Trial reportJournal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines2022
Cognitive, psychosocial, and behaviour gains at age 31 years from the Jamaica early childhood stimulation trial.
Trial report in Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 65 citations in OpenAlex.
- Annual Research Review: Associations of socioeconomic status with cognitive function, language ability, and academic achievement in youth: a systematic review of mechanisms and protective factors.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2025Pooled it
- The putative role of the microbiota in the development of neuropsychiatric disorders following early childhood malnutrition.Gut microbes · 2026Review
- Functional specialisation across the first five years of life: A longitudinal characterisation of social perception with fNIRS.Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2026Article
- Gene-environment pathways to cognitive intelligence and psychotic-like experiences in children.eLife · 2024Article
- Paths of cognitive and social-emotional delays before age three in rural China: Predictive power on skills at preschool age.PloS one · 2024Article
- Should Early Health Investments Work? Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial of a Complex Early-Childhood Intervention.Journal of human capital · 2024Article
- Article
- High doses of a national preschool program are associated with the long-term mitigation of adverse outcomes in cognitive development and life satisfaction among children who experience early stunting: a multi-site longitudinal study in Vietnam.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- Using lessons learnt from key stakeholders to increase support for scaling the Reach Up Early Childhood Parenting program.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- Child development beyond the nutrition-specific models: bridging the pathways via psychosocial stimulation.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Parenting Promotes Social Mobility Within and Across Generations.Annual review of economics · 2023Article
- Urban-rural differences in the relationship between stunting, preschool attendance, home learning support, and school readiness: A study in Côte d'Ivoire.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThere is little evidence on adult benefits from early childhood interventions in low and middle-income countries. We assessed adult cognition, psychosocial skills and behaviour from a stimulation trial conducted in Jamaica.
methodsChildren with stunted growth (height-for age <-2SD of references) aged 9-24 months were enrolled in a two-year randomised-controlled trial of nutritional supplementation and/or stimulation. At mean age 31.79 (SD 0.40) years, 95 of 127 participants (74.8%; 53.7% male) were assessed. Children without stunted growth were also followed as a comparison group (64 of 84 participants, 76.2%). Measurements included IQ, executive function, mental health, psychosocial skills, personality traits and risk behaviours. A block permutation test, valid for small sample sizes, was used. Analyses accounted for the randomisation protocol, multiple hypothesis testing and attrition.
resultsTreatment group participants (stimulation intervention with or without supplementation, n = 48) had significantly greater IQ (Hedges g effect size 0. 57; 95%CI 0.20, 0.95) and cognitive flexibility (0.61; 0.25, 0.98) compared with no-treatment (no-intervention and supplementation only, n = 47). They also had reduced depressive symptoms (0.61; 0.28, 1.00), increased grit (0.53; 0.16, 0.92) and conscientiousness (0.66; 0.31, 1.07), lower substance use (rank mean score, 0.45; 0.08, 0.81) and risk taking related to health and work (0.64; 0.27, 1.00). There were 18 significant outcomes of 33 assessed. Comparison participants had higher IQ than no-treatment (1.17; 0.81, 1.54) and treatment groups (0.62; 0.18, 1.07); and better executive function, lower social inhibition and risk taking than the no-treatment group.
conclusionsThe wide-ranging benefits at 31 years from the stimulation intervention supports investment in larger scale programmes to promote early childhood development in disadvantaged children. The lower IQ in the treatment group compared with comparison participants, emphasises the need for continued efforts to prevent early childhood growth retardation.
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