Social
Paternal Involvement and Child Development among Low Birthweight Children in Japan Kota Nakayama* Kota Nakayama Naomi Matsumoto Etsuji Suzuki Ichiro Kawachi
Background: Previous studies have shown that paternal involvement is associated with positive development outcomes among normal birthweight children, but no studies have examined the association among LBW children. Accordingly, we aim to assess the association among LBW children in a population-based study.
Methods: By using the data from the nationwide Japanese Longitudinal Survey of Babies in the 21st Century 2010 Cohort, we analyzed 1674 male and 1968 female LBW children, born from May 10th to 24th, 2010. Paternal involvement was assessed at the age of 18 months and dichotomized (low vs. high) based on the median hours of childcare per week, both on weekdays and weekends. We assessed motor and language development, which were evaluated at 30 months of age, and cognitive development, which was evaluated at 66 months of age. We estimated ORs for adverse development outcomes adjusting for potential confounders such as child sex, parental education, maternal involvement, paternal workhours, parental smoking status, residence with grandparents, and use of childcare services.
Results: Regarding the paternal involvement on weekdays, we found no clear association; the adjusted ORs (95% CIs) for adverse motor, language, and cognitive development were 1.30 (0.86, 1.97), 1.06 (0.81, 1.39), and 1.17 (0.71, 1.95), respectively, among children with high paternal involvement. Though not significant, the patterns were reversed on weekends, and the corresponding ORs (95% CIs) were 0.95 (0.61, 1.48), 0.88 (0.66, 1.17), and 0.63 (0.36, 1.08), respectively.
Conclusion: Our study indicates that longer paternal involvement on weekends may have a positive influence on language and cognitive development among LBW children. However, we found no clear association for paternal involvement on weekdays, and further studies are warranted to examine longer term effects of paternal involvement from a perspective of both quantity and quality.