A Study On The Relationship Between Cognitive Development And Peer Communication In Children Aged 0-3 Years In Rural Areas Of Western China

The power economic growth has emerged opportunities for those interested in farming and who have access to the necessary amounts of capital and management skills to invest in a number of the newer higher valued enterprises.The point of this change is to improve our country's human capital,especially rural China's human capital.The formation and development of human capital is a process of accumulation for a long time,it is necessary to know the characteristics of children's brain development during different phases.The first 3 years of life are particularly important because vital development occurs in all domains.The brain develops rapidly through neurogenesis,axonal and dendritic growth,synaptogenesis,cell death,synaptic pruning,myelination,and gliogenesis.These ontogenetic events happen at different times and build on each other,such that small perturbations in these processes can have long-term effects on the brain's structural and functional capacity.Early child development is a strong determinant of school progress,also could affect the opportunities of job accessibility and income.Moreover,early child cognitive is closely associated with economic strength and innovation ability of a country.Many young children exposed to multiple risks,including poverty,malnutrition,poor health,and unstimulating home environments,which detrimentally affect their cognitive,and challenge the improvement of human capital.According to child development in developing countries,there are over 200 million children under 5 years are not fulfilling their developmental potential.It is the same to rural China,other research show that about 21%6-12 months of age rural children cognitive developmental delay,about 39.7%0-3 years old rural children cognitive developmental delay.Study shows that early child cognition development is correlate with peer interaction.Peer interaction starts before 3 years old.However,the research about the relation between early child cognition development and peer interaction for 0-3 years old children nearly all theory analysis or case study.While some practical research exists in developed countries,there is little information about the practical evidence about early child cognition development and peer interaction in developing countries,especially in rural China.This study uses data from a sample of 1,412 rural Chinese children aged 6-12 and 24-30 months at 11 nationally designated poverty counties in Shaanxi Province to examine the relationship between early child cognition development and peer interaction in both waves of surveying,teams of trained enumerators collected socioeconomic information from all households participating in the study.Each child's primary caregiver was identified and administered a detailed survey on parental and household characteristics,including each child's gender and birth order,maternal age and education,whether the family was receiving Minimum Living Standard Guarantee payments(a poverty indicator),and the distance from the child's home to the center of the village.In the second block of the survey,all children were assessed with the Bayley Scales of Infant Development(BSID),an internationally validated test of infant cognitive development.The third survey block collected information on the peer interactions of our sample children.For the nature of cognitive development of children in our sample over the two study periods.The mean MDI(Mental development index)score among our sample was 96.6 when sample children were aged 6-12 months of age and decreased to 81.0 when the sample children were 24-30 months of age.Additionally,we find that both of these measures are lower and significantly different(at the 1%level)from the standardized mean MDI score of 100,which represents an average level of cognitive development within the context of urban China.The prevalence of varying degrees of cognitive developmental delays determined by sample children having MDI scores of between 70 and 80(mild)and less than 70(moderate/severe).We found that the prevalence of any degree of developmental delay increased from 14%when our sample was aged 6-12 months to 49%when our sample was 24-30 months of age.As for the prevalence of peer interaction for both study periods.We find that in both study periods the majority of children had two or fewer peers with whom they often played.Specifically,20%of children had no any peers in any age.Peer relation is the basis of children socialization;it is necessary for children over 2 years of age is necessary.However,our study shows that the share of children in rural Shaanxi who have peer interaction after 2 years of age is lower and do not increase with age.We find a significant and positive association between peer interaction and MDI scores.At 6-12 months of age,sample children who have peer interaction had a mean MDI score 3.6 points higher than children without peer interaction,significant at the 1%level.When children in our sample reached 24-30 months of age this difference was even larger;the mean MDI score who have peer interaction was 6.2 points higher than children without peer interaction,also significant at the 1%level.