Home environment shapes behavior in preschoolers with developmental disabilities

Although the home environment is known to influence behavior problems in children with developmental disabilities (DD), the precise contributions of specific domains remained unquantified, hindering targeted interventions.

To address this gap, we conducted a cross-sectional study of 191 preschoolers with DD from rehabilitation institutions in Jinan and Hangzhou, two cities in China, utilizing the Home Nurture Environment Scale for Children Aged 3-6 Years and the Aberrant Behavior Checklist for multi-domain assessments. Linear regression revealed significant negative associations between home environment quality and all behavior problem domains. Relative weights analyses revealed that the association between the home environment and behavior problems was domain-specific among preschoolers with DD. More specifically, the neglect/interference/punishment domain of the home environment made the largest contribution to the explained variance in relation to behavior problems compared to other domains (28.78%).

The findings highlight the domain-specific associations between the home environment and behavior problems of preschool children with DD and suggest the need for targeted interventions within the home setting to effectively manage behavior issues in this vulnerable population.