TY - JOUR
T1 - Season of birth, crawling onset, and motor development in 7-month-old infants
AU - Atun-Einy, Osnat
AU - Cohen, Dina
AU - Samuel, Moran
AU - Scher, Anat
N1 - Funding Information: The project was funded by a grant from the Israel Science Foundation (# 228/07) to Anat Scher; the support of the Israel Foundation Trustees to Dina Cohen's doctoral thesis is gratefully acknowledged. We gratefully acknowledge Mary Swenson for assistance with editing.
PY - 2013/9
Y1 - 2013/9
N2 - Objective: To examine seasonal effect on motor development; in particular, the onset of crawling. Background: The acquisition of motor milestones demonstrates considerable age variation. Previous studies that examined the effect of season on motor development present inconsistent findings; geographical zone and climatic factors were among the identified factors. The present study was conducted in a Mediterranean climate. Method: Forty-seven full-term infants (25 boys and 22 girls), aged 7 months, were observed while playing in the home context, and the Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS) was administered. Results: Infants who were born during the winter-spring (W) months started to crawl about 4 weeks earlier compared to infants born during the summer-autumn (S) months (t = 3.13, p = 0.003). Similarly, the AIMS total scores (t = 2.03, p = 0.05) and prone subscale (t = 2.19, p = 0.04) were significantly higher in W as compared to S born infants. Conclusion: The findings point to the involvement of season in the motor achievements of infants and suggest that aspects of the physical environment shape the experiences that contribute to developmental progress.
AB - Objective: To examine seasonal effect on motor development; in particular, the onset of crawling. Background: The acquisition of motor milestones demonstrates considerable age variation. Previous studies that examined the effect of season on motor development present inconsistent findings; geographical zone and climatic factors were among the identified factors. The present study was conducted in a Mediterranean climate. Method: Forty-seven full-term infants (25 boys and 22 girls), aged 7 months, were observed while playing in the home context, and the Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS) was administered. Results: Infants who were born during the winter-spring (W) months started to crawl about 4 weeks earlier compared to infants born during the summer-autumn (S) months (t = 3.13, p = 0.003). Similarly, the AIMS total scores (t = 2.03, p = 0.05) and prone subscale (t = 2.19, p = 0.04) were significantly higher in W as compared to S born infants. Conclusion: The findings point to the involvement of season in the motor achievements of infants and suggest that aspects of the physical environment shape the experiences that contribute to developmental progress.
KW - Mediterranean climate
KW - crawling onset
KW - motor development
KW - seasonal variation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84887035056&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1080/02646838.2013.826347
DO - https://doi.org/10.1080/02646838.2013.826347
M3 - Article
SN - 0264-6838
VL - 31
SP - 342
EP - 351
JO - Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology
JF - Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology
IS - 4
ER -