental science outside the Euro-American world. I conclude that notwithstanding the limitations inherent in the data set, Bornstein, Putnick, Lansford, Deater-Deckard, and Bradley have done our field a great service by moving us further on a trajectory toward a more global science.

Some long-standing and emerging research lines in Africa.

Early research on child development in Africa was dominated by expatriates and was primarily addressed to the topics of testing the cross-cultural validity of theories developed "in the West," and the search for universals. After a brief review of the outcome of that research, we propose two additional types of motivation that seem important to us as African researchers begin to take the lead in articulating research agendas for the study of child development in Africa: articulating the contextual relevance and practical usefulness of developmental psychology in Africa; and making developmental psychology intelligible to local audiences. We highlight two major challenges for African societies in this era that call for attention by the emerging field of African child development research: linguistic hegemony and its effects on research and schooling; and the process of indigenization. We end with a preview of chapters in the rest of the volume.

Some growth points in African child development research.

We reflect on ways in which research presented in earlier chapters responds to challenges of generating an African child development field and identify additional issues calling for the field's attention. The chapters collectively display a variety of African contexts and reflexive evidence of the authors' African cultural roots. Connecting research with African audiences demands cooperative communication between educational practitioners and parents with low literacy, and cross-sector communication among professionals. Intracultural exploration of factors influencing the pattern of human development has begun to document the potential of indigenous African cultures as a fund of resources for enhancing child development. Priority topics for future African developmental research include multilingualism, musical performance, socially distributed caregiving, and the relation between adolescence and economic activity. Integration of multiple disciplines in the application of research-based principles to service delivery in the fields of community-based (re)habilitation and early childhood care and education calls for researcher collaboration with practitioners.

Second-first language acquisition: analysis of expressive language skills in a sample of girls adopted from China.

In this study we investigated adopted Chinese girls' expressive English language outcomes in relation to their age at adoption, chronological age, length of exposure to English and developmental risk status at the time of adoption. Vocabulary and phrase utterance data on 318 girls were collected from the adoptive mothers using the Language Development Survey (LDS) (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2000). The girls, aged 18-35 months (M=26·2 months, SD=4·9 months), were adopted at ages ranging from 6·8 to 24 months (M=12·6 months, SD=3·1 months), and had been exposed to English for periods ranging from 1·6 to 27·6 months (M=13·7, SD=5·7). Findings suggest that vocabulary and mean length of phrase scores were negatively correlated with age at adoption but positively correlated with chronological age and length of exposure to English. Developmental risk status at the time of adoption was not correlated with language outcomes. The gap between their expressive language and that of same-age girls from the US normative sample was wider for children aged 18-23 months but was closed for children aged 30-35 months. About 16% of the children met the LDS criteria for delays in vocabulary and 17% met the LDS criteria for delays in mean length of phrase. Speech/language interventions were received by 33·3% of the children with delays in vocabulary and 25% with delays in phrase.

Health seeking behaviors and childcare patterns in an informal settlement of Nairobi, Kenya: A cross-sectional study.

Children in urban informal settlements experience high risks for poor health and development. Understanding health seeking behaviors and childcare patterns of caregivers in urban informal settlements is important for devising effective interventions. This study describes household characteristics and aspects of nurturing care among caregivers of children aged 0-2 years in Dagoretti informal settlement, Nairobi-Kenya. In this cross sectional study, data were collected on household socio-demographic characteristics, antenatal care and child delivery practices, infant and young child feeding practices, activities that promote play, learning and school readiness, and on childcare and protection practices. Descriptive statistics of proportions and means were used to summarize the data. The study covers a total of 458 Kenyan and 118 immigrant households. Caregivers from immigrant households, with low education and from the younger age-group (less than 20 years) were vulnerable to sub-optimal caregiving and health seeking practices, including relatively lower rates of age-appropriate breastfeeding and poor dietary diversity. Seventy-five percent of expectant mothers attended less than four antenatal care visits. Households surveyed had limited possession of children's books (2% with three or more books), limited access to play materials (43% had two or more play materials), and low paternal involvement in child stimulation and early learning activities (14%). One-third and half of the children were left with inadequate care and disciplined using both violent and non-violent methods, respectively. Our findings highlight the urgent need for contextually appropriate and integrated interventions anchored in the WHO's nurturing care framework. These interventions can benefit from extensive involvement of caregivers, facility and community-based healthcare workers, policy makers, and other relevant stakeholders.

Supporting Child Development Through Parenting Interventions in Low- to Middle-Income Countries: An Updated Systematic Review.

Background: Over 250 million children in low- and middle-income countries are at risk of not achieving their fullest developmental potential due to co-occurring risks such as poor nutrition and inadequate learning opportunities. Early intervention programs integrating the aspects of nurturing care, that is, good health, adequate nutrition, safety and security, responsive caregiving, and learning opportunities, may ameliorate against the negative impact of these adverse conditions. Methods: This meta-analytic review updates the evidence base of parenting interventions comprising stimulation and responsive caregiving components on developmental outcomes for children under age 2 years in low- and middle-income countries. It also describes and assesses the moderation effects of population characteristics and implementation features on the intervention effectiveness. Studies were identified based on previous systematic reviews and an updated literature search in eight databases and the gray literature up to December 2020. A random-effect model was used to explore the pooled effect sizes accounted for by the intervention for developmental outcome of cognition, language, motor, and social-emotional capacities. Exploratory moderation analyses were also conducted. Results: Twenty-one randomized controlled trials representing over 10,400 children from 12 low- and middle-income countries and regions across three continents (Africa, Latin America, and Asia) were identified. The interventions showed overall small-to-moderate effects on children's cognitive development (ES = 0.44; 95% CI = [0.30, 0.57]); language development (ES = 0.33; 95% CI = [0.18, 0.49]); and motor skills (ES = 0.21; 95% CI = [0.10, 0.32]). The overall effect on social-emotional development was non-significant (ES = 0.17; 95% CI = [-0.01, 0.34]). Effect sizes (ES) varied significantly across the studies. Parenting programs that targeted vulnerable groups, including rural communities and caregivers with lower education levels, had more significant effects on children's development. Group sessions (vs. individual visits) and high program dose (≥12 sessions) were also associated with stronger effects on child development. Further research is needed to determine the effectiveness of the workforce and training on programmatic outcomes. Conclusion: The findings indicate that parenting interventions that encourage nurturing care are effective in improving the early development of children, especially among vulnerable populations. We discuss opportunities to strengthen the implementation of research-based parenting interventions in such contexts.

Factor structure of the Child Behavior Checklist/6-18 in a sample of girls adopted from China.

Confirmatory factor analysis with robust weighted least squares estimation of the 103 dichotomously scored items of the Child Behavior Checklist/6-18 (T. M. Achenbach & L. A. Rescorla, 2001) in a sample of 516 girls adopted from China (ages 6.0-15.7 years; M = 8.2, SD = 1.9) indicated that the fit of the 8-factor model was good (root-mean-square error of approximation = .047) and was slightly better than what T. M. Achenbach and L. A. Rescorla (2001) reported for the same model (.06). Support for the 2nd-order factor structure of Internalizing and Externalizing Problems also was provided. Comparisons of the mean scores for the syndromes and Internalizing, Externalizing, and Total Problems revealed mostly small differences between the sample of adopted Chinese girls and T. M. Achenbach and L. A. Rescorla's normative samples.

Early childhood development in Africa: interrogating constraints of prevailing knowledge bases.

The past two decades have been characterized by renewed attention to the importance of early childhood development (ECD) policies and services in the world's richest and most industrialized countries. During the same period, we have witnessed unprecedented efforts to place ECD policies on the national development planning agenda of the economically less advantaged countries of the Majority World. This paper is premised on the concern that the purposes that have led bilateral and multilateral international agencies to promote and support ECD services in Africa may also be paving the way for uncritical adoption of program and service delivery models grounded in value systems and knowledge bases that may not be appropriate for the continent. We present two critiques to highlight the dangers of ignoring the sociocultural contexts of the knowledge bases that inform ECD policies and practices. We describe one capacity-building effort, under the auspices of the Early Childhood Development Virtual University (ECDVU), to promote culturally relevant knowledge and prepare leadership personnel for Africa's emerging ECD movement. Finally, based on an exercise designed for an ECDVU cohort to engage and reflect on critiques of mainstream research and theorizing on child development, we share insights that are suggestive of the ways in which African perspectives can contribute to and enrich a global knowledge base on child development.

Prioritizing research for integrated implementation of early childhood development and maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health and nutrition platforms.

BACKGROUND: Existing health and nutrition services present potential platforms for scaling up delivery of early childhood development (ECD) interventions within sensitive windows across the life course, especially in the first 1000 days from conception to age 2 years. However, there is insufficient knowledge on how to optimize implementation for such strategies in an integrated manner. In light of this knowledge gap, we aimed to systematically identify a set of integrated implementation research priorities for health, nutrition and early child development within the 2015 to 2030 timeframe of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). METHODS: We applied the Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative method, and consulted a diverse group of global health experts to develop and score 57 research questions against five criteria: answerability, effectiveness, deliverability, impact, and effect on equity. These questions were ranked using a research priority score, and the average expert agreement score was calculated for each question. FINDINGS: The research priority scores ranged from 61.01 to 93.52, with a median of 82.87. The average expert agreement scores ranged from 0.50 to 0.90, with a median of 0.75. The top-ranked research question were: i) "How can interventions and packages to reduce neonatal mortality be expanded to include ECD and stimulation interventions?"; ii) "How does the integration of ECD and MNCAH&N interventions affect human resource requirements and capacity development in resource-poor settings?"; and iii) "How can integrated interventions be tailored to vulnerable refugee and migrant populations to protect against poor ECD and MNCAH&N outcomes?". Most highly-ranked research priorities varied across the life course and highlighted key aspects of scaling up coverage of integrated interventions in resource-limited settings, including: workforce and capacity development, cost-effectiveness and strategies to reduce financial barriers, and quality assessment of programs. CONCLUSIONS: Investing in ECD is critical to achieving several of the SDGs, including SDG 2 on ending all forms of malnutrition, SDG 3 on ensuring health and well-being for all, and SDG 4 on ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promotion of life-long learning opportunities for all. The generated research agenda is expected to drive action and investment on priority approaches to integrating ECD interventions within existing health and nutrition services.

Factor structure and clinical implications of child behavior checklist/1.5-5 ratings in a sample of girls adopted from China.

OBJECTIVE: This study assessed psychometric properties of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL/1.5-5) and explored clinical insights from its use in a sample of adopted Chinese girls. METHODS: Parental ratings were obtained on 707 adopted Chinese girls, ages 1.50-5.92 years (M = 3.24, SD = 1.26). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), employing robust weighted least squares estimation, was used to evaluate the instrument's seven-factor correlated structure. Profiles of scores were analyzed descriptively for clinical insights. RESULTS: The CFAs indicated that the fit of Achenbach and Rescorla's (2000 Manual for the ASEBA preschool forms & profiles. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont, Research Centre for Children, Youth, & Families) model to the data obtained from the adopted Chinese girls was acceptable using either a 2-point response scale or the original 3-point response scale for the 67 items from which the seven syndromes or correlated factors are derived. Values for the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) for the 2-point and 3-point response scales were .049 and .053, respectively. The RMSEA of .049 for the model using the dichotomously scored items was slightly better than what Achenbach and Rescorla (2000) reported for the same model (.06). CONCLUSIONS: The study provides additional evidence of the factorial validity of the CBCL/1.5-5 and supports its use with Chinese girls adopted into North American families. While the Chinese girls showed similar or better behavioral adjustment, compared to a reference group from the CBCL's normative sample, they tended to manifest higher levels of sleep problems.