Caregiver Social Capital and Supportive Relationships are Associated with Better Child Social-Emotional Development.

This study examined how different domains of social capital and of social support among caregivers are associated with social-emotional development in children ages 4-6 and how caregiver depressive symptoms modify these associations. Using a stratified random sample of preschools, data included a cross-sectional study of 1147 child-caregiver pairs (543 girls) in a low-income municipality in Brazil. Crude and adjusted linear regression models revealed that all domains of social support and two domains of social capital were associated with less social-emotional development delay in children. Given a significant proportion of children in low- and middle-income countries do not meet developmental milestones, strengthening caregiver social capital and support in these settings may have the potential to improve child social-emotional development.