Relationship between nutritional status, psychosocial stimulation, and cognitive development in preschool children in Indonesia

The purposes of the study were to analyze nutritional status, psychosocial stimulation, and factors affecting the cognitive development of preschool-age children. This study was conducted in the Village of Babakan, Sub-District of Dramaga, Bogor Regency, West Java. This cross-sectionally designed study was conducted with mothers who had preschool children aged 3-5 years as respondents. Fifty-eight children were included. The distribution of mother's educational level was quite diverse, and the largest percentage (44.8%) had senior high school education. Approximately 78% of the family income per capita was classified into the non-poor category and 22.4% into the poor category. The average mother's nutritional knowledge score was 76.7 ± 2.5 (moderate category). Most of the preschool children (84.4%) had psychosocial stimulation scores in the moderate category (30-45). The nutritional status of children showed that 15.5% were underweight, 5.2% were wasted, 3.4% were severely wasted, and 19% of the children were in the short and very short categories (stunted). The stepwise regression results showed that psychosocial stimulation (P < 0.001), participation in early childhood education (P = 0.002) and nutritional status based on the height index for age (P = 0.028) had a positive and significant effect on cognitive development of the preschool children (adjusted R(2), 0.434; P = 0.028).