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Background: Despite numerous studies on early child development, there is still much to be discovered about the significance of possible risk factors. This study examines cognitive, motor, and language development of healthy children growing up in a low-risk environment and how various individual and environmental factors are associated with it. The study also considers whether the importance of particular parameters changes depending on child age., Methods: Within the framework of the LIFE Child study in Leipzig, Germany, 481 children participated in a total of 832 visits between 1 and 36 months of age. Developmental status was assessed using the Third Edition of the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development. Linear regression analyses were applied to examine the associations between child development and sex, gestational age, birth weight, birth mode, overweight, height, and parental education., Results: Mean Bayley composite scores for cognitive, language, and motor development were close to the standard value of 100. Poorer developmental outcomes were significantly associated with lower gestational age, vacuum cup/forceps birth, being overweight, small height, and lower parental education, although some of the associations became insignificant after applying multivariate models. While the association between gestational age and language development became weaker with advancing age, our interaction models found disparities related to parental education to become more apparent in older children across all three domains of early child development., Conclusions: Several factors were identified to be associated with early child development. As children grow older, obstetric parameters, for example, gestational age, might become less relevant compared with sociodemographic factors, for example, parental education., (© 2023 The Authors. Child: Care, Health and Development published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Objectives: To explore environmental and individual factors that are associated with child development and to investigate whether the strength of these associations differs according to the age of the children., Design: Cross-sectional study., Setting: This study was part of the LIFE Child study, a large cohort study conducted in Leipzig, Germany., Participants: 778 children aged between 0.5 and 6 years (48.6% girls, mean age=2.67 years)., Outcome Measures: The outcomes were cognitive development, language development, body and hand motor skills, social-emotional development, and tracing skills, measured with a standardised development test. We analysed the associations between development and gestational age, socioeconomic status (SES), sex, behavioural difficulties, siblings, sleep duration, breastfeeding duration and overweight/obesity. We also tested for interactions between these variables and child age or sex., Results: Higher gestational age (b ranging between 0.12 and 0.26) and higher SES (b ranging between 0.08 and 0.21) were associated with better outcomes in almost all developmental domains (all p<0.019). Children with older siblings had improved body and hand motor skills compared with children without older siblings (both b=0.55, all p<0.029). Boys had poorer scores than girls in body and hand motor skills and tracing (b=-0.45, -0.68 and -1.5, all p<0.019). Children with behavioural difficulties had significantly poorer outcomes in most developmental domains. Some of the associations with SES and sex were stronger in older than in younger children. Associations between gestational age and motor development were weaker in older children. We did not find significant associations between child development and sleep duration, breastfeeding duration or overweight/obesity., Conclusion: Some factors had a protective, others an adverse effect on development of children under 6 years of age. The effect of SES and sex increased, while the effect of gestational age decreased with age., Trial Registration Number: NCT02550236., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Objectives: The aim was to evaluate the longitudinal course of motor skills development in children with a view to improve the understanding of intra-individual variance. Previous publications have been based on cross-sectional data or analyzed longitudinal studies in a cross-sectional manner., Design: Longitudinal. Year-to-year change., Methods: The present study is based on motor function data collected in the LIFE Child study (Germany). The participants (6 to 17 years) completed parts of the motor tests according to the standard of the German Motor Performance Test 6-18 (DMT). For a total of 1653 participants, 4616 motor tests with an annual interval in the period 2011 to 2019 were included in the evaluation., Results: We were able to produce gender and age-specific change centiles for the test items standing long jump, jumping sideways, push-ups, stand and reach and balancing walking backwards. Each set of centiles revealed a range of variability in motor development in children and adolescents, with distinct progressive patterns in the different test items and different genders. The supplied tables offer an indication of expected year-to-year change for each test item depending on age and gender. Depending on the test item and the mean age, a deterioration in test results after a one-year interval was observed, despite cross-sectional centiles showing an upward trend., Conclusion: We present a user-friendly tool as a way to assess individual dynamic changes in motor development of children and adolescents. In combination with the well-known cross-sectional centiles as baseline, this can be helpful for the scientific evaluation of motor skills tests and can also be used in school settings., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Background: Excessive media usage affects children's health. This study investigated associations between children's and mother's media use, parent-child interactions, and early-childhood development outcomes., Methods: Two hundred and ninety-six healthy 2-5-year-old preschoolers (52.4% male, mean age = 3.5 years) and 224 mothers from the LIFE Child cohort study were analyzed. Screen times and parent-child interactions were assessed using standardized parental questionnaires. Developmental skills were investigated using the standardized development test ET 6-6-R., Results: High screen times in children (>1 h/day) were significantly associated with lower percentile ranks in cognition (b = -10.96, p < 0.01), language (b = -12.88, p < 0.01), and social-emotional skills (b = -7.80, p = 0.05). High screen times in mothers (>5 h/day) were significantly associated with high media use by children (OR = 3.86, p < 0.01). Higher parent-child interaction scores were significantly associated with better body motor (b = 0.41, p = 0.05), cognition (b = 0.57, p < 0.01), language (b = 0.48, p = 0.02), and social-emotional outcomes (b = 0.80, p < 0.01) in children., Conclusions: Public health strategies should seek to educate caregivers as competent mediators for their children's media habits, with focus on the need for children to have frequent parent-child interactions., Impact: High media usage in children is related to poorer cognition, language, and social-emotional skills. More frequent parent-child interactions are associated with better body motor, cognition, language, and social-emotional skills in children. High level of media use in mothers is not directly related to children's development outcomes but is directly related to high media usage of children. Public health strategies should seek to raise media awareness and management in both parents and children., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

The LIFE Child study: A cohort study investigating child development in changing environmental conditions The LIFE Child study investigates healthy child development from pregnancy to young adulthood and the development of lifestyle diseases. Objectives: The LIFE Child study investigates healthy child development from pregnancy to young adulthood and the development of lifestyle diseases. Methods: Since study initiation in 2011, 1068 pregnant women and 4658 children have been included in the study. Children are recruited until the age of 16 years. Follow-up visits take place once per year. Assessments include physical examinations, interviews, questionnaires, standardized tests, and biological samples including genetic analysis. Results: We found significant associations between socio-economic status and health behaviour, between the weight of mothers and their children and between excessive media use and psychological complaints. Further projects dealt with the creation of references curves and the evaluation of new research methods. Conclusions: The study provides important insights into the interplay between the living environment, behaviour and child health.

Purpose of Review: This review presents findings from recent studies investigating the role of socioeconomic status (SES) in child development. Studies on associations between SES and different parameters of physical and psychological health, on interventions and possible resilience factors are reviewed., Recent Findings: Several cross-sectional and longitudinal studies demonstrate social disparities in child behavior and health. They underline the detrimental effects of low SES on child development. Some studies also highlight the potentially adverse effects of early diseases or vulnerabilities on later career and social position. Whereas most studies applied parent-based measures of SES, some studies emphasize the significance of child-based (e.g. perceived social position) and area-level indicators of SES (e.g. area deprivation). With respect to intervention, study findings suggest positive effects of programs aiming to improve specific neighborhood characteristics and psychosocial functioning of individuals., Summary: The relation between SES and health is bidirectional and stable, and the effects of interventions aiming at changing behaviors of children and families with low SES are small. There is a need for further center-based and area-level interventions and studies evaluating the effects of these interventions.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to establish normative data concerning the speaking voice of children and adolescents for clinical diagnostics., Study Design: Population-based mixed cross-sectional and longitudinal childhood cohort study., Methods: Normative data measuring the speaking voice profile of 1352 male and 1274 female participants aged 6 to 17 years were collected. To evaluate the voice range, five different intensity levels as the quietest voicing speaking voice (Level I), conversational voice (Level II), classroom voice (Level III), shouting voice (Level IV), and again the quietest speaking voice (Level V) were investigated. Multivariable analyses were performed to describe the effects of body mass index, Tanner stage, and singing activity on the outcome variables., Results: A clear distinction in frequencies and sound pressure levels between the five different voice levels can be found in both genders. In females the mean fundamental frequency of the conversational voice lowers from 223.3 to 205.8 Hz. In male participants it lowers from 223.3 to 102.3 Hz. The most substantial decrease in the fundamental frequency of the speaking voice in boys occurs at 13.5 years. Girls show an almost continuous decline in their fundamental frequency. Only the Tanner stage showed significant positive relationships with the grade of lowering of the fundamental frequency in both sexes., Conclusions: It was shown that the investigation of the speaking voice using predefined intensity-levels represents a feasible examination for children and adolescents. This study provides reference data on the range and age-adjusted normative values of the speaking voice., (Copyright © 2018 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The LIFE Child study is a large population-based longitudinal childhood cohort study conducted in the city of Leipzig, Germany. As a part of LIFE, a research project conducted at the Leipzig Research Center for Civilization Diseases, it aims to monitor healthy child development from birth to adulthood and to understand the development of lifestyle diseases such as obesity. The study consists of three interrelated cohorts; the birth cohort, the health cohort, and the obesity cohort. Depending on age and cohort, the comprehensive study program comprises different medical, psychological, and sociodemographic assessments as well as the collection of biological samples. Optimal data acquisition, process management, and data analysis are guaranteed by a professional team of physicians, certified study assistants, quality managers, scientists and statisticians. Due to the high popularity of the study, more than 3000 children have already participated until the end of 2015, and two-thirds of them participate continuously. The large quantity of acquired data allows LIFE Child to gain profound knowledge on the development of children growing up in the twenty-first century. This article reports the number of available and analyzable data and demonstrates the high relevance and potential of the study.