The Effect of Parenting Quality on Child Development at 36–48 Months in China’s Urban Area: Evidence from a Birth Cohort Study

Environmental exposures, especially parenting quality, are critical for later child development. This study aimed to determine the status of parenting quality and suspected development delay of preschool children in China’s urban area and explore the associations between these two factors. The research was based on a birth cohort study conducted in Changsha, Hunan province, China. We used the Parenting Assessment Tool and Ages and Stages Questionnaires, Third Edition (ASQ-3), to measure parenting quality and child development status, respectively. Other data were collected from maternal health manuals and self-administered questionnaires during the follow-up period. The generalized estimating equation was used to examine whether parenting quality was significantly associated with child development outcomes. In the study, good parenting quality was 33.6% measured at 18 months, and suspected development delay was below 10% at 36–48 months among urban China; we observed negative associations between parenting quality scores and child development scores; poor parenting quality had a negative association with suspected development delay [OR and 95% CI: 2.74 (1.17, 6.40)], girls [OR and 95% CI: 0.33 (0.16, 0.69)] and maternal education years (>12 years) [OR and 95% CI: 0.27 (0.12, 0.64)] were protective factors for suspected development delay. Our findings highlighted the importance of good parenting quality among children in urban areas of China through a birth cohort study and may be used to reduce the children at high risk of developmental delay as a future intervention program.