Care-giver child interactions and early cognitive development in West and Central Africa

ABSTRACT

This paper studies the association between caregiver–child interactions and early childhood development in literacy and numeracy in West and Central Africa. Data comes from Multiple Cluster Indicator Surveys (MICS) conducted in Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, and Togo between 2017 and 2020. A multilevel logistic regression is used to estimate the likelihood of being developmentally on track for 35,752 children aged 3–4 years. The results indicate that cognitively stimulating interactions with caregivers such as reading and telling stories are correlated with a higher likelihood of being developmentally on track. Interactions with mothers are associated with significantly higher odds of being developmentally on track but not interactions with fathers.

KEYWORDS:

• Early childhood development
• cognitive and linguistic development
• literacy and numeracy
• home learning environment
• caregiver–child interactions

Disclosure statement

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

Data availability statement

Data from this study is publicly available from https://mics.unicef.org/surveys.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Pearl S. Kyei

Pearl S. Kyei is a Lecturer at the Regional Institute for Population Studies, University of Ghana. She is a social demographer whose research interests lie primarily in studying human capital investments in sub-Saharan Africa and understanding social inequality. She is also interested in strengthening research capacity, improving the statistical literacy of data users, and promoting the uptake of research for decision-making, policy, and planning. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Davidson College, a Master of Arts degree in Demography from the University of Pennsylvania, and a PhD in Demography also from the University of Pennsylvania.

Nana Yaa Nyarko

Nana Yaa Nyarko is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences at the University of Ghana. Her research interest areas are in early childhood care and education specifically how children’s developmental needs are met in schools by teachers/caregivers and at home by parents, especially as it relates to their emotional wellbeing. She holds a PhD Degree in Education from the Open University Malaysia, an MPhil Degree in Psychology from the University of Ghana and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology and Sociology from the University of Ghana.