Do the Children of Mothers with Optimum PICCOLO Scores Have Better Denver II Test Results?

Aim: Positive parenting skills, especially mother-child interactions, are associated with positive effects in countless areas of child development. We aimed to evaluate mother-child interactions in children with developmental delay compared to those with age-appropriate development.

Material And Methods: Children aged 1-5 years admitted to the outpatient clinic for child health supervision were evaluated for the study. A 10-minute video recording was obtained while the participant mother-child couple played together in a room. Children were divided into 3 developmental groups using the Denver Developmental Screening Test II (DDST-II); as age-appropriate, questionable, and delayed. Mother-child interaction was assessed using the "Parenting Interactions with Children: Checklist of Observations Linked to Outcomes" (PICCOLO) tool.

Results: A total of 142 children, whose developmental status was evaluated according to DDST-II and were grouped as age-appropriate (59), questionable (39), and delayed (44), were included in the study. The mean age of the children was 29.0 ± 11.9 months. The median PICCOLO score was 43 (interquartile range (IQR)=36-47) in the age-appropriate developmental group, 44 (IQR=35-51) in the questionable group, and 36 (IQR=32-45) in the delayed group. When adjusted for child's age, gender, presence of a sibling, maternal age, mother's education level, mother's occupation, and household size, multiple logistic regression revealed higher rates for optimum responsiveness and encouragement domains, and total scores in age-appropriate and questionable groups, than in the delayed development group (P < .05).

Conclusion: Supporting all areas, especially the responsive and encouragement domains in mother-child interactions, may improve child development.