ArticleInfancy : the official journal of the International Society on Infant Studies
The Power of Early Experience: Neonatal Skin-To-Skin Care Mitigates SES-Related Disparities in Developmental Outcomes.
Article in Infancy : the official journal of the International Society on Infant Studies. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- Insurance and early racial disparities in skin-to-skin care during NICU hospitalization.Journal of perinatology : official journal of the California Perinatal Association · 2026Article
- Indicators of physical and emotional health in infants during hospitalization in paediatric cardiac intensive care units.Frontiers in cardiovascular medicine · 2026Article
- From Hospital to Home: Continuity Between Skin-to-Skin Care and Later Verbal Engagement in Infants Born Preterm.The Journal of pediatrics · 2026Article
- Skin-to-Skin Holding in Relation to White Matter Microstructure in Infants Born Preterm.Neurology · 2025Observational
- Skin-to-skin holding in relation to white matter connectivity in infants born preterm.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Infants from lower-socioeconomic (SES) backgrounds are at increased risk for compromised developmental outcomes compared to infants from higher-SES backgrounds. Features of caregiver-child interactions have been proposed as mechanisms through which SES-related factors are associated with child outcomes. This study assessed whether rates of tactile interactions between neonates and family members (skin-to-skin caregiving) served as a mechanism, that is, statistically mediated, SES-related developmental disparities in infants born preterm (n = 95). Infants from lower-SES backgrounds experienced less skin-to-skin care and scored lower on developmental assessments than infants from higher-SES backgrounds. Infants who experienced more skin-to-skin care had better outcomes than infants who experienced less skin-to-skin care. Critically, the direct association between SES and outcomes was significantly reduced after controlling for skin-to-skin care rates. Thus, SES-related disparities were linked to caregiving experiences as early as the neonatal period. Parallel analyses on non-skin-to-skin tactile care (swaddled holding, touch, and massage) revealed no associations, highlighting the specificity of skin-to-skin caregiving. These findings make substantial contributions to developmental theory and offer concrete and scalable recommendations for intervention.
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Registered trials
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