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Gutiérrez-Ruiz K. Recreational Activities and Maternal Education as Determinant Factors in Early Cognitive Development in Cartagena, Colombia. Hacia Promoc. Salud [Internet]. 2025 Jan. 1 [cited 2025 Nov. 8];30(1):83-94. Available from: https://revistasojs.ucaldas.edu.co/index.php/hacialapromociondelasalud/article/view/11096
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Authors
Karol Gutiérrez-Ruiz
Universidad Tecnológica de Bolívar
Abstract
Objective: To explore the relationship between sociodemographic variables and cognitive development in early childhood, with a focus on recreational activities mediated and not mediated by technology. Methodology: A quantitative, non-experimental, cross-sectional, correlational-causal study was conducted in Cartagena, Colombia, between June and October 2023. The study involved 69 children aged 5 to 34 months, who were selected using non-probability convenience sampling. The children attended child development centres and daycare facilities, and their primary caregivers were also involved in the study. Sociodemographic data and information on the frequency of recreational activities, such as reading, outdoor play and electronic device use, were collected through a structured questionnaire. Cognitive development was assessed using the cognitive scale of the Battelle Developmental Inventory. Descriptive analyses, Spearman correlations and multiple linear regression were performed to estimate the associations and predictive relationships between the variables. Results: Higher maternal education and greater frequency of reading as a recreational activity were significantly associated with better cognitive performance, explaining 36.8% of the variance in Battelle Developmental Inventory cognitive scale scores. No significant relationship was identified between screen use and cognitive development.Conclusion: Maternal education and reading emerged as key factors in promoting cognitive development during early childhood. These findings emphasise the importance of providing stimulation at home and of conducting further research into the impact of technology in under -explored sociocultural contexts.
References
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14. Bento G, Dias G. The importance of outdoor play for young children’s healthy development. Porto Biomed J [Internet].2017;2(5):157–60. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pbj.2017.03.003
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19. Vohr BR, McGowan EC, Bann C, Das A, Higgins R, Hintz S, et al. Association of high screen-time use with school-age cognitive, executive function, and behavior outcomes in extremely preterm children. JAMA Pediatr [Internet]. 2021;175(10):1025. http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2021.2041
20. Bhutani P, Gupta M, Bajaj G, Deka RC, Satapathy SS, Ray SK. Is the screen time duration affecting children’s language development? - A scoping review. Clin Epidemiol Glob Health [Internet]. 2024;25(101457):101457. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cegh.2023.101457
21. van den Heuvel M, Ma J, Borkhoff CM, Koroshegyi C, Dai DWH, Parkin PC, et al. Mobile media device use is associated with expressive language delay in 18-month-old children. J Dev Behav Pediatr [Internet]. 2019;40(2):99–104. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/dbp.0000000000000630
22. Li J, Peng P, Ding N, Ma X, Zhao J. How does family socioeconomic status influence children’s reading ability? Evidence from meta-analytic structural equation modeling [Internet]. PsyArXiv. 2023. http://dx.doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/7yv6r
23. Estefanell L. Pantallas en casa: Orientaciones para acompañar una navegación segura en internet. Guía para las familias [Internet]. Montevideo: Fondo de las Naciones Unidas para la Infancia (UNICEF), Ceibal, Administración Nacional de Educación Pública (ANEP); 2023. https://www.unicef.org/uruguay/media/10141/file/Pantallas%20en%20casa.pdf
24. Connell SL, Lauricella AR, Wartella E. Parental co-use of media technology with their young children in the USA. J Child Media [Internet]. 2015;9(1):5–21. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17482798.2015.997440
25. Sundqvist A, Heimann M. Digital media content and co-viewing amongst Swedish 4-to 6-year-olds during COVID-19 pandemic. Acta Paediatr [Internet]. 2021;110(12):3329–30. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/apa.16090
26. Neuman SB. The displacement effect: Assessing the relation between television viewing and reading performance. Read Res Q [Internet]. 1988;23(4):414. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/747641
27. Przybylski AK, Weinstein N. A large-scale test of the Goldilocks hypothesis: Quantifying the relations between digital-screen use and the mental well-being of adolescents. Psychol Sci [Internet]. 2017;28(2):204–15. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0956797616678438
28. Glumbić N, Đorđević M, Brojčin B. Leisure Activities. En: Digital Inclusion of Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Cham: Springer International Publishing; 2022. p. 75–94.
29. Álvarez C, Guzmán-Guzmán IP, Latorre-Román PÁ, Párraga-Montilla J, Palomino-Devia C, Reyes-Oyola FA, et al. Association between the sociodemographic characteristics of parents with health-related and lifestyle markers of children in three different Spanish-speaking countries: An inter-continental study at OECD country level. Nutrients [Internet]. 2021 [citado el 8 de enero de 2025];13(8):2672. https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/13/8/2672
30. Bellagamba F, Presaghi F, Di Marco M, D’Abundo E, Blanchfield O, Barr R. How infant and toddlers’ media use is related to sleeping habits in everyday life in Italy. Front Psychol [Internet]. 2021;12. http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.589664
31. Frata B, Souza JM, Montemezzo D, Henning E, Menegol NA, Okubo R, et al. Predictors for screen time exposure among children between 3 and 5 years old in southern Brazil. J Trop Pediatr [Internet]. 2021;67(5). http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/tropej/fmab092
32. González SA, Sarmiento OL, Florez-Pregonero A, Katzmarzyk PT, Chaput J-P, Tremblay MS. Prevalence and associated factors of excessive recreational screen time among Colombian children and adolescents. Int J Public Health [Internet].2022;67. http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/ijph.2022.1604217
33. Waisman I, Hidalgo E, Rossi ML. Uso de pantallas en niños pequeños en una ciudad de Argentina. Arch Argent Pediatr [Internet]. 2018;116(2):186–95. http://dx.doi.org/10.5546/aap.2018.e186
34. Newborg J, Stock J, Wnek L. Battelle Inventario de Desarrollo. Manual de aplicación. 2a ed. Ediciones. TEA, editor. 1998.
35. Harding JF, Morris PA, Hughes D. The relationship between maternal education and children’s academic outcomes: A theoretical framework. J Marriage Fam [Internet]. 2015;77(1):60–76. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12156
36. Jackson M, Kiernan K, McLanahan S. Maternal education, changing family circumstances, and children’s skill development in the United States and UK. Ann Am Acad Pol Soc Sci [Internet]. 2017;674(1):59–84. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0002716217729471
37. Hanifah I, Oviyanti F, Muhtarom. Child cognitive development based on the maternal education. Atfaluna [Internet].2022;5(1):15–24. http://dx.doi.org/10.32505/atfaluna.v5i1.4070
38. Telias A, Narea M, Abufhele A. A mediation analysis to disentangle relations between maternal education and early child development. Int J Behav Dev [Internet]. 2022;46(6):568–75. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/01650254221108143
39. Putri AR, Susanti N. Association between mother’s educational status and home literacy environment with the language abilities of seven year-old children: Path analysis evidence. Placentum J Ilmiah Kes Apl [Internet]. 2024;12(1):43. http://dx.doi.org/10.20961/placentum.v12i1.82751
40. Singh L, Yeung W-JJ, Cheng Q, Heng EY-T. The home literacy environment mediates effects of socio-economic status on infant vocabulary development. Dev Sci [Internet]. 2023;26(4):e13349. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/desc.13349
2. Lu C, Black MM, Richter LM. Risk of poor development in young children in low-income and middle-income countries: an estimation and analysis at the global, regional, and country level. Lancet Glob Health [Internet]. 2016;4(12):916–922. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s2214-109x(16)30266-2
3. Malhi P, Menon J, Bharti B, Sidhu M. Cognitive development of toddlers: Does parental stimulation matter? Indian J Pediatr [Internet]. 2018;85(7):498–503. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12098-018-2613-4
4. Emerson E, Savage A, Llewellyn G. Significant cognitive delay among 3- to 4-year old children in low- and middle-income countries: prevalence estimates and potential impact of preventative interventions. Int J Epidemiol [Internet]. 2018;47(5):1465–74. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyy161
5. Sánchez-Vincitore LV, Castro A. The role of sociodemographic and psychosocial variables in early childhood development: A secondary data analysis of the 2014 and 2019 Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys in the Dominican Republic. PLOS Glob Public Health [Internet]. 2022;2(7):e0000465. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0000465
6. Na’amnih W, Akawi A, Abu-Moch A, Cohen R, Dror G, Kassem E, et al. Associations of early-life exposures and socioeconomic status with cognitive development at preadolescence. Pediatr Neonatol [Internet]. 2022;64(2):192–200. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pedneo.2022.06.015
7. Morris TP, Ai M, Chaddock-Heyman L, McAuley E, Hillman CH, Kramer AF. Relationships between enriching earlylife experiences and cognitive function later in life are mediated by educational attainment. J Cogn Enhanc [Internet].2021;5(4):449–58. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s41465-021-00208-5
8. Chaparro J, Sojourner A, Wiswall M. Early childhood care and cognitive development [Internet]. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research; 2020. https://www.nber.org/papers/w26813
9. Barone LMC. A literatura na primeira infância. Psicopedagogia [Internet]. 2020;37(113). http://dx.doi.org/10.5935/0103-8486.20200020
10. Erickson E, Best DL. Early childhood literacy and emergent literacy development. En: Halpern-Felsher B, editor. Encyclopedia of Child and Adolescent Health. Academic Press; 2023. p. 325–35.
11. Sun Y-J, Sahakian BJ, Langley C, Yang A, Jiang Y, Kang J, et al. Early-initiated childhood reading for pleasure: associations with better cognitive performance, mental well-being and brain structure in young adolescence. Psychol Med [Internet].2023;54(2):359–73. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0033291723001381
12. Sun Y, Sahakian BJ, Langley C, Yang A, Jiang Y, Zhao X, et al. Early childhood Reading for Pleasure: Evidence from the ABCD study for benefits to cognitive performance and mental health and associated changes in brain structure [Internet].medRxiv. 2022 Feb 27. http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/2022.02.27.22271550
13. Taylor EK, Abdurokhmonova G, Romeo RR. Socioeconomic status and reading development: Moving from “deficit” to “adaptation” in neurobiological models of experience‐dependent learning. Mind Brain Educ [Internet]. 2023;17(4):324–33.http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/mbe.12351
14. Bento G, Dias G. The importance of outdoor play for young children’s healthy development. Porto Biomed J [Internet].2017;2(5):157–60. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pbj.2017.03.003
15. World Health Organization. Guidelines on physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep for children under 5 years of age [Internet]. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2019. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241550536
16. Ahearne C, Dilworth S, Rollings R, Livingstone V, Murray D. Touch-screen technology usage in toddlers. Arch Dis Child [Internet]. 2016;101(2):181–3. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2015-309278
17. Madigan S, Browne D, Racine N, Mori C, Tough S. Association between screen time and children’s performance on a developmental screening test. JAMA Pediatr [Internet]. 2019;173(3):244. http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2018.5056
18. Lillard AS, Drell MB, Richey EM, Boguszewski K, Smith ED. Further examination of the immediate impact of television on children’s executive function. Dev Psychol [Internet]. 2015;51(6):792–805. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0039097
19. Vohr BR, McGowan EC, Bann C, Das A, Higgins R, Hintz S, et al. Association of high screen-time use with school-age cognitive, executive function, and behavior outcomes in extremely preterm children. JAMA Pediatr [Internet]. 2021;175(10):1025. http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2021.2041
20. Bhutani P, Gupta M, Bajaj G, Deka RC, Satapathy SS, Ray SK. Is the screen time duration affecting children’s language development? - A scoping review. Clin Epidemiol Glob Health [Internet]. 2024;25(101457):101457. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cegh.2023.101457
21. van den Heuvel M, Ma J, Borkhoff CM, Koroshegyi C, Dai DWH, Parkin PC, et al. Mobile media device use is associated with expressive language delay in 18-month-old children. J Dev Behav Pediatr [Internet]. 2019;40(2):99–104. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/dbp.0000000000000630
22. Li J, Peng P, Ding N, Ma X, Zhao J. How does family socioeconomic status influence children’s reading ability? Evidence from meta-analytic structural equation modeling [Internet]. PsyArXiv. 2023. http://dx.doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/7yv6r
23. Estefanell L. Pantallas en casa: Orientaciones para acompañar una navegación segura en internet. Guía para las familias [Internet]. Montevideo: Fondo de las Naciones Unidas para la Infancia (UNICEF), Ceibal, Administración Nacional de Educación Pública (ANEP); 2023. https://www.unicef.org/uruguay/media/10141/file/Pantallas%20en%20casa.pdf
24. Connell SL, Lauricella AR, Wartella E. Parental co-use of media technology with their young children in the USA. J Child Media [Internet]. 2015;9(1):5–21. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17482798.2015.997440
25. Sundqvist A, Heimann M. Digital media content and co-viewing amongst Swedish 4-to 6-year-olds during COVID-19 pandemic. Acta Paediatr [Internet]. 2021;110(12):3329–30. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/apa.16090
26. Neuman SB. The displacement effect: Assessing the relation between television viewing and reading performance. Read Res Q [Internet]. 1988;23(4):414. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/747641
27. Przybylski AK, Weinstein N. A large-scale test of the Goldilocks hypothesis: Quantifying the relations between digital-screen use and the mental well-being of adolescents. Psychol Sci [Internet]. 2017;28(2):204–15. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0956797616678438
28. Glumbić N, Đorđević M, Brojčin B. Leisure Activities. En: Digital Inclusion of Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Cham: Springer International Publishing; 2022. p. 75–94.
29. Álvarez C, Guzmán-Guzmán IP, Latorre-Román PÁ, Párraga-Montilla J, Palomino-Devia C, Reyes-Oyola FA, et al. Association between the sociodemographic characteristics of parents with health-related and lifestyle markers of children in three different Spanish-speaking countries: An inter-continental study at OECD country level. Nutrients [Internet]. 2021 [citado el 8 de enero de 2025];13(8):2672. https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/13/8/2672
30. Bellagamba F, Presaghi F, Di Marco M, D’Abundo E, Blanchfield O, Barr R. How infant and toddlers’ media use is related to sleeping habits in everyday life in Italy. Front Psychol [Internet]. 2021;12. http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.589664
31. Frata B, Souza JM, Montemezzo D, Henning E, Menegol NA, Okubo R, et al. Predictors for screen time exposure among children between 3 and 5 years old in southern Brazil. J Trop Pediatr [Internet]. 2021;67(5). http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/tropej/fmab092
32. González SA, Sarmiento OL, Florez-Pregonero A, Katzmarzyk PT, Chaput J-P, Tremblay MS. Prevalence and associated factors of excessive recreational screen time among Colombian children and adolescents. Int J Public Health [Internet].2022;67. http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/ijph.2022.1604217
33. Waisman I, Hidalgo E, Rossi ML. Uso de pantallas en niños pequeños en una ciudad de Argentina. Arch Argent Pediatr [Internet]. 2018;116(2):186–95. http://dx.doi.org/10.5546/aap.2018.e186
34. Newborg J, Stock J, Wnek L. Battelle Inventario de Desarrollo. Manual de aplicación. 2a ed. Ediciones. TEA, editor. 1998.
35. Harding JF, Morris PA, Hughes D. The relationship between maternal education and children’s academic outcomes: A theoretical framework. J Marriage Fam [Internet]. 2015;77(1):60–76. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12156
36. Jackson M, Kiernan K, McLanahan S. Maternal education, changing family circumstances, and children’s skill development in the United States and UK. Ann Am Acad Pol Soc Sci [Internet]. 2017;674(1):59–84. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0002716217729471
37. Hanifah I, Oviyanti F, Muhtarom. Child cognitive development based on the maternal education. Atfaluna [Internet].2022;5(1):15–24. http://dx.doi.org/10.32505/atfaluna.v5i1.4070
38. Telias A, Narea M, Abufhele A. A mediation analysis to disentangle relations between maternal education and early child development. Int J Behav Dev [Internet]. 2022;46(6):568–75. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/01650254221108143
39. Putri AR, Susanti N. Association between mother’s educational status and home literacy environment with the language abilities of seven year-old children: Path analysis evidence. Placentum J Ilmiah Kes Apl [Internet]. 2024;12(1):43. http://dx.doi.org/10.20961/placentum.v12i1.82751
40. Singh L, Yeung W-JJ, Cheng Q, Heng EY-T. The home literacy environment mediates effects of socio-economic status on infant vocabulary development. Dev Sci [Internet]. 2023;26(4):e13349. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/desc.13349
