Quantitative and qualitative predictors of development for low-birth weight infants of Latino background

Despite the large number of Latino infants and children in the United States, little Latino-specific data are available for these children. For this study a wide variety of factors that influence the cognitive and motor development of 123 high risk infants from low socioeconomic status Latino families were examined. Because there is not a consensus on the most predictive components of development in this population, a combination of objective and subjective measures were used. The objective measures used were the Home Observation for the Measurement of the Environment (HOME), the Nursing Child Assessment Teaching Scale (NCATS), the Maternal Confidence Questionnaire (MCQ), Bayley scores, and the Parental Stress Index (PSI). Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was used to examine the effect of the objective and subjective measures on the children's mental and motor development. Multiple regression indicated that the Bayley Mental scores at 24 months were predicted from three objective variables (social support, maternal confidence, and mother-infant interaction) and two subjective variables (report of stress and maternal income). For motor development, maternal income, the home environment, and maternal confidence explained most of the variance. The fact that stress, measured subjectively, was the most significant predictor of the cognitive development of Latino low-birth weight infants points to the fact that this construct should not be overlooked and should not be measured by standardized objective measures. Furthermore, the subjective report of mothers in regard to the support they receive was not correlated to the objective measure of social support obtained. Our results indicate that certain factors may be better assessed by interview and subjective measures rather than well-tested objective measures.