Concerns about development, behavior, and learning among parents seeking pediatric care

Area of Science:

• Pediatric primary care
• Child development
• Behavioral science

Background:

• Parental concerns about child behavior, development, and learning are crucial indicators in pediatric care.
• Formal screening tools are widely used to identify potential developmental and behavioral issues.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine parental concerns regarding child behavior, development, and learning in a pediatric primary care setting.
• To assess the concordance between parental self-reported concerns and formal screening questionnaire results.

Main Methods:

• 451 parents of children aged 3–65 months completed a questionnaire on concerns and two screening tools: the Ages and Stages Questionnaire-3 (developmental) and the Ages and Stages Questionnaire: Social-Emotional (behavioral).
• Statistical analysis was performed to compare parental concerns with screening outcomes.

Main Results:

• 24% of parents reported at least one concern; higher child age, male gender, and lower income correlated with more concerns.
• Moderate agreement was observed between parental concerns and screening results, with 18% of parents reporting no concerns but still identified as at-risk.
• Agreement was stronger for behavioral concerns than for developmental concerns.

Conclusions:

• Parental self-reporting of concerns demonstrates moderate agreement with developmental and behavioral screening instruments.
• The findings highlight the importance of considering both parental input and formal screening in identifying children's needs.