Joshua Jeong

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• Assistant Professor at Emory University

Objective Valid and reliable measurement of early childhood development (ECD) is critical for monitoring and evaluating ECD-related policies and programmes. Although ECD tools developed in high-income countries may be applicable to low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), directly applying them in LMICs can be problematic without psychometric evid...

Background Engagement in stimulation activities by both parents can have synergistic effects on early childhood development (ECD). While the role of maternal stimulation is well known, the association with paternal stimulation remains underexplored and inconsistent. The current study aimed to assess the distribution of different combinations of mat...

Importance Although children across low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are increasingly surviving, many are not fully thriving. Both stunting and off-track early child development (ECD) hinder children’s potential to thrive. Objectives To estimate the global prevalence of the co-occurrence of stunting and off-track ECD and explore its associ...

Background Early childhood development (ECD) is a key determinant of long-term health, education, and wellbeing. However, one major global challenge is the lack of ECD assessment tools validated for use in low- and middle-income countries. To address this gap, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched in 2023 the Global Scales for Early Developm...

A strong body of evidence has underscored the cross-cultural importance of nurturing parent–child relationships for promoting early child development outcomes. However, most research on parenting has predominantly relied on self-reported measures collected from mothers. Observational tools for assessing parent–child interactions from not only mothe...

Developmental science has a long history of studying skills that children need to thrive. However, there has been a primary focus on academic skills, with little attention to the breadth and diversity of other skills that young children need to thrive. Furthermore, little is known about the extent to which community experts involved in early childh...

Background Globally, there is mounting evidence about the importance of father involvement for improving child and family wellbeing. However, there are limited measurement tools available for assessing father involvement in low-resource settings globally. The objective of this study was to develop and validate a scale for measuring fathers’ engagem...

Rural households in East Africa rely on local markets, but the influence of market food diversity and household food purchase diversity on diets has not been well‐characterized. We quantify the associations among market food diversity, household food purchase diversity and dietary diversity of mothers, fathers and children in rural Tanzania. This s...

Parenting programs predominantly target one caregiver of the child or most commonly the child’s mother. However, fathers are also important caregivers whose engagement in interventions can benefit child health, nutrition, and development. In August 2023, a qualitative process evaluation was conducted during the first quarter of implementation to as...

Introduction Social environments can influence parents’ caregiving capacities and the quality of nurturing care provided to children. These links, in turn, can shape children’s developmental outcomes over the life course. We aimed to examine the relationship between maternal perceived safety at home and in the neighbourhood and maternal parenting p...

Background Poor early childhood development (ECD) is a major global health concern that is associated with various adverse outcomes over the lifecourse. Parenting interventions especially during the earliest years of life can benefit ECD. However, there is limited evidence from Kenya about the effectiveness of parenting interventions for improving...

The Moments that Matter® parenting program aims to promote nurturing care and healthy early childhood development (ECD) through monthly home visits and monthly community group meetings that are delivered by ECD promoters and coordinated with faith leaders in rural Western Kenya. We designed a process evaluation in August 2023 during the first quart...

Globally, perceptions of idealized fatherhood have been expanding beyond men’s breadwinning roles to also value men’s engagement in nurturing care. While fathers’ caregiving behaviors are increasing, most childcare activities are still largely performed by mothers. In this study, we unpacked community members’ beliefs about the meaning of “good fat...

Background Providing nurturing care for young children is essential for promoting early child development (ECD). However, there is limited knowledge about how mothers and fathers across diverse contexts in sub-Saharan Africa care for their children and from whom they receive guidance and support in their caregiving roles. We aimed to examine caregi...

Depression is a major global health concern especially among mothers of young children in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). While various risk and protective factors have been well-established, the role of fathers in potentially mitigating maternal depression remains understudied. This study aimed to investigate the association between fath...

Background Globally, 144 million children under 5 years are undernourished and 250 million do not meet their developmental potential. Multi-input interventions, such as bundled nutrition and parenting interventions, are designed to mitigate risks for multiple child outcomes. There is limited evidence that bundled interventions have additive benefit...

Objectives To investigate the nature of paternal mental health problems, their causes and the coping strategies used by fathers of young children under the age of 2 years. Design and setting We conducted in-depth interviews with fathers, mothers, community leaders and community health workers as well as focus group discussions with fathers-only, m...

This review summarizes the implementation characteristics of parenting interventions to promote early child development (ECD) outcomes from birth to 3 years. We included 134 articles representing 123 parenting trials (PROSPERO record CRD42022285998). Studies were conducted across high‐income (62%) and low‐and‐middle‐income (38%) countries. The most...

Timely and appropriate healthcare seeking is crucial to reduce child mortality. However, rates of care seeking for acute childhood diseases remain low in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This study investigated the association between maternal decision-making power and care-seeking behaviors for children with diarrhea and acute respiratory infection (ARI)...

Introduction The relationship between parents is a key component of the family system that is associated with various child outcomes. However, less is known about how caregivers and community members make meaning of the influence of couples’ relationships on child outcomes and to what extent family caregiving processes underlie these links in low-i...

Background Multicomponent interventions are needed to address the various co‐occurring risks that compromise early child nutrition and development. We compared the independent and combined effects of engaging fathers and bundling parenting components into a nutrition intervention on early child development (ECD) and parenting outcomes. Methods We...

OBJECTIVES The majority of the evidence about the effectiveness of early parenting and nutrition interventions pertains to 1 targeted index child in a given household. We evaluated whether nontargeted sibling children benefited from a bundled parenting and nutrition intervention. METHODS We designed a sub-study within a broader cluster-randomized...

Fathers can influence child development through various pathways, such as via their caregiving behaviors, marital relationships, and their psychosocial wellbeing. However, few parenting interventions have been designed to target these multiple dimensions among fathers with young children in low- and middle-income countries. In June 2022, we conduct...

Intimate partner violence (IPV) substantially harms women's overall health worldwide. The intergenerational cycle of IPV among women remains underexplored from the perspective of victimization and perpetration, and by types of subsequent IPV. The 2017 Philippines National Demographic and Health Survey dataset of 12,248 currently in-union (married o...

Aim: The objective was to identify if family social exclusion is associated with child motor and social development delay in Southeastern Brazil. Design: A cross-sectional study was conducted using data from a sample of 348 children under 3 years, proportional to the number of children registered in the primary care centres of the municipality....

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0000373.].

Most caregiving interventions for young children are directed to female caregivers. Relatively few have included male caregivers as program participants especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The range of potential benefits that can be achieved through the engagement of fathers and male caregivers has not been adequately explored f...

Advancing gender equality and women's empowerment (GE/WE) may contribute to better child nutrition and development in low-resource settings. However, few empirical studies have generated evidence on GE/WE and examined the potential of engaging men to transform gender norms and power relations in the context of nutrition and parenting programs. We t...

Considerable literature from low- and lower-middle-income countries (LLMICs) links maternal employment to child nutritional status. However, less is known about the role of parental employment and occupation type in shaping child development outcomes. Additionally, little empirical work has examined the mechanisms through which parental occupation...

Although prior reviews have documented the effectiveness of engaging male caregivers in early childhood interventions, little is known about how these interventions have been designed and implemented to reach, engage, and support male caregivers in low‐resource global settings. We searched five bibliographic databases for intervention studies that...

There is considerable literature on the associations of short birth intervals with adverse perinatal outcomes. However, less is known about the associations with child growth and development. In this study, we investigated the associations between birth intervals and child growth and development and examined child illness, child diet, and maternal...

The early years of life are a crucial period for shaping child development. Children from socially excluded families may have less opportunity to attain their full development. The objective was to identify if family social exclusion is associated with child psychomotor and social development delay in Southeastern Brazil. A cross-sectional study wa...

Nurturing care encompasses five components that are crucial for supporting early childhood development: good health, adequate nutrition, opportunities for early learning, responsive caregiving, and safety and security. While there has been increasing attention in global public health towards designing and delivering programs, services, and policies...

Despite health gains over the past 30 years, children and adolescents are not reaching their health potential in many low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). In addition to health systems, social systems, such as schools, communities, families, and digital platforms, can be used to promote health. We did a targeted literature review of how...

Little is known about the COVID-19 pandemic-related disruptions in health services and the resilience of the health system response in rural low-resource settings. We conducted a phenomenological qualitative study (October-November 2020) to understand COVID-19-related influences on the utilisation and delivery of child health services in Monapo dis...

Health systems offer unique opportunities for integrating services to promote early child development (ECD). However, there is limited knowledge about the implementation experiences of using health services to target nurturing care and ECD, especially in sub‐Saharan Africa. We conducted a qualitative implementation evaluation to assess the delivery...

Objective: This review will evaluate the effectiveness of different health delivery agents of parenting stimulation interventions versus usual care, no intervention, or a different type of delivery agent on child development outcomes among children aged 0 to 36 months. Introduction: Stimulation interventions vary in terms of implementation. While...

Engaging men and increasing their involvement as partners and parents can improve child health and development. Despite the increasing global evidence and advocacy around father involvement and caregiving, there remain few father-inclusive interventions for promoting early child health, especially within primary health systems in low- and middle-in...

Parents across the world are faced with many challenges that can increase their levels of stress. Only a handful of studies have examined parenting stress in sub-Saharan Africa contexts, and most have focused only on mothers or at-risk populations. There is therefore a significant gap in our understanding of the factors that contribute to parenting...

Background Community and family violence are major global health problems. Approximately 1.3 million deaths around the world and 2.5% of global mortality are due to violence. In El Salvador, youth are exposed to multiple levels of physical and emotional violence, abuse, and crime. Objective The objective of this study was to investigate the variou...

Background Parents are the primary caregivers of young children. Responsive parent–child relationships and parental support for learning during the earliest years of life are crucial for promoting early child development (ECD). We conducted a global systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the effectiveness of parenting interventions on ECD...

Interpersonal violence against children and youth, including parental violence and peer violence, are major global health concerns. However, the majority of the parental violence and peer violence literature examines each separately from one another. In this study, we specifically investigate the role of fathers and whether paternal violence victim...

Introduction Parenting interventions during early childhood are known to improve various child development outcomes immediately following programme implementation. However, less is known about whether these initial benefits are sustained over time. Methods We conducted a systematic literature review of parenting interventions in low- and middle-in...

Purpose: Adolescent parenthood is a major challenge in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). However, the vast majority of the evidence has focused on adolescent motherhood. Little is known about adolescent fatherhood in LMICs. The aim of this study was to examine the determinants of early fatherhood and its consequences on a range of outcomes...

Background and objectives Globally, studies have shown associations between maternal stimulation and early child development. Yet, little is known about the prevalence of paternal and other caregivers’ stimulation practices, particularly in low- and- middle-income countries (LMICs). Methods Data from the Multiple Indicators Cluster Survey (MICS) a...

Background and objectives: Previous research has demonstrated associations between maternal experience of intimate partner violence (IPV) and a range of adverse outcomes among women and their young children. However, few studies have examined the associations between maternal experience of IPV and early child development (ECD) outcomes in low- and...

Depression is highly prevalent among parents around the world. Although there has been substantial research on maternal depression, few studies have additionally considered paternal depression and examined the independent and potentially interactive influence between paternal and maternal depression on children’s development. The objectives of this...

Parental stimulation and responsiveness are associated with improved early child development outcomes. However, the majority of studies have relied on maternal-reported measures of only mothers’ parenting practices. The purpose of this study was to assess the agreement between fathers’ and mothers’ reports of their own and their partner’s engagemen...

Background: Experiences of intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization negatively impact maternal parenting. However, little is known about the association between fathers' perpetration of IPV and paternal parenting. Objective: To examine associations between fathers' IPV perpetration against the child's mother and fathers' stimulation and spa...

This study examined mothers’ and fathers’ developmentally stimulating parenting practices (i.e., engagement in play and communication activities) as mediators through which an early parenting intervention improved later cognitive and socioemotional development of 1302 4-year-old children in rural Pakistan. Maternal and paternal stimulation were bot...

After publication of the original article [1], the authors wanted to make an amendment in the Acknowledgments section as Muneera Rasheed requested to be removed. This correction article shows the original and revised version of the “Acknowledgments”. The original article was not updated.

Background Parents are the primary providers of nurturing care for young children’s healthy early development. However, the literature on parenting in early childhood, especially in low- and middle-income countries, has primarily focused on mothers. In this study, we investigate how parents make meaning of fathers’ parenting roles with regards to t...

Background: Lack of legal identification documents can impose major challenges for children in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The aim of this study was to investigate the association between not having a birth certificate and young children's physical growth and developmental outcomes in LMICs. Methods: We combined nationally represen...

Context: Early childhood stimulation interventions positively impact early child development (ECD) outcomes in low- and middle-income countries. However, trials have less comprehensively evaluated the effects of such parenting programs on caregivers' skills and capacities. Objective: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess t...

Background Maternal and paternal education are associated with improved early child outcomes. However, less is known about how these relative associations compare for preschool children’s growth versus development outcomes; and across country contexts. Methods We analysed data from 89 663 children aged 36 to 59 months in 39 low-income and middle-i...

Background and objective: Few studies have examined the relationship between paternal stimulation and children's growth and development, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of paternal stimulation and to assess whether paternal stimulation was associated with early child growth and...

Background: Little attention has been paid to potential relationships between mental health, trauma, and personal exposures to Ebola virus disease (EVD) and health behaviors in post-conflict West Africa. We tested a conceptual model linking mental health and trauma to EVD risk behaviors and EVD prevention behaviors. Methods and findings: Using s...