Grant: CIHR Fellowship

The early childhood environment (i.e., from conception to age 5 years) is crucial for healthy child development. Children's mental development - that is the cognitive, language, and socioemotional skills children acquire in early life - constitutes the building blocks of a healthy, well-educated, and productive society. Ensuring a healthy early environment is thus an important investment in the long-term outcomes of individuals and the communities in which they live. Research suggests that parenting behaviours and parental mental health - particularly parental depression - are two of the most important determinants of children's mental development, but the mechanisms (i.e., mediators and moderators) through which they shape child development, especially in low- and middle-income country contexts, are only beginning to be explored. The aim of my research project is to use intervention and observational research to better understand the impact of maternal and paternal parenting behaviours and mental health on children's mental development. My objectives are to (1) review and summarize the impact of interventions in low- and middle-income countries to improve maternal and paternal parenting behaviours or treat/prevent maternal and parental depression on children's mental development; (2) examine the mechanisms of the association of maternal and paternal parenting behaviours and mental health with children's mental development in a large South African birth cohort (Birth to Twenty Plus Cohort), and (3) test the efficacy of an intervention comparing the separate and combined effects of improving maternal and paternal parenting behaviours and mental health on children's mental development in Pakistan. This research will contribute to our understanding of how the early family environment influences child development in low- and middle-income countries and can be used to inform global evidence-based family policies and programmes to give children the best start in life.