There is no substitute for a good mother, and a mother’s influence is one of the most powerful forces in the lives of young children. Now, research shows that a healthy, playful relationship between a child and a mother leads to adult children with higher intelligence and less involvement in violence.
Beginning in the 1980s, researchers in Jamaica evaluated 129 toddlers who lived in impoverished areas and were at risk for poor nutrition and lack of stimulation. The children were divided into three intervention groups and one control group. One group received intellectual stimulation and interactive playtime with their mothers, one group was given supplemental baby formula, and one group received both stimulation and nutrition supplementation. A fourth group received no intervention. All interventions lasted 2 years. The follow-up period has now exceeded 2 decades.
As part of the stimulation program, mothers and toddlers received weekly visits from a woman who taught mothers how to play with their children and engage them in stimulating activities. The program also provided books and toys to the families each week. The nutrition supplementation consisted of approximately 2 gallons of milk-based formula.
The latest results of these interventions, published by the journal Pediatrics, reports that children who received intellectual stimulation and had a playful, interactive relationship with their mothers had higher IQs as adults, higher educational attainment, better general knowledge, and fewer symptoms of depression or social inhibition than children who did not receive such stimulation. The same children also were significantly less likely to be involved in fights and violent behavior as adults. The children who received nutritional supplementation showed no improvement among these measurements.
