Structural and social determinants of early childhood

development
1. Introduction
The early years of childhood are a key developmental period. Early experiences
become a biologically embedded, shaping physiological pathways that have lifelong
protective or detrimental effects on health, well-being, learning and behaviour. Young
children are affected by physical, mental, cognitive and social–emotional challenges,
which, in turn, are associated with negative outcomes later in life, such as poor
health, school failure, delinquent behaviour and unemployment. However, even
though children developmental trajectories strongly influenced by early experiences,
their outcomes are not set in stone. Investment in early childhood appears to have
substantial benefits on health and social functioning in adulthood.

2. Objectives
- To create an Early Development Instrument (EDI) database to monitor trends
over time in children’s developmental health and to advance research examining
the social determinants of health.
- To investigate the association between selected social and behavioural variables
and the pattern and severity of early childhood caries (ECC) within a community
child population.
- To draws attention to the intersection of health outcomes, cognitive outcomes,
and social outcomes and to the educational and income inequalities that underlie
many health disparities.
- Building on long-term benefits of early intervention and increasing commitment
to early childhood development.
- To review some of the knowledge accumulated to date that highlights the
importance of social and particularly socioeconomic factors in shaping health,
and plausible pathways and biological mechanisms that may explain their effects
on early childhood development.

3. The questions we seek to answer are:

- What are the most important Structural and social factors that can affect the
development of early childhood?
- What are the influences of social and behavioural variables on early children’s
physical, social and Emotional development?
- How can we establish a critical Structural and social foundation to ensure a
success in early childhood development of health and general well-being?
 4. Conclusion
The influence of social factors has been considered including other factors such as
economic, psychological, environmental, genetic, and epigenetic and their interaction
to evaluate and define their crucial role in the development of the early childhood
Physical health and well-being, Social and Emotional maturity, Language and
cognitive development and Communication skills and general knowledge.

5. References
[1] L. M. Richter et al., “Investing in the foundation of sustainable development:
pathways to scale up for early childhood development,” Lancet, vol. 389, no. 10064,
pp. 103–118, 2017.
[2] T. G. Moore, M. McDonald, L. Carlon, and K. O’Rourke, “Early childhood
development and the social determinants of health inequities,” Health Promot. Int.,
vol. 30, pp. ii102–ii115, 2015.
[3] M. Guhn et al., “Examining the social determinants of children’s developmental
health: Protocol for building a pan-Canadian population-based monitoring system for
early childhood development,” BMJ Open, vol. 6, no. 4, 2016.
[4] L. M. Anderson et al., “The effectiveness of early childhood development programs:
A systematic review,” Am. J. Prev. Med., vol. 24, no. 3 SUPPL., pp. 32–46, 2003.
[5] P. Braveman and L. Gottlieb, “The social determinants of health: It’s time to consider
the causes of the causes,” Public Health Rep., vol. 129, no. SUPPL. 2, pp. 19–31,
2014.

Prepared by:
TAMARA ABU SUMRY 1205198