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Social withdrawal behaviour in Nepalese infants and the relationship with future neurodevelopment; a longitudinal

Ingrid Kvestad1,2, Manjeswori Ulak3,4, Suman Ranjitkar4

  • 1Regional Centre for Child and Youth Mental Health and Child Welfare, NORCE Norwegian Research Centre, Bergen, Norway.

BMC Pediatrics
|March 19, 2024
PubMed

Insights

Infant social withdrawal is linked to lower early language skills but not later cognitive development in Nepalese children. This finding highlights the importance of early social-emotional assessment for predicting developmental trajectories.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental psychology
  • Pediatric neuroscience
  • Global child health

Background:

  • Social withdrawal in infants can indicate distress and predict suboptimal developmental outcomes.
  • Early identification of social withdrawal is crucial for timely intervention.
  • Understanding the long-term neurodevelopmental impact of infant social withdrawal is essential.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the association between infant social withdrawal and neurodevelopmental outcomes up to age 4 in Nepalese children.
  • To determine if early social withdrawal predicts later cognitive and language abilities.
  • To explore the persistence of social withdrawal's effects on development over time.

Main Methods:

  • Longitudinal study of 597 Nepalese infants (6-11 months old) using the modified Alarm Distress Baby Scale (m-ADBB).
  • Neurodevelopmental assessments included Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development (Bayley-III) in early childhood, and Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI-IV) and NEPSY-II at 4 years.
  • Regression models were used to analyze the relationship between m-ADBB scores and neurodevelopmental outcomes.

Main Results:

  • Infants exhibiting social withdrawal showed significantly lower language scores on the Bayley-III in early childhood (mean difference -2.6).
  • The association was primarily driven by expressive communication skills, not receptive language.
  • No significant differences were observed in other Bayley-III domains, or in cognitive scores (WPPSI-IV, NEPSY-II) at 4 years.

Conclusions:

  • Infant social withdrawal is associated with deficits in early language development, particularly expressive communication.
  • The impact of social withdrawal on language development does not appear to extend to cognitive functioning at 4 years of age.
  • These findings underscore the importance of monitoring early social behaviors for language development, while cognitive outcomes may be more resilient.
Abstract

Keywords:
Early child developmentInfant social withdrawalNepalese infants

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