Child Development in Developing Countries: Introduction and Methods

Abstract

The Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) is a nationally representative, internationally comparable household survey implemented to examine protective and risk factors of child development in developing countries around the world. This Introduction describes the conceptual framework, nature of the MICS3, and general analytic plan of articles in this Special Section. The articles that follow describe the situations of children with successive foci on nutrition, parenting, discipline and violence, and the home environment addressing two common questions: How do developing and underresearched countries in the world vary with respect to these central indicators of children's development? and How do key indicators of national development relate to child development in each of these substantive areas? The Special Section concludes with policy implications from the international findings.

Can Sport Really Help to Meet the Millennium Development Goals? Evidence From Children in Peru

“…For instance, children often grow up with malnutrition which is associated with poor developmental outcomes. 5 In addition, some literature argues that there is a dearth of social capital such as limited interpersonal cohesion, social networks and availability of civil organizations (see, for example, Bornstein et al, 2012). Furthermore, manual labour and daily-survival activities demand high energy and physical inactivity is not a major problem (Caballero, 2005).…”

“…The literature that exists, moreover, explores the outcomes of sports participation in developed countries (see Section II) where passive leisure activities such as watching TV are popular substitutes for physical activity, and employment as well as 3 education possibilities to enhance human and social capital are widespread. This is different in LDCs where access to education is more limited (Caballero, 2005) and the conditions required to enhance social capital are worse (Bornstein et al, 2012). A final point of note is that the research that analyses the factors associated with child development in LDCs have not tested for causal relationships between sport and development.…”

“…However, sports club participation has positive impacts on children's subjective health and a measure of social capital. Therefore, these results suggest that sport can influence two of the key factors that are central to children's development (Bornstein et al, 2012) and, importantly, establish this by analysing largescale survey data of a carefully selected country-wide sample. …”

Promoção da saúde da população ribeirinha da região amazônica: relato de experiência

“…Another point that called for attention on this school was the lack of food for the students, which can worsen even more the educational process for them. The access to adequate feeding, and other factors such as habitation, material resources and stimulation were objects of study on several researches [14][15][16] , being pointed as unfavorable developmental and learning factors when not presented in an adequate manner.…”

Understanding Governance of Early Childhood Development and Education Systems and Services in Low-Income Countries

“…Socio-ecological models have illustrated the multilayered nature of contexts (Bronfenbrenner, 1979;Chawla, 2002;Hodgkin & Newell, 2007;Robinson, Eickelkamp, Goodnow, & Katz, 2008) with environments closest to the child -such as caring, safe and stimulating family and home environments -having the most direct impact on development (Bornstein, Britto, Nonoyama-Tarumi, Ota, Petrovic, & Putnick, 2012). More distal factors -including relevant policies, systems, and cultural and social influences -have a more indirect influence (Irwin, Siddiqui, & Hertzman, 2007;Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000;Super & Harkness, 1999).…”